MLB Power Rankings - Major League Baseball

Power Rankings: Yanks, Cards are teams to beat

Week:

ESPN.com

This year, Labor Day, which marks the beginning of baseball's home stretch, is exactly one month from the opening day of the playoffs. And based on this week's MLB Power Rankings, the favorites to reach the World Series are the New York Yankees and the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Yankees, with baseball's best record and top run differential, are ranked No. 1 for the fifth consecutive week, while the Cardinals moved up two spots to No. 2. They are followed by the Los Angeles Angels, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies to round out the top five. The Phillies, No. 2 last week, fell three spots after losing three straight over the weekend at the Houston Astros.

The Cincinnati Reds, winners of seven straight games, are the U.S. Army Team of the Week, moving up five spots to No. 20. One of our voters, Enrique Rojas of ESPNDeportes.com, wrote the comments below, along with ESPN senior MLB editor David Kull.

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

2009 Power Rankings: September 7
	RK (LW)	TEAM	REC	COMMENT
	1 (1)	Yankees	87-50	Jorge Posada is off to a great start in September, hitting .467 with three homers, eight RBIs and a 1.133 OPS in four games.
	2 (4)	Cardinals	81-57	Ryan Franklin has given up four earned runs in three September outings after allowing four earned runs in his previous 36 appearances combined.
	3 (3)	Angels	81-54	Bobby Abreu has 72 RBIs in 88 games since May 25.
	4 (5)	Dodgers	81-57	The Dodgers are playing .500 ball (25-25) since the All-Star break.
	5 (2)	Phillies	77-57	Brad Lidge is the major league leader in blown saves (10).
	6 (6)	Red Sox	79-57	Mike Lowell is hitting .328 with a .959 OPS since returning from the DL on July 17.
	7 (11)	Tigers	75-61	The Tigers are on a six-game winning streak and have won 16 of their past 23.
	8 (9)	Rockies	77-60	Jorge De La Rosa (14-9) has won 12 of his past 14 outings.
$Texas Rangers$	9 (7)	Rangers	76-60	Rookie Neftali Feliz has 28 strikeouts, one walk and one earned run allowed in his first 22 major league innings.
	10 (8)	Giants	75-62	Until his win Sunday, Matt Cain had been 0-2 with a 3.03 ERA in his previous seven starts.
	11 (13)	Marlins	72-65	Chris Coghlan leads all MLB rookies in batting average (.310) and on-base percentage (.382).
	12 (10)	Rays	72-64	While he has only 107 hits this season, Carlos Pena has 39 homers, 100 RBIs and 91 runs scored.
	13 (12)	Braves	70-67	Jair Jurrjens (10-10, 2.93 ERA) is 3-3 in his past 10 appearances, despite having nine quality starts.
	14 (16)	Mariners	72-66	Ichiro Suzuki has 3,278 hits in 9,618 at-bats (.341) between Japan and the U.S.
	15 (14)	Twins	68-68	The Twins have won 12 of their past 18 games but haven't drawn any closer to the AL Central lead.
	16 (15)	Cubs	68-67	No more lights at Wrigley? The Cubs are 38-26 in day games.
	17 (17)	White Sox	68-70	Alex Rios is batting .087 (4-for-46) in his past 12 games and .160 (12-for-75) in 21 games since his arrival from Toronto.
	18 (19)	Astros	66-70	Miguel Tejada has 15 games of three or more hits, including four games with four hits this season.
	19 (18)	Brewers	66-70	Prince Fielder, who leads the league with 123 RBIs, has driven in 13 runs in his past 11 games.
	20 (25)	Reds	63-73	The Reds are on fire, with 12 wins in 14 games.
	21 (20)	Blue Jays	61-75	The Blue Jays have lost 10 of their past 14 games.
	22 (21)	Mets	62-75	Francisco Rodriguez reached the 30-save mark for the fifth straight season.
	23 (24)	Athletics	61-76	Andrew Bailey (23 saves) has converted 18 straight save opportunities.
	24 (23)	Diamondbacks	61-77	The Diamondbacks have lost five of six since their five-game winning streak ended.
	25 (22)	Indians	60-76	David Huff has won four of his five outings, despite allowing 14 runs in 27.2 innings (4.56 ERA) and having more walks (12) than strikeouts (8).
	26 (28)	Padres	61-77	Everth Cabrera has multiple hits in five of his past 11 games.
	27 (26)	Orioles	56-81	The Orioles have won consecutive games just three times in the second half of the season.
	28 (27)	Pirates	54-81	Ross Ohlendorf, who leads the Pirates in wins, is 4-2 with a 2.70 ERA in the second half.
	29 (29)	Royals	51-85	Billy Butler is hitting .311 with an .878 OPS since July 1.
	30 (30)	Nationals	47-90	The Nationals have had three streaks of seven or more losses.