MLB Power Rankings - Major League Baseball

Power Rankings: Braves, Marlins ranked 1-2

Week:

ESPN.com

Power Rankings are always the toughest to determine after the first week of the regular season. What do you believe -- how good (or bad) the team was predicted to be before the season, or how they played over their first six or seven games? Is the team's early record a true reflection or an aberration?

Such was the quandary facing ESPN.com's panel of voters, who were all over the board on some teams. Here's a perfect example of the difficulty facing our voters: Days before the beginning of the regular season, the Red Sox were deemed the No. 1 team in our preseason Power Rankings, while the Padres were No. 30. This week the Red Sox are No. 15 and the Padres are No. 14. Go figure.

Anyway, while the preseason rankings gave the top three spots to AL East teams, this week's rankings award the top two to NL East teams -- the Braves and the Marlins, who completed 5-1 opening weeks. Will they remain at the top for another week or take a Red Sox-like rankings plunge by next Monday?

The team comments below were written by one of our panelists, Enrique Rojas of ESPNdeportes.com. Meanwhile, you can also rank the teams yourself.

Tune into "Baseball Tonight" every Friday (starting April 17) on ESPN to see the week's U.S. Army Power Rankings. The Marlins are the U.S. Army Team of the Week after winning five of their first six games and moving up 18 spots from our preseason rankings.

2009 Power Rankings: April 13
	RK (LW)	TEAM	REC	COMMENT
	1 (11)	Braves	5-1	The Braves are unbeaten at home, but even more outstanding was their start in Philadelphia against the Phillies, whom they nearly swept.
	2 (20)	Marlins	5-1	Josh Johnson is 2-0 with a 0.57 ERA in his first two outings, and Emilio Bonifacio batted .500 and stole four bases in his first week as a regular player.
	3 (12)	Cardinals	5-2	Headed by a great start from Albert Pujols, the Cardinals won five of seven at home.
	4 (4)	Cubs	4-2	The Cubs scored 34 runs in their first six games even though first baseman Derrek Lee was 2-for-25 and outfielder Milton Bradley was 1-for-17.
	5 (3)	Yankees	3-3	Without Alex Rodriguez since March and Mark Teixeira for two games, the Yankees went .500 on the road in their first six games.
	6 (21)	Blue Jays	5-2	The Blue Jays lead the AL East, and that is good enough to be placed near the top of any ranking.
	7 (8)	Dodgers	4-3	The Dodgers overscored their rivals 32-23 away from home without a home run from Manny Ramirez.
	8 (2)	Rays	3-3	The Rays won two of three in Boston before losing the first two of the weekend series in Baltimore. Tampa Bay hosts the Yankees in its home opener at Tropicana Field.
	9 (25)	Mariners	5-2	The Mariners won five of seven games before coming home to Safeco Field for a 10-day stop.
	10 (5)	Phillies	3-3	After losing their first two games and being down by seven runs in the third against Atlanta, the Phillies scored eight runs in the seventh inning Wednesday before winning two of three in Colorado.
	11 (18)	Tigers	4-3	Detroit cooled down the hot Rangers with a sweep in three games at Comerica Park.
	12 (6)	Mets	3-3	Johan Santana has allowed one run and struck out 20 batters in 12 2/3 innings, a good sign that he's healthy and ready to contend for the Cy Young Award again.
	13 (27)	Orioles	4-2	Adam Jones is displaying his great talent, and Japanese pitcher Koji Uehara silenced the Yankees in his major league debut.
	14 (30)	Padres	5-2	Chris Young and Jake Peavy ignored the modest pool of players in San Diego, which leads the NL West.
	15 (1)	Red Sox	2-4	With the exception of Kevin Youkilis (.522) and Jason Bay, the Red Sox's offense was on vacation during the first week of the season, losing two of three by one run.
	16 (7)	Angels	3-3	The Angels lead the American League in quality starts (4), with one coming from Nick Adenhart, who died in a car accident.
	17 (15)	White Sox	3-3	Chicago is second to last in the AL in batting (.232), but the good news was the staff ERA (3.17) and an outstanding performance from veteran Bartolo Colon in his first outing.
$Texas Rangers$	18 (22)	Rangers	3-3	The Rangers started the season in a similar fashion to how they played in 2008, when they were 40-41 at home and 39-42 on the road.
	19 (10)	Twins	3-4	Getting pitcher Scott Baker back this week and catcher Joe Mauer in the near future will bring positive change to the Twins.
	20 (16)	Athletics	2-4	Despite three consecutive losses to Seattle, Oakland got decent pitching, especially from rookie Trevor Cahill, who had a no-hitter through 6 1/3 innings Sunday.
	21 (29)	Pirates	3-3	Hey, the Pirates played .500 ball away from home!
	22 (24)	Rockies	3-3	Colorado has overscored its rivals 39-29 and won two of three away from home against the Diamondbacks. The Rockies' pitchers have three quality starts.
	23 (17)	Reds	2-3	The Reds didn't get a good job from their wonder boys, Edinson Volquez and Johnny Cueto, but veteran Aaron Harang has 11 strikeouts and one run allowed in 14 innings so far.
	24 (23)	Royals	3-3	The Royals are last in almost every offensive department but still went 3-3 against the White Sox and Yankees behind outstanding pitching.
	25 (9)	Indians	1-5	Lefty Cliff Lee has allowed 11 runs in 10 innings, and the Tribe leads the majors with 51 runs allowed.
	26 (14)	Brewers	2-4	The Brewers started off the year in an offensive slump, and three clashes against Cincinnati's pitching staff isn't a very good way to start the second week.
	27 (19)	Giants	2-4	A 5.02 ERA wasn't what San Fransisco expected from its pitchers, especially Tim Lincecum, during the first week of the season.
	28 (13)	Diamondbacks	2-4	The Diamondbacks lost Brandon Webb in their first outing, a very bad sign for a team that allowed 38 runs in its first six games.
	29 (26)	Astros	1-5	The Astros have been a disaster both at the plate and on the mound. They are last in the NL in runs scored (16), and their ERA (6.75) is 14th.
	30 (28)	Nationals	0-6	The Nationals have been outscored 26-45, and their pitchers carry the worst ERA in the NL (7.84). The Nats' starters have allowed 31 runs in 26 innings.