MLB Power Rankings - Major League Baseball

Power Rankings: Yankees stay put at No. 1

Week:

ESPN.com

The New York Yankees are in the midst of a 10-game road trip, their longest of the season, but they haven't moved from the top spot in the MLB Power Rankings.

The Yankees, who just won three of four in Seattle, are No. 1 for the second consecutive week, while the Angels move up one spot to No. 2, trading places with their L.A.-area neighbors, the Dodgers.

The Texas Rangers and the St. Louis Cardinals each jump two places, rising to No. 4 and No. 5, respectively. The Rangers, who lead the American League wild-card race and took two of three from the Red Sox over the weekend, are the U.S. Army Team of the Week.

Meanwhile, the Washington Nationals deserve some kudos. After 19 weeks of occupying the No. 30 spot, they finally have escaped the cellar, moving up to No. 29, ahead of the new No. 30, the Kansas City Royals.

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.

2009 Power Rankings: August 17
	RK (LW)	TEAM	REC	COMMENT
	1 (1)	Yankees	74-44	In his past 27 appearances, Mariano Rivera has not blown a save, and his ERA is 0.65.
	2 (3)	Angels	70-45	The Angels are 21-8 in the second half, second only to the Yankees (23-7).
	3 (2)	Dodgers	70-48	The Dodgers have lost six of their past nine games and are 24-24 since June 23.
$Texas Rangers$	4 (6)	Rangers	66-50	Rookie Neftali Feliz has 16 K's in 8.2 innings pitched over his first five MLB appearances.
	5 (7)	Cardinals	67-52	Catcher Yadier Molina is hitting .404 (19-for-47) in August.
	6 (5)	Phillies	66-49	Brad Lidge (0-5, 7.27 ERA, 22 saves) leads the majors in blown saves with eight.
	7 (4)	Red Sox	66-51	Opponents have stolen 118 bases against Red Sox catchers, 92 of them against Jason Varitek.
	8 (10)	Rockies	65-53	The Rockies are NL wild-card leaders, based on a solid 18-12 record in the second half.
	9 (8)	Rays	63-54	Jason Bartlett is first among AL shortstops in RBIs (56), batting average (.342), on-base percentage (.395) and slugging percentage (.538).
	10 (11)	Tigers	62-55	Edwin Jackson (9-5) is 6-0 in his past eight outings at Comerica Park.
	11 (9)	Giants	63-54	Pablo Sandoval leads the Giants in at-bats, hits, doubles, home runs, RBIs, batting average, slugging percentage and on-base percentage.
	12 (13)	Marlins	63-55	Hanley Ramirez is hitting .458 (27-for-59) during his 12-game hitting streak.
	13 (14)	Braves	61-56	Braves starters have pitched six innings or more in 25 of their past 29 games.
	14 (12)	Cubs	60-55	Jeff Baker is batting .500 (14-for-28) during his seven-game hitting streak.
	15 (15)	White Sox	60-58	Carlos Quentin (1-for-15) and Alex Rios (3-for-19) are not doing much to claim spots in the lineup.
	16 (16)	Mariners	61-57	Ichiro Suzuki (MLB hits leader with 175) has two or more hits in 15 of his past 22 games.
	17 (17)	Brewers	58-59	Prince Fielder (30 HRs, 105 RBIs) is the first Milwaukee player with three straight 30-30 seasons.
	18 (19)	Twins	56-61	The Twins are fading out of contention in the AL Central with 11 losses in 15 games.
	19 (18)	Astros	57-61	Lance Berkman is hitting .198 with a .612 OPS as a right-handed hitter this season.
	20 (20)	Blue Jays	55-61	Aaron Hill is the major league leader with 28 home runs from the No. 2 spot in the lineup.
	21 (21)	Mets	55-62	Gary Sheffield is the only Mets batter with double-digit home runs (10).
	22 (22)	Diamondbacks	54-64	Rusty Ryal, whose line drive struck Hiroki Kuroda in the head, is hitting .500 over his first six major league games.
	23 (23)	Indians	51-66	Cleveland has won four straight series against the AL Central leaders (Detroit, Minnesota and the White Sox).
	24 (26)	Athletics	52-65	The A's might be 13 games under .500, but they are 20-21 against the AL East.
	25 (24)	Reds	50-67	Johnny Cueto has gone eight outings without a win, allowing 39 runs in 33 innings (10.64 ERA).
	26 (25)	Orioles	48-69	The Orioles have the AL's worst ERA in August (6.49).
	27 (28)	Padres	49-70	Adrian Gonzalez is batting .568 (21-for37) during his eight-game hitting streak.
	28 (27)	Pirates	46-70	The Pirates are 2-12 in August and have been outscored 99-48.
	29 (30)	Nationals	43-75	The Nationals are 11-4 in August and have scored 83 runs, the third most in the NL.
	30 (29)	Royals	46-71	The Royals are 9-20 since the All-Star break.