MLB Power Rankings - Major League Baseball

Power Rankings: Mighty Marlins move into No. 1 spot

Week:

ESPN.com

What could be more surprising than the Florida Marlins' surprise appearance in the No. 2 spot of last week's MLB Power Rankings? This week, when they are No. 1.

After two weeks of play, our panel of experts agrees that the Marlins look like the best team in baseball, making them a unanimous choice as the top-ranked team.

Another consensus pick was the Los Angeles Dodgers at No. 2. The Dodgers have won eight straight, their past six coming at home against the Giants and the Rockies.

And what happened to last week's No. 1 team? The Atlanta Braves dropped to No. 15, courtesy of five straight losses, the first three coming against the Marlins.

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 Monday on ESPN to see the week's U.S. Army Power Rankings. The Cincinnati Reds are the U.S. Army Team of the Week; they made an 11-spot jump in the rankings after a 4-2 week.

2009 Power Rankings: April 20
	RK (LW)	TEAM	REC	COMMENT
	1 (2)	Marlins	11-1	Florida is perfect on the road (6-0), in one-run games (3-0) and in extra-inning games (2-0) .
	2 (7)	Dodgers	10-3	The Dodgers scored 50 runs to go 6-0 at home and have a team BA of .302, but pitching has been their biggest asset (.200 BAA).
	3 (4)	Cubs	7-4	Kosuke Fukudome looks more settled than in his rookie season, hitting .375 with 10 runs scored and 10 RBIs, while the Cubs' defense, with only four errors, has been a key to their good start.
	4 (6)	Blue Jays	10-4	Toronto won its first four series of the season for the first time in Blue Jays history and is the only team in the AL East with more runs scored (87) than allowed (58).
	5 (3)	Cardinals	8-5	In the preseason the Cardinals' Achilles heel was their rotation, yet even with Chris Carpenter out for a while, Tony La Russa's starters posted an 8-1 record in the first two weeks.
	6 (5)	Yankees	7-6	Even without some of their main offensive guns and with Chien-Ming Wang (0-3, 34.50 ERA) and the bullpen (7.05 ERA) getting pounded, the Yankees are still playing above .500.
	7 (11)	Tigers	7-5	Rick Porcello, 20, won his first major league game, Armando Galarraga leads the club at 2-0 with a 0.68 ERA and closer Fernando Rodney has converted his three save opportunities. Very good news for a team that has had real pitching needs.
	8 (15)	Red Sox	6-6	Kevin Youkilis (.468, 3 HR, 9 RBIs) is silencing critics who said he couldn't carry the team; he's been by far the biggest bright spot for the Red Sox offense.
	9 (9)	Mariners	8-5	Carlos Silva (0-2, 6.35) has been the only negative on a staff that leads the American League in ERA (3.01) and shutouts (2).
	10 (14)	Padres	9-4	San Diego's offensive power falls largely on the shoulders of 1B Adrian Gonzalez, but the Padres' pitching (3.83 ERA) is mainly responsible for their surprising start.
	11 (12)	Mets	6-6	Johan Santana (2-1, 0.46, 27 K's) is superb, as is the revamped bullpen, but the Mets' No. 2 to No. 5 starters are big question marks. Mike Pelfrey, John Maine, Oliver Perez, Livan Hernandez and Nelson Figueroa have allowed 35 runs in 48.0 innings.
	12 (23)	Reds	6-5	The Reds could have baseball's next Rick Ankiel. Righty Micah Owings is 0-1, 7.20 ERA as a starter, but he's hitting .400 with two doubles and two RBIs, both coming on his game-winning, pinch-hit double Sunday.
	13 (17)	White Sox	7-5	Mark Buehrle, Gavin Floyd and Bartolo Colon have a combined record of 6-1 for a team that has seven quality starts from its pitchers.
	14 (24)	Royals	7-5	The pitching is laying down the law in the AL Central, and right-hander Zack Greinke has become the Royals' sheriff (3-0, 0.00 ERA, 26 K's in 20 IP).
	15 (1)	Braves	6-6	The Braves had a five-game losing streak, with a .190 batting average, before exploding for 11 runs against the Pirates on Sunday.
	16 (10)	Phillies	5-6	Raul Ibanez, who signed a three-year, $31.5 million free-agent contract, is the reason the Phillies don't miss Pat Burrell. He is hitting .385 with five home runs, 10 RBIs and 12 runs.
	17 (8)	Rays	5-8	Tampa Bay, which led the majors with 57 home wins in 2008, has lost five of seven at Tropicana Field, and the Rays' pitching staff has a 5.36 ERA.
	18 (19)	Twins	7-7	The Twins completed a sweep of the Angels with the third straight eight-inning outing from Glen Perkins (1-1, 1.50), who has taken a forward step while Francisco Liriano and the other starters have struggled.
$Texas Rangers$	19 (18)	Rangers	5-7	The Rangers have scored 80 runs, the third most in baseball, but their pitchers have allowed 81.
	20 (21)	Pirates	6-6	The Pirates' pitching staff leads the majors with three shutouts, and before collapsing against Atlanta on Sunday, it had a 21-inning scoreless streak.
	21 (20)	Athletics	5-7	Oakland is last in the American League in average (.230), hits (98) and home runs (3).
	22 (13)	Orioles	6-6	Baltimore lost the first three games of its series in Boston to drop to .500 for the first time in the season.
	23 (16)	Angels	4-8	The Angels have lost five of six on the road and are off to their worst start since they were 3-8 in 2002, the year they won their first and only World Series.
	24 (25)	Indians	4-9	The Indians are in the AL Central basement, but they sent a message by scoring 40 runs and taking two of four from the Yankees over the weekend.
	25 (22)	Rockies	4-7	Colorado has lost six of seven games. In their seven losses this season, the Rockies' pitchers have allowed 55 runs, an average of 7.8 per game.
	26 (27)	Giants	4-8	Randy Johnson's chase for 300 victories -- he's at 296 -- appears to be the only excuse for watching the Giants these days.
	27 (26)	Brewers	4-8	The Brewers have been consistently bad; they are last in batting average (.224) and ERA (5.16) and have made a league-high seven errors.
	28 (28)	Diamondbacks	4-8	The Diamondbacks have been a complete disaster, with the worst run differential (minus-22) in the majors.
	29 (29)	Astros	4-8	The Astros are last in the majors in runs scored (36), and Miguel Tejada, who's hitting .368, has no home runs and only one RBI.
	30 (30)	Nationals	1-10	Nationals manager Manny Acta announced after the game Sunday that he will make radical changes, especially in the bullpen, which allowed the Marlins to erase deficits on consecutive days.