‘Dancing with the Stars 23’ rankings: Where Laurie Hernandez, Calvin Johnson, James Hinchcliffe stand as finale nears

For all fans of “Dancing with the Stars,” the end is just about here given that we’re weeks away from the season coming to a close. There are still a few shows left, but we’ve got our real contenders now in the competition and we’re going to see them square off in hopes of making it all the way to the end of the finale.

Granted, we do at this point see the show almost as a tale of two different tiers: You’ve got the three almost destined to be there at the end, and then the three who are going to have the near-impossible task of playing catch-up. We’re not sure if we see things turning around in the weeks to come, but there will be some fun in looking to see whether or not there will be a shocking changing of the guard and if someone likes it a little further than we think that they will on the surface.

6. Marilu Henner and Derek Hough (last week: 6) – While the two had a period of time where it looked more like they were going to be contenders to make it to the top four, they’ve regressed somewhat in the scores, Marilu is hurting, and the scores are lower. As of right now, it feels easy to telegraph them being the next team to be sent home.

5. Terra Jole and Sasha Farber (4) – Momentum is a big part of this show, and after looking at her recent routines coupled with where she was leading into this week, we’re starting to wonder if Terra perhaps peaked to soon. Most of the buzz around her seems gone, and we do think that there is a reasonably good chance that Jana could end up passing her, which we never thought after week two or three.

4. Jana Kramer and Gleb Savchenko (5) – We’ve seen a perfect score here, so we know what Jana is capable of. The issue heading into the final weeks now is simply whether or not she will have chemistry with another partner in the event that Gleb, who is currently nursing an injury, is not able to perform. Hopefully, they will figure this out, but this is a competition where there are no guarantees.

3. James Hinchchliffe and Sharna Burgess (2) – Despite having an injured partner, James did still manage with Jenna Johnson to get a perfect score for a pretty-electrifying routine. He’s got a lot going for him, but the question we’ll wonder is if the top three are equal in scores, does he have the fan following to pull off a win?

2. Calvin Johnson and Lindsay Arnold (3) – We’re putting a lot of stock here into Calvin’s perceived NFL following, mostly due to the fact that we’ve seen so many other football players, both currently in the league and retired, come on this show and do really well. We don’t know if being retired, and playing for a more under-the-radar team in the Lions, hurts Calvin; but, we shall see.

1. Laurie Hernandez and Val Chmerkovskiy (1) – Her bouncing back and getting a perfect score just further justifies her placement at the top of this list, not that we were really considering moving her in the first place. We just find it almost impossible to move someone destined to get tremendous scores the rest of the season, and someone part of an extremely likable U.S. Gymnastics team. Maybe if we were further removed from the Olympics, that would change a little bit more.

Who tops your rankings at present? Let us know in the poll below! Also, be sure to see what everyone will be performing on tomorrow’s show. (Photo: ABC.)