MLB Power Rankings Week 5

There are two very obvious trends in this week's MLB power rankings. 

Trend number one: things are going fairly well in the city of Chicago. Trend number two: the NL East is playing some darn good baseball right now. The Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox are not only sitting at the top of their respective league standings, but are also sitting at the top of our latest round of rankings. And we've got three different NL East teams making an appearance in this week's top 10 as well. We even considered making it four. Consider yourselves honorably mentioned, Philadelphia. 

While we're a little focused on the trends this week, we're also looking at a couple of teams making a first-time appearance in the power rankings. It's making things interesting across the league and we're all for that, particularly heading into the second month of the season. 

Keep clicking through the gallery to see how everything went down on the diamond, and in the power rankings, this week. (Getty)

10. Texas Rangers

Record: 18-14, Last Week: No. 5, The Breakdown: The Rangers got a pair of much-needed victories on Friday and Saturday to secure a series win against Detroit and snap a three-game losing streak after being swept by the Blue Jays. Take those victories with a grain of salt though. Texas announced after the 10-5 win on Saturday that A.J. Griffin would head to the 15-day DL with a stiff shoulder. Griffin was pulled in the third inning after throwing 53 pitches, giving up three runs and four hits. (Getty)

9. San Francisco Giants

Record: 17-16, Last Week: Not Ranked, The Breakdown: In a week where things did not go particularly well for anyone in the NL West, the Giants held their own. Heading into Sunday afternoon, San Francisco was sitting a game ahead of the Dodgers in first place, boasting a 6-4 record in the last 10 games, including a 2-1 victory over Colorado on Saturday.  The Giants are also 10-7 at home and that's a good thing going forward. Why? San Francisco has a home series against the Blue Jays coming up this week before back-to-back series on the road. If the Giants can grab some momentum on home grass, they might be able to take it into the rest of the month. (Getty)

8. Boston Red Sox

Record: 18-13, Last Week: No. 10, The Breakdown: Alright, we know. The Red Sox lost the opening two games of the series to the Yankees. They also lost the series opener at the White Sox on Tuesday. But - and this is a slightly good but - Boston also defeated Chicago twice this week. On the road. And they hit well. Really well. Dustin Pedroia, Hanley Ramirez and Jackie Bradley, Jr. all homered in the 7-3 win on Thursday night as the Red Sox racked up 12 hits. If and when Boston can keep hitting like that, they're a very difficult team to slow down. (Getty)

7. Baltimore Orioles

Record: 18-12, Last Week: No. 7, The Breakdown: Ok, we've got good news and bad news. Baltimore won the series against the Yankees earlier this week and split the double header against Oakland on Saturday. The squad is still sitting in first place in the AL East and their home record continues to be pretty darn impressive. The bad news? Pitching. Baltimore is facing a pitching crisis of sorts, staring down a rotation that is short on starting pitchers. Orioles manager Buck Showalter told the Baltimore Sun on Sunday: "All things are in play — and I mean all." It's a problem to keep an eye on and one that might hurt the Orioles going forward. (Getty)

6. Miami Marlins

Record: 16-14, Last Week: Not Ranked, The Breakdown: Welcome to the rankings, Miami! And welcome, particularly, to Giancarlo Stanton's bat. Because it's good at this whole playing baseball thing. And hitting baseballs thing. Stanton made history on Friday night, hitting a 490-foot home run against the Philadelphia Phillies. Four hundred and ninety feet. It was the longest home run in the history of Marlins Park and the 31st homer by Stanton that was calculated at 450 feet or longer. That is, relatively speaking, rather impressive. It's also helping the Marlins win games. As of Sunday afternoon, Miami was just two and a half games out of first in the NL East. (Getty)

5. Seattle Mariners

Record: 18-13, Last Week: No. 6, The Breakdown: The Mariners are making it all work. Seattle won games this week when connecting on just one hit and also another when its defense gave up eight runs. It's not a particularly pretty way to play baseball, but it's also resulting in wins, so, it's not all bad either. Also, let's talk some more about Robinson Cano. We mentioned how well he'd been playing last week, but the point remains the same this week. Cano, as of Sunday afternoon, had 17 hits in the last seven days. He drove in eight runs, racked up three home runs and hit a bordering on ridiculous .548. (Getty)

4. New York Mets

Record: 19-11, Last Week: No. 2, The Breakdown: Everyone else go home, we have hit the apex of sports. Bartolo Colon hit a home run. We can only go down from here. The 42-year-old pitcher connected on the first home run of his career to lead the Mets to a 6-3 victory at San Diego on Saturday night, snapping a two-game skid and sparking a media blitz that we hope never dies down. Seriously. If you want to see happiness, just watch the New York dugout reaction after Colon starts trotting around the bases. Also, and perhaps more importantly in the realm of power rankings news, it wasn't a particularly bad week for the Mets. Sure, New York dropped it first two at San Diego, but the Mets won the series with the Braves, holding pace in the NL East standings. (Getty)

3. Washington Nationals

Record: 19-12, Last Week: No. 3, The Breakdown: Alright, so it has not been a good series for the Nationals when it came to taking on the Cubs. Washington opened up the road tilt by dropping the first three games. Why haven't the Nationals dropped down in the power rankings then? Washington is still hitting - and scoring - against a Cubs team that has some seriously strong pitching. And that's enough to keep 'em at No. 3. Oh, and despite the three-game skid, Washington's pitching rotation isn't all too shabby either. Coming into the weekend, Gio Gonzalez (1.15), Joe Ross (1.23) and Tanner Roark (2.35) were all sitting in the top 10 in National League ERA. (Getty)

2. Chicago White Sox

Record: 22-10, Last Week: No. 4, The Breakdown: Are we done doubting the White Sox yet? Heading into Sunday, Chicago had won five of itslast eight and sat five games ahead of the closest team in the AL Central standings. The White Sox are the only team in the entire AL to have 20 wins this season. Oh, and Chris Sale. Chris Sale is pretty good. He's won all seven of his starts, gaining confidence on his fastball and, according to ESPN, putting 47.6 percent of his pitches in the upper half of the zone. That's a career-high. That means? He's throwing pitches that force opposing batters to hit poorly. He's throwing pitches that his defense can play. He's throwing pitches that help his team win. (Getty)

1. Chicago Cubs

Record: 24-6, Last Week: No. 1, The Breakdown: It is time to be impressed by the Cubs. From May 2 to May 7, Chicago did not lose one game. Not a single one. The Cubs swept Pittsburgh, giving up a total of five runs in three games, and then opened up the series against Washington with three straight victories. And can we talk about Ben Zobrist for a quick second? When your wife tweets out "OK now you're just showing off" after his fourth home run in a week, you know you're doing something right. The second baseman is currently hitting .278 with 25 RBI and an on base percentage of .402. That's not too shabby and, right now, neither are the Cubs. (Getty)