MLB Power Rankings - Major League Baseball

Power Rankings: Solid road trip lands Dodgers back at No. 1

Week:

ESPN.com

In 2009, the Los Angeles Dodgers have already set a modern major league record for the most consecutive home victories (13) to start a season. But their recent road trip was what catapulted them back to the top of the MLB Power Rankings.

The Dodgers went 4-2 last week, taking two of three games in both Philadelphia and Florida to return to the No. 1 spot after a one-week absence. They narrowly edged the Toronto Blue Jays, who climbed two spots to No. 2. Meanwhile, last week's No. 1 team, the Boston Red Sox, dropped four spots to No. 5.

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

Tune into "Baseball Tonight" every Monday on ESPN to see the week's U.S. Army Power Rankings. The Texas Rangers are the U.S. Army Team of the Week; as winners of seven straight games, the Rangers jumped seven spots to No. 3 in this week's rankings.

2009 Power Rankings: May 18
	RK (LW)	TEAM	REC	COMMENT
	1 (2)	Dodgers	26-13	Without Manny Ramirez, the Dodgers have won two road series in a row and four of their past five games.
	2 (4)	Blue Jays	26-14	Roy Halladay (8-1, 2.78 ERA in nine outings) went 3-4, 4.77 in his first nine games of 2003, when he won 22 games and the AL Cy Young Award.
$Texas Rangers$	3 (10)	Rangers	23-14	Texas is the hottest club in MLB with 13 wins in 15 games.
	4 (7)	Brewers	23-14	Trevor Hoffman (9-for-9 in save opportunities) has not allowed a run in 10 innings.
	5 (1)	Red Sox	22-16	The slump of David Ortiz is not the only concern for the Red Sox, whose starting pitching ERA is a whopping 5.76.
	6 (5)	Mets	21-16	In 13 games at first base, Fernando Tatis has hit .310 (13-for-42) with two home runs and seven RBIs.
	7 (13)	Yankees	20-17	New York is 7-2 with Alex Rodriguez in the lineup.
	8 (8)	Cubs	21-15	Carlos Marmol and Kevin Gregg, the Cubs' set-up man and closer, have combined to allow 31 hits and 27 walks in 34 2/3 innings.
	9 (12)	Phillies	20-16	Brad Lidge (8.31 ERA) earned saves on Saturday and Sunday without allowing a run after six straight appearances in which he gave up earned runs.
	10 (6)	Tigers	20-16	In 54 at-bats, Ramon Santiago has 19 RBIs, one more than his total in 2008.
	11 (3)	Cardinals	21-16	Albert Pujols has dropped his average from .364 to .328, and the Cardinals are 4-6 in their past 10 games.
	12 (14)	Reds	20-17	Only Washington (37) and Seattle (32) have more errors than Cincinnati (29).
	13 (9)	Royals	20-18	Zack Greinke leads MLB in ERA (0.88), complete games (four) and shutouts (two).
	14 (11)	Angels	18-18	Darren Oliver (1.10 ERA) has been the exception in the Angels' terrible bullpen (3-10, 6.35).
	15 (15)	Rays	19-20	Surprisingly, SS Jason Bartlett leads the Rays in hitting with a .370 batting average.
	16 (18)	Braves	18-18	Atlanta has the fewest wins at home (six) among the clubs that are .500 or better.
	17 (17)	Giants	19-18	Randy Johnson has allowed 23 extra-base hits (13 doubles, 10 home runs) in 40 2/3 innings.
	18 (20)	Twins	18-20	Minnesota is 3-11 against AL East clubs and 15-9 against the rest of the AL.
	19 (16)	Marlins	18-20	SS Hanley Ramirez has hit .414 (24-of-58) and reached base 43 times in May.
	20 (19)	Mariners	18-20	SS Yuniesky Betancourt walked three times in the past three games after walking only twice in the first 33.
	21 (23)	Astros	17-19	After hitting .162 in April, Lance Berkman is hitting .333 in May, raising his average to .230.
	22 (22)	Orioles	16-22	Baltimore pitchers have the third-worst ERA (5.49) in baseball.
	23 (21)	White Sox	15-21	Chicago has lost 11 of its past 14 games.
	24 (28)	Pirates	16-21	The Pirates scored 10 runs in the seventh inning on Sunday, their last home game before leaving on a 10-game away tour.
	25 (26)	Rockies	14-22	Todd Helton is only one hit away from becoming the 255th player in MLB history to reach the 2,000-hit mark.
	26 (25)	Athletics	13-21	The A's were outscored 34-9 this past weekend and have a minus-21 run differential.
	27 (27)	Padres	16-22	San Diego swept Cincinnati this past weekend after losing 19 of its previous 23 games.
	28 (29)	Indians	14-25	Catcher Victor Martinez is hitting .401. In the history of the franchise, Joe Jackson (.408 in 1911) is the only hitter to finish a season with a .400 batting average.
	29 (24)	Diamondbacks	14-23	Despite the D-backs' losing record, Dan Haren (3-4) leads MLB with eight quality starts.
	30 (30)	Nationals	11-25	The Nationals have allowed 225 runs and are tied with the Orioles and the Indians for the most allowed in baseball.