Update – I fixed it by setting vertical alignment to top (thought I tried that before, but I guess not). I tried setting it to center on both buttons and the block, which should also work, but for some reason, they still stairstepped when I did that.
p.s. – it has something to do with inline text/buttons over the image. If I make a duplicate of the page without the image, all is fine. When I put the text/buttons over the image, the alignment is off.