MLB Power Rankings - Major League Baseball

Power Rankings: Yankees, Red Sox now 1-2

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The New York Yankees are about to make the playoffs for the 14th time in 15 years. Meanwhile, the Boston Red Sox are closing in on their sixth playoff berth in seven years. So it's no surprise that as fall begins this week, the Yankees and Red Sox are 1-2 in the MLB Power Rankings.

The Yankees, despite losing two of three at the Seattle Mariners over the weekend, are No. 1 for the seventh consecutive week, while the Red Sox, who lead the American League wild-card race, move up three spots to No. 2.

The Red Sox, tied with the Oakland Athletics for the best record in September (13-5), are this week's U.S. Army Team of the Week. They have moved within five games of New York in the AL East and visit Yankee Stadium for a three-game series beginning Friday.

The Los Angeles Dodgers, who have a magic number of four to clinch a playoff spot, are the top-ranked National League team at No. 3 overall, followed by the Los Angeles Angels at No. 4 and the St. Louis Cardinals at No. 5.

One of our voters, Enrique Rojas of ESPNDeportes.com, wrote the comments below, along with ESPN.com senior MLB editor David Kull. 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: September 21
	RK (LW)	TEAM	REC	COMMENT
	1 (1)	Yankees	95-55	Is CC Sabathia ready for October? He's 3-0 with a 1.61 ERA in September.
	2 (5)	Red Sox	89-59	Jon Lester is 11-2 since May 31, and the Red Sox have won 10 of their past 11 games.
	3 (4)	Dodgers	90-60	Joe Torre's teams have won at least 90 games in 12 of the past 14 years.
	4 (2)	Angels	89-60	Howie Kendrick is hitting .420 (34-for-81) in his past 20 games.
	5 (3)	Cardinals	87-63	In his first season as a second baseman, Skip Schumaker has made nine errors and is eighth in the NL in fielding percentage (.982).
	6 (6)	Phillies	87-61	Cole Hamels (3-1, 1.82 ERA, .202 BAA) has outpitched Cliff Lee (2-1, 4.30 ERA, .313 BAA) in September.
	7 (7)	Rockies	85-65	Ubaldo Jimenez has set career highs in wins (14), strikeouts (181) and innings (205).
	8 (10)	Giants	80-69	Cy or sigh? Tim Lincecum has two wins in eight starts since Aug. 7.
$Texas Rangers$	9 (8)	Rangers	81-67	The Rangers went 2-7 and were shut out four times during a nine-game homestand.
	10 (9)	Tigers	79-70	Gerald Laird has thrown out an AL-best 42 percent (36-for-86) of base stealers.
	11 (11)	Marlins	80-70	Hanley Ramirez leads the NL in batting (.352), but he's 5-for-28 over his past seven games.
	12 (12)	Braves	79-70	In 44 games back with the Braves, Adam LaRoche is hitting .356 with a 1.067 OPS.
	13 (16)	Twins	76-73	The Twins are 33-20 against the clubs they play over their final 13 games.
	14 (14)	Mariners	78-72	Felix Hernandez (16-5) is 3-0 with an 0.58 ERA in September.
	15 (15)	Rays	77-73	In his past three outings (21.2 IP), Matt Garza has allowed only three earned runs and has struck out 25.
	16 (13)	Cubs	76-72	Besides Albert Pujols, Derrek Lee is the only major league player with 30 HRs, 100 RBIs and a .300 BA (33-103-.303).
	17 (19)	Brewers	74-75	Yovani Gallardo (13-12) reached 200 strikeouts for the first time in his career.
	18 (17)	White Sox	73-77	The White Sox have lost eight of their past 11 games and have scored only seven runs in their past five losses.
	19 (18)	Astros	70-79	Despite Hunter Pence's great month (.349 BA, 1.042 OPS), the Astros have scored fewer runs in September (59) than every other team but the Pirates.
	20 (23)	Athletics	71-78	Rookie shortstop Cliff Pennington is hitting .349 with a 1.033 OPS in September.
	21 (20)	Blue Jays	66-83	Aaron Hill leads all major league second basemen in home runs (32) and RBIs (98).
	22 (21)	Reds	69-81	One more defeat will give the Reds a losing record for the ninth straight season.
	23 (24)	Padres	68-82	Kevin Correia has established career-high marks in wins (11), strikeouts (131) and innings (183).
	24 (22)	Mets	65-85	The Mets have lost 10 of their past 13 games.
	25 (25)	Orioles	60-89	The Orioles have lost 19 of their past 21 games against Boston.
	26 (27)	Diamondbacks	65-85	Mark Reynolds is only one strikeout away from tying the MLB single-season record (204), set last season.
	27 (26)	Indians	61-88	The Indians have lost 11 straight and 12 of 13 away from home.
	28 (29)	Royals	61-88	The Royals have the AL's fifth best September record (11-7).
	29 (28)	Pirates	56-91	The Pirates have the worst record in MLB in one-run games (11-22).
	30 (30)	Nationals	51-98	Adam Dunn reached the 100-RBI mark for the fifth time in six years.