MLB power rankings: The Yankees are coming

After a brief stumble in the form of a five-game losing streak, the Sox have reinforced their position as baseball’s best over the first month and change. Mookie Betts has gone to another level over the last few weeks, adding his second three-homer game of the year and hitting over .350 for the year. Add in the return of Xander Bogaerts and the Sox raced out to become the first 25-win team on the year.

It was only a matter of time before the Yankees kicked into gear, and they have most certainly arrived on the scene. Coming into the new week, they have won 15 of their last 16, capping it with Sunday’s comeback win via a Gleyber Torres walk-off homer. Perhaps the most impressive element of their recent dominance is whom it has come against, with series wins over the Blue Jays and Astros, along with sweeps of the Twins, Angels and Indians — who carry a combined .536 win percentage.

Gerrit Cole’s infatuation with strikeouts in the early going reached a stunning new high last week. His one-hit, 16-strikeout outing on Friday against the Diamondbacks was his fourth time reaching double-digit K’s on the year. It has kept Houston at the heart of a surprisingly competitive AL West race.

The D-backs are currently enjoying the biggest divisional lead in the National League with A.J. Pollock leading the way. With a three-homer breakout against the Dodgers, Pollock is currently on pace for 48 homers, along with 38 steals, 43 doubles and 138 RBI. Arizona will need the closet MVP candidate to keep up the pace, especially with the rotation losing Robbie Ray and Taijuan Walker over the last week.

The legendary career of Albert Pujols crossed another milestone en route to Cooperstown, as he reached the 3,000-hit plateau last Friday. The three-time MVP joined Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Alex Rodriguez as the only players in history with both 3,000 hits and 600 home runs.

Put the worrisome start to his minor league stint aside, because Ronald Acuna has shown up as advertised in the early days of his MLB career. The 20-year-old sensation has gone for extra bases in nearly half of his hits thus far and joined Ozzie Albies in making the Baby Braves a truly fearsome force in the NL East. They have climbed to the top of the division with the biggest run differential in the National League.

The Cards took the fight to the city of Chicago over the last week, sweeping both the White Sox and Cubs and taking the lead in the NL Central in the process. While their stock is rising in the division, the sudden loss of Yadier Molina for a month to groin surgery, along with a nagging groin injury to the red-hot Tommy Pham, has suddenly cost the team two of its most vital everyday contributors.

The Tribe is leading the AL Central currently, albeit with a .500 record and over four clubs with losing records. Although Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez have finally broken out of late, hitting a combined .442 over the past week, the club has still struggled to keep it together — the Tribe hasn't won back-to-back games since April 22-23.

Let’s play two? Yangervis Solarte certainly seems to be fan of the double dip, as the slugging utility man went 8-for-10 with seven RBI, two doubles and a pair of homers, including a go-ahead grand slam, against the Indians last Thursday. However, splitting the doubleheader and dropping a series over the weekend to the Rays has the Jays over five games back of the surging Yankees and Red Sox.

Tough times can lead to seemingly desperate measures, but sometimes those reaches reap rewards. This was the case when Dave Martinez moved none other than Bryce Harper to the top of the lineup in an attempt to jump-start the flat Nats. The results of the move included Harper cracking four home runs on the week and the club winning eight of its last nine games.

In case you have somehow missed it, Josh Hader is good. Like really, really good. The Brewers relief ace made history when he K’d eight of the nine Reds he faced in just 2.2 innings, and while every game can’t involve the dominant southpaw, things would certainly be a lot more certain for the up-and-down Crew if it could. The Brewers are 12-0 thus far when Hader takes the ball at some juncture this season.

The impressive Phils got put to the test over the last few weeks, and they struggled to make good on their early returns. Dropping series to the Diamondbacks, Braves and Nationals is understandable. However, giving up two of three to the Marlins should not be condoned at any point for a club with hopes of contending. Perhaps a convincing shutout victory over the surging Giants to open the week is a sign of the course correcting itself.

The Rockies' roller-coaster continues. After a dominant romp through the Nationals and Pirates two weeks ago was followed by a head-scratching series of struggles against the Padres and Marlins, the Rockies got back to correcting their path again. They enter the new week atop the NL Wild Card scene after winning five straight road contests with the Cubs and Mets.

They dodged a bullet when Kris Bryant was hit by a pitch just above his eye a week ago, and they made good on avoiding disaster, winning eight of their last 10 — including three shutouts — before dropping five straight to the Rockies and Cardinals to close the week out. To add one final gut punch, the club sent the year's big offseason addition, Yu Darvish, to the disabled list to open the new week.

