MLB Power Rankings - Major League Baseball

Power Rankings: Still Dodgers on top at halfway point

Week:

ESPN.com

By the start of action Wednesday, all 30 teams will have played at least 81 games. So we can safely refer to this week's MLB Power Rankings as the midseason edition.

Yet the new Rankings aren't much different than the previous seven, at least at the top of the list. The Los Angeles Dodgers, now with Manny Ramirez back in the lineup, continue to reign as the top-ranked team, stretching their run at No. 1 to eight consecutive weeks.

The Dodgers weren't overly spectacular over the past week but they went 4-2 and avoided a near-disastrous loss Sunday. They are followed closely by the Boston Red Sox, now the No. 2 team for the past four weeks. The team to watch, though, is the No. 3 New York Yankees, baseball's hottest team; they've won five of six over the past week and nine of 10. The AL West's top two teams, the Los Angeles Angels and Texas Rangers, fill out the top five spots.

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 White Sox are the U.S. Army Team of the Week. They climbed six spots, from No. 20 to No. 14, after a week in which they won five of seven games.

2009 Power Rankings: July 6
	RK (LW)	TEAM	REC	COMMENT
	1 (1)	Dodgers	52-30	The Dodgers have the best MLB record since May 4, when they were 18-8.
	2 (2)	Red Sox	49-32	David Ortiz has at least one hit in 24 of his past 29 games, raising his average from .185 to .225.
	3 (3)	Yankees	48-33	Mariano Rivera has six saves during the Yankees' current run, winning 10 of their past 11 games.
	4 (6)	Angels	45-35	Vladimir Guerrero hit twice as many home runs over the weekend (2) as he did in the entire month of June (1).
$Texas Rangers$	5 (10)	Rangers	45-35	Since losing three in a row, the Rangers have won five straight games, averaging nearly eight runs a game.
	6 (5)	Tigers	44-37	The Tigers have led the AL Central every day since May 16.
	7 (4)	Rays	44-39	The Rays have scored a total of seven runs over their past four games, all losses.
	8 (7)	Cardinals	45-39	Albert Pujols leads MLB with 29 intentional walks, five fewer than he had for the entire 2008 season.
	9 (9)	Giants	44-37	All-Stars Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain have combined to go 18-4 with a 2.35 ERA.
	10 (10)	Phillies	42-37	Despite their poor home record (16-22), the Phillies have maintained their NL East lead.
	11 (8)	Brewers	43-39	The Brewers are 6-10 since June 19, when they led the NL Central by 1.5 games.
	12 (14)	Twins	43-40	The Twins have won seven of their past 10, moving to three games over .500 for the first time this season.
	13 (13)	Rockies	42-39	The Rockies have lost three of four in July, after finishing with an MLB-best 21-7 record in June.
	14 (20)	White Sox	42-40	The White Sox finished the first half of their schedule with the AL's second-best ERA (3.94).
	15 (18)	Marlins	43-40	The Marlins have won four straight home series to move within one game of the first-place Phillies in the NL East.
	16 (15)	Mariners	42-39	Felix Hernandez (8-3, 2.62, 114 K), who secured his first All-Star berth, has gone eight straight games without a loss.
	17 (17)	Cubs	40-39	Ted Lilly, the Cubs' only representative in the All-Star Game, got his 99th career victory Sunday.
	18 (12)	Blue Jays	42-41	The Blue Jays are 15-27 since May 18, when they were 27-14 and led the AL East by 3.5 games.
	19 (19)	Reds	40-40	Edwin Encarnacion has gone 1-for-9 since his return to the lineup July 3 and is now hitting .125 (9-for-72) for the season.
	20 (21)	Braves	39-42	The Braves have not been over .500 since June 12, when they were 30-30.
	21 (16)	Mets	39-42	David Wright has gone 5-for-40 (.125) and the Mets have scored a total of 25 runs in losing eight of their past 10 games.
	22 (22)	Astros	39-41	RHP Roy Oswalt is 3-1 and 2.13 ERA in his past five outings.
	23 (23)	Orioles	36-46	The Orioles (12-26) have the worst road record in the American League.
	24 (24)	Pirates	37-45	Freddy Sanchez, who leads NL second basemen with a .316 BA, will be in the All-Star Game for the third time in four years.
	25 (25)	Royals	35-46	Miguel Olivo, who leads the Royals with 13 home runs, is only three away from his personal record (16 in 2006 and 2007).
	26 (27)	Padres	35-46	Since their 10-game winning streak (May 15-25), the Padres are 12-24.
	27 (26)	Athletics	34-46	Closer Andrew Bailey, the only rookie selected to the All-Star Game, has not allowed a run in 10.1 innings.
	28 (28)	Indians	33-50	The Indians have lost 14 of their past 18 to become the first AL club with 50 losses.
	29 (29)	Diamondbacks	33-49	Dan Haren, who leads the NL in ERA (2.16), has lost only one of his past nine outings.
	30 (30)	Nationals	24-55	The Nationals are the only major league team with a run differential of minus-100 or lower (-101).