MLB Power Rankings - Major League Baseball

Power Rankings: Yankees' No. 1 streak now four

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MLB Team Of The Month

It's been a season of streaks atop the MLB Power Rankings, and the New York Yankees are the latest team riding a long run at No. 1.

The Yankees, who went 4-2 last week, remain the top-ranked team for the fourth straight week. Their current run comes after the Los Angeles Dodgers, now at No. 5, enjoyed 12 straight weeks in the top spot.

Below the Yankees, the Philadelphia Phillies traded and the Los Angeles Angels traded positions -- the Phils moved up to No. 2 while the Angels fell to No. 3 -- and the St. Louis Cardinals, baseball's hottest team, climbed to No. 4. The Cardinals, 20-6 in August, haven't lost consecutive games since July 25-26.

The San Francisco Giants, who swept the Colorado Rockies over the weekend to pull even in the NL wild-card race, are the U.S. Army Team of the Week. The Giants moved up three spots to No. 8 to tie the Minnesota Twins for the biggest leap in the rankings.

One of our panelists, Enrique Rojas of ESPNDeportes.com, wrote the comments below. Meanwhile, you can rank the teams yourself.

Tune in to "Baseball Tonight" every Monday on ESPN to see the week's U.S. Army Power Rankings.

2009 Power Rankings: August 31
	RK (LW)	TEAM	REC	COMMENT
	1 (1)	Yankees	82-48	CC Sabathia went 5-0 with a 2.64 ERA in August, and is now 10-0, 1.85 in that month over the past two seasons.
	2 (3)	Phillies	75-53	Phillies pitchers have a 2.75 ERA (52 runs in 170.1 IP) since Aug. 11.
	3 (2)	Angels	77-52	Scott Kazmir is 15-5 in his career against the Angels' AL West rivals.
	4 (6)	Cardinals	77-55	John Smoltz, released by Boston, is 1-0 with an 0.82 ERA and 15 K's in 11 innings with the Cardinals.
	5 (4)	Dodgers	78-53	The Dodgers' 35-16 record against NL West foes is the main reason for their long run in first place.
	6 (5)	Red Sox	76-54	Opposing hitters are 1-for-12 with 9 K's with the bases loaded against Jonathan Papelbon this season.
$Texas Rangers$	7 (7)	Rangers	72-57	Scott Feldman (14-4) is 10-1 on the road and tied with Sabathia for the most road victories in the majors.
	8 (11)	Giants	72-59	Tim Lincecum has pitched at least eight shutout innings on six occasions this season.
	9 (8)	Rockies	72-59	The Rockies were 16-7 in August until their current five-game losing streak.
	10 (9)	Rays	70-59	Carl Crawford has 54 steals, reaching 50 for the fifth time in his career.
	11 (12)	Tigers	69-60	Magglio Ordonez only needs 47 more plate appearances to secure his $18 million option for 2010.
	12 (10)	Braves	68-62	Matt Diaz is hitting .398 (49-for-123), the NL's third-best average, against left-handed pitchers.
	13 (13)	Marlins	68-62	Hanley Ramirez, at .359, has a chance to surpass Rico Carty (.366 in 1970) for the highest batting average among Dominican players.
	14 (17)	Twins	65-65	Denard Span is hitting .438 (21-for-48) as the Twins have won nine of their past 12 games.
	15 (15)	Cubs	65-63	Carlos Zambrano has allowed 18 hits and 12 earned runs in 7 2/3 innings since his return from the DL.
	16 (16)	Mariners	68-63	The Mariners are 20-11 without Ichiro Suzuki in the lineup since 2001.
	17 (14)	White Sox	64-67	Mark Buehrle has not won in his seven starts since pitching a perfect game July 23.
	18 (19)	Brewers	64-66	Trevor Hoffman needs one save to reach 30 for the 14th time in his career.
	19 (18)	Astros	62-68	Wandy Rodriguez has allowed more than one run in only two of his past 11 starts.
	20 (20)	Blue Jays	58-70	Roy Halladay went 2-4 with a 4.71 ERA in August as the Jays have won only nine of 25 games.
	21 (21)	Mets	59-72	Despite the Mets' struggles, Luis Castillo has hit .361 with a .433 OBP in the second half.
	22 (22)	Indians	58-72	Andy Marte has three homers in six games after going 13 months without a major league home run.
	23 (24)	Diamondbacks	59-72	Mark Reynolds is the first D-backs player with at least 40 homers in a season since Luis Gonzalez hit 57 in 2001.
	24 (23)	Athletics	57-73	Brett Tomko is 2-0 with a 1.62 ERA since joining the A's rotation.
	25 (26)	Reds	56-73	Reds pitchers lead the majors with 111 runs allowed in the first inning.
	26 (27)	Orioles	54-77	Felix Pie has hit .383 with five homers and 12 RBIs over the past 16 games.
	27 (25)	Pirates	53-75	Garrett Jones leads all major league rookies in homers (16) and slugging (.613).
	28 (28)	Padres	56-76	Promising young pitcher Mat Latos has lost three straight decisions after winning four of his first five.
	29 (29)	Royals	50-80	Zack Greinke leads the majors with three shutouts and six complete games.
	30 (30)	Nationals	46-85	Nyjer Morgan has been a tremendous pickup for the Nats, hitting .365 with a .416 OBP in 38 games.