MLB Power Rankings - Major League Baseball

Power Rankings: Dodgers' No. 1 streak reaches 10

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The Los Angeles Dodgers are the top-ranked team in our MLB Power Rankings for the 10th straight week, but only by the slimmest of margins over the Boston Red Sox.

How slim is the lead? After the vote from our panel of experts, the Dodgers and the Red Sox finished with the same number of overall points. But we couldn't have a co-No. 1 situation. So, the Dodgers were deemed the top team based on our one and only tiebreaker: They received more first-place votes than the Red Sox.

The Red Sox and Yankees finished No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, for the fourth straight week. Rounding out the top five, baseball's hottest team, the Philadelphia Phillies, moved up one spot to No. 4, switching places with the Los Angeles Angels.

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. The Chicago Cubs are the U.S. Army Team of the Week. The Cubs, who've won four straight games, made the biggest jump in the rankings, moving up five spots to No. 12.

2009 Power Rankings: July 20
	RK (LW)	TEAM	REC	COMMENT
	1 (1)	Dodgers	58-34	New ace Clayton Kershaw has a 5-0 record and a 0.63 ERA in his past seven starts.
	2 (2)	Red Sox	55-36	Jason Bay is hitting .178 (8-for-45) with one homer and three RBIs in July.
	3 (3)	Yankees	54-37	The Yankees have a 41-22 record, the best in MLB, since A-Rod came back on May 8.
	4 (5)	Phillies	51-38	The Phillies have won eight in a row and 12 of 13.
	5 (4)	Angels	52-38	No K-Rod, no problem: Brian Fuentes leads the majors with 28 saves in 31 opportunities.
	6 (9)	Rays	51-41	J.P. Howell saved all three victories against the Royals this past weekend.
	7 (8)	Cardinals	51-43	Mark DeRosa is now 0-for-15 as a member of the Cardinals.
	8 (7)	Giants	50-41	Aside from Matt Cain (11-2) and Tim Lincecum (10-2), the rest of the Giants' starters are 18-25.
	9 (10)	Tigers	48-42	The Tigers have lost nine of 12 on the road and are only 4-13 against the AL East.
$Texas Rangers$	10 (6)	Rangers	49-41	The Rangers have lost five of seven games since July 8.
	11 (12)	Rockies	50-42	The Rockies have won 30 of 40 since June 4.
	12 (17)	Cubs	47-43	The Cubs have won six of seven to take second place in the NL Central from Milwaukee.
	13 (13)	Mariners	49-43	Ichiro Suzuki has hit safely in 26 of the past 28 games.
	14 (14)	White Sox	47-44	The White Sox have a 32-22 record since May 18.
	15 (11)	Brewers	47-45	Ryan Braun is hitting .218 (12-for-55) with no homers and one RBI in July.
	16 (16)	Twins	47-45	Joe Nathan has not allowed a run since May 21 (23.2 innings).
	17 (18)	Braves	46-46	The Braves have won seven of their past 10 to reach .500 and climb into second place in the NL East.
	18 (15)	Marlins	46-47	After being swept in a three-game series during the weekend, the Marlins have lost eight in a row to the Phillies in Miami.
	19 (19)	Astros	46-46	The Astros have a 27-17 record since May 31.
	20 (20)	Blue Jays	46-47	Adam Lind, who had 22 home runs in 676 career at-bats entering 2009, has 20 homers in 355 at-bats this season.
	21 (21)	Mets	43-48	The Mets have averaged only 3.08 runs and have a 9-15 record in their past 24 games.
	22 (22)	Reds	44-47	Francisco Cordero (22 saves, 1.16 ERA) has allowed only three hits in his past 10 outings.
	23 (23)	Orioles	41-50	The Orioles own the AL's worst road record (15-29).
	24 (24)	Pirates	40-51	The Pirates have lost 12 of 17 and have averaged 2.9 runs during that period.
	25 (26)	Diamondbacks	39-53	The Diamondbacks have scored two or fewer runs in 28 games this season.
	26 (27)	Royals	37-54	The Royals have lost eight of their past nine games.
	27 (25)	Athletics	38-52	Brett Anderson has allowed only one earned run in his past four starts (26.1 innings).
	28 (28)	Indians	36-57	The Indians have lost 21 of their past 28 games.
	29 (29)	Padres	37-55	The Padres rank last in batting (.232) and runs scored (342) in the majors.
	30 (30)	Nationals	26-65	The Nats have lost 10 of their past 11 and are 0-4 under new manager Jim Riggleman.