James Paxton striking out 16 and the Mariners taking four of their last five series are certainly notable events, but the real headline of the times is the likely end of the road for Ichiro. The 10-time All-Star, former MVP and owner of over 4,000 professional hits across leagues announced he would join the Mariners front office on Friday. However, the coolest moment of the day came as the past and the future crossed paths when Shohei Ohtani met Ichiro — only after the senior superstar  pulled a fast one on the rookie sensation first.

To call the last week frustrating for the Mets may be a colossal understatement. It has now been over three weeks since the club has strung victories together, although a trip to Cincinnati mercifully brought an end to a six-game losing streak on Monday. If that isn't enough, the Mets lost Jacob deGrom to the disabled list with elbow troubles and lost Matt Harvey permanently after he declined a demotion to the minors and in turn was released.

It remains tough to get a feel for who exactly the Pirates are. Over the past two weeks, they have lost five, then won five games, including a sweep of the Cardinals. However, they washed that down with a four-game sweep at the hands of the Nats — before taking two of three from the (then) first-place Brewers. Perhaps the extreme inconsistency is what predictability is for the Bucs.

Although it has not always been pretty, the Giants have done yeoman’s work in getting over their slow start, winning 13 of their last 16 over the past three weeks. Most impressive is this has been done despite losing Johnny Cueto and Joe Panik and still being a month away from getting Madison Bumgarner back. However, with series wins over the Angels, Nationals and Dodgers over the past two weeks, capped by a sweep of the Braves over the weekend, it could be time to believe in the Giants again.

The most consistent under-the-radar team on the year has been none other than the A’s, who have stayed just north of .500 in a tough AL West. The perfect signpost for their early efforts has been the dual efforts of Jed Lowrie and Khris Davis, who both sit in the MLB top three in RBI with 31 and 29, respectively.

While the season is still young, it is officially time to panic for the Dodger faithful. Over the last seven days alone, the Dodgers have sent Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-Jin Ryu to the disabled list, on the heels of losing Corey Seager for the year to Tommy John surgery. For a club stuck deep in the trenches of the NL West standings already, even the breakout of Walker Buehler and the four-man combined no-hitter he led on Friday were barely able to crack a smile for long.

One of the bigger disappointments in the early going has been Minnesota, who was a sexy pick to pull an upset in the AL Central early on. Despite a slower-than-anticipated start by the Indians, the Twins have been unable to close the gap and have not won a series against a team with a winning record since overcoming the Astros in the second week of the season.

The loss of Kevin Kiermaier created an opportunity for Mallex Smith that he has seized with both hands. Entering the new week, the young speedster is hitting .330 with eight stolen bases so far. His breakout has been a key part of the recent upturn by the Rays, who took two games from the Blue Jays over the weekend.

The great start of Miguel Cabrera was interrupted this week when he headed to the 10-day disabled list with a hamstring injury. In a living embodiment of what WAR is meant to capture, his replacement on the roster, Grayson Greiner, is a 25-year-old backup catcher. Hurry back, Miggy, and good luck, kid.

Considering the makeup of the Rangers’ current disabled list, which features Adrian Beltre, Elvis Andrus and Rougned Odor, perhaps the achievement of the year thus far is that they hashed out even a single victory over the Red Sox last week.

It should come as no surprise that the Padres went hitless last Friday. After all, only the Marlins hit at a lower clip than the Padres currently do, who also lead the majors in team strikeouts. However, when they have made contact, at least it has been of the remarkable variety. This specifically applies to Franchy Cordero, who has averaged an MLB-high 441 feet per homer.

After losing seven of their last eight, the week was capped with a double dose of disappointment for the Sox. A day after losing Yoan Moncada to the disabled list with hamstring issues, they managed to squander James Shields’ flirtation with a no-hitter on Sunday.

It should be a good sign that the Royals have picked up six wins over the last two weeks, a total that equals their output from the previous six weeks. However, the majority have come against their contemporaries in the Tigers and White Sox, who have combined to win less games than Red Sox or Yankees individually. At least Jorge Soler's star turn looks legit.

A bit of context on how bad things are in Miami: The Marlins have scored nine fewer runs than the Orioles, who have the worst average in baseball. It took the Fish over a month to score 100 runs, which they finally surpassed on May 6. Despite their struggles with the scoreboard, they have been a scrappy lot capable of stealing a few victories, as they did against the Rockies, Phillies and Dodgers of late.

After going 3-18 over the first month and a half of the year, the Reds have picked up FIVE wins over the last two weeks — along with another eight losses. But hey, improvement is improvement.

It may seem like hyperbole, but between injuries (Jonathan Schoop, Adam Jones, Zach Britton, Mark Trumbo) and flat-out terrible performances (Chris Tillman, Chris Davis, Tim Beckham), the Orioles’ season is already in the toilet. They are winless thus far in May and have the lowest batting average in the majors — even with Manny Machado hitting over .340.