Week 5 Power Rankings; Even a perfect game can't derail Rays

The AL East continues to be the class of the MLB even with the Boston Red Sox still hovering around .500. A surprising mainstay in the top-10 continues to be the San Diego Padres while the hard charging Giants continue to impress with their dynamic starting pitching.

1. Tampa Bay Rays (22-9): A two game losing streak and the second perfect game thrown against them in a year makes the Rays only 13-3 on the road now.
2. New York Yankees (21-9): Mark Teixiera could be coming out of his shell following that three homer game.
3. Minnesota Twins (21-11): Joe Mauer's return should keep this team in first for a long time.
4. St. Louis Cardinals (20-12): Adam Wainwright picked up right where he left off last year (5-1, 2.08 ERA).
5. Philadelphia Phillies (19-12): Jayson Werth has been unheralded this season (.349, 7 homers, 26 RBI).
6. San Francisco Giants (18-12): As if Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain weren't enough. Barry Zito is 5-0 with a 1.49 ERA.
7. San Diego Padres (19-12): Have allowed a league low 97 runs this season, tied with the Giants.
8. Texas Rangers (18-14): Elvis Andrus could be the latest young star in this league.
9. Oakland A's (17-15): Dallas Braden's perfect game leaps his team into the top 10 for the week.
10. Toronto Blue Jays (19-14): Good young pitching and hitting. This team is better than I ever thought.
11. Detroit Tigers (17-14): They have played only 12 homes games this year.
12. Washington Nationals (17-14): I was tempted to put them in the top 10. Scott Olsen and Livan Hernandez have been one of the best 1-2 punches this year. Incredible.
13. New York Mets (17-14): Incredible their record is this good with their well-documented bullpen struggles.
14. Cincinnati Reds (16-15): Still need to pitch better, but might be the second best team in the weak NL Central.
15. Boston Red Sox (16-16): This team of great pitchers leads the league in runs allowed at 177.
16. Colorado Rockies (15-16): No consistency outside of Ubaldo Jimenez.
17. Milwaukee Brewers (15-16): A sweep of the Diamondbacks always helps. But they need to beat teams with good pitchers.
18. Los Angeles Dodgers (14-17): All of a sudden Andre Ethier is a triple crown contender (.383, 10 homers, 32 RBI).
19. Florida Marlins (14-17): Josh Johnson has 47 strikeouts in 43 innings.
20. Anaheim Angels (14-19): Another team known for good pitching in the past is tied with the Red Sox with 177 runs allowed, worst in the AL.
21. Pittsburgh Pirates (14-17): Swept the Cubs last week and that's about all they have done this season.
22. Arizona Diamondbacks (14-18): It's a shame Dan Haren doesn't play for a better team.
23. Atlanta Braves (13-18): A troubling 5-14 road record.
24. Chicago White Sox (13-19): Bobby Jenks' closing days could be over after a disastrous weekend against the Blue Jays.
25. Chicago Cubs (14-18): 1-5 trip against the Pirates and Reds could be a very bad sign for the Cubs this season.
26. Seattle Mariners (12-19): Just when you thought this team was figuring it out, they lose 8 of 9.
27. Cleveland Indians (11-18): At least Cleveland fans still have LeBron and the Cavs.
28. Kansas City Royals (11-21): I will keep lamenting Zack Greinke's bad luck until he picks up a win (0-4, 2.51 ERA).
29. Houston Astros (10-21): The worst part of this start is that 22 of the 31 games have been played at home.
30. Baltimore Orioles (9-23): Rank in the bottom five in six top offensive AND pitching categories.

Week 2 Power Rankings, Rays surging

After two weeks I still feel confident in saying the American League East has two elite teams. Unfortunately for Red Sox Nation, Boston is not of those two teams. The Rays and Yankees will not only battle each other for a division title, but now power rankings supremacy as well.

1. Tampa Bay Rays (10-3): 7-0 on the road and just polished off a four-game sweep in Fenway. This team looks scary good.
2. New York Yankees (9-3): Once Mark Teixiera picks it up, watch out for the Yanks.
3. Philadelphia Phillies (8-4): They can hit, pitch and play defense. They also have this guy named Halladay on their team.
4. Minnesota Twins (9-4): You gotta love the new Target Field. The Twins lineup isn't too shabby either.
5. San Francisco Giants (8-4): Two weeks into the season and I can't think of any pitcher that will prevent Tim Lincecum from his third straight Cy Young.
6. St. Louis Cardinals (8-4): 20 innings of craziness just to lose. Tough game, but the Cardinals need Matt Holliday to return to form.
7. Florida Marlins (8-5): The end of Jorge Cantu's streak, but two straight wins against the Phillies make this Marlins a team a serious wild card contender.
8. Oakland A's (9-5): Oakland pitching has only allowed 47 runs in 14 games.
9. Colorado Rockies (6-6): Two blown saves for Franklin Morales, but the Rockies will have Huston Street when it really counts.
10. Detroit Tigers (7-5): This team can hit, but can they pitch?
11. Atlanta Braves (7-5): The NL East is just as competitive as the AL. Jason Heyward update: 3 homers and 15 RBIs. Wow.
12. Pittsburgh Pirates (7-5): They're either blown out or winning a close game. Don't know if they'll get this high again the power rankings.
13. Seattle Mariners (6-7): A nice four game winning streak has the team in the thick of it again.
14. Texas Rangers (5-7): All four teams in the AL West could be in it in the final weeks. Nelson Cruz is a beast.
15. Anaheim Angels (6-7): Balanced team top to bottom. Just worried there might not be enough starpower.
16. Toronto Blue Jays (7-6): Vernon Wells keeps raking. Six homers and 11 RBIs.
17. Cleveland Indians (6-6): This could be the best team in the league if they only play the White Sox all year (5-1).
18. Chicago Cubs (5-7): Disarray throughout this team, but Carlos Silva has pitched unbelievably for the Cubs in two starts.
19. Washington Nationals (6-6): Can anyone score on Livan Hernandez?
20. Boston Red Sox (4-9): This team is in trouble fast if Ortiz and Drew's bats don't wake up. Swept at Fenway in a four game set?
21. Milwaukee Brewers (5-7): I just don't see any pitchers you can count on day in and day out.
22. Los Angeles Dodgers (6-6): Manny Ramirez needs to build off that pinch hit home run.
23. San Diego Padres (6-6): I don't know how they did it, but the Padres are .500 through two weeks.
24. Chicago White Sox (4-9): Hard to believe a team with a rotation as good as their and a bullpen that's even better is this bad through two weeks.
25. Cincinnati Reds (5-8): I wanted to see a big start from this Reds team and it's just not happening.
26. Arizona Diamondbacks (5-7): Chris Young is off to a hot start with three homers and 15 RBIs.
27. New York Mets (4-8): Francisco Rodriguez estimated he threw more than 100 pitches in the bullpen warming up for about 10 innings straight in the Mets 2-1 victory.
28. Kansas City Royals (5-7): Scott Podsednik leads the AL hitting at an astounding .457 clip.
29. Houston Astros (3-9): Out of the cellar thanks to two wins against the Cubs over the weekend.
30. Baltimore Orioles (2-11): Hey, at least they have one win each week after knocking off Oakland on Sunday.