2010 MLB Power Rankings: May

Things usually fall into place during the month of May, but this May still has its share of surprises. Nobody though the NL East leaders would be the Padres, Reds (tied) and Braves on June 1st. The Blue Jays and Red Sox also had strong Mays, making the AL East one of the strongest divisions in baseball (Baltimore not included).

Records are as of the games played on May 31st.

SLR = team's record Since Last Rankings | Prev = Previous Ranking

1) Tampa Bay Rays (34-18 | 16-11 SLR | Prev: 1)
The Rays maintain baseball's best record thanks in part to their AL-leading runs allowed and by having the major's best road record.

2) Minnesota Twins (31-20 | 15-11 SLR | Prev: 4)
The Twins have settled in nicely at Target Field, they're tied with Oakland and Texas for the most home wins this season. This year, its Justin Morneau's turn to put up MVP numbers.

3) New York Yankees (31-20 | 15-12 SLR | Prev: 3)
The Yankees have scored more runs than any other team, but they've had issues in the bullpen; Joba Chamberlain has not made life easy for Mariano Rivera.

4) San Diego Padres (31-20 | 15-11 SLR | Prev: 6)
Scoring runs against the San Diego Padres is something to not be taken lightly. Jon Garland has become a pleasant addition to the team.

5) Toronto Blue Jays (31-22 | 18-9 SLR | Prev: 12)
The Blue Jays have been one of baseball's hottest teams, due in part to the incredible month of one Jose Bautista, who hit 12 HRs in May.

6) Atlanta Braves (29-22 | 18-8 SLR | Prev: 19)
Troy Glaus' May was an antithesis to his April, hitting .330 with 6 home runs this month as the Braves are back in the division race.

7) Cincinnati Reds (30-22 | 18-9 SLR | Prev: 18)
The Reds have remained hot enough to maintain a lead over St. Louis. Their offense has been a big reason, as they lead the NL in runs scored.

8) Los Angeles Dodgers (29-22 | 18-8 SLR | Prev: 20)
Even without the services of Andre Ethier for half a month, the Dodgers still played well this month. Their wins haven't been about vastly outhitting or outpitching opponents, but rather getting a key hit or pitch time and time again.

9) Boston Red Sox (29-23 | 18-9 SLR | Prev: 23)
David Ortiz is back again. For now. Maybe. With the return of a somewhat inconsistent Matsuzaka, Boston hopes to solidify their rotation. Despite a strong May, Boston still finds itself 4th in the division.

10) St. Louis Cardinals (30-22 | 13-14 SLR | Prev: 2)
If Albert Pujols struggles, so do the Cardinals, and Pujols struggled for nearly the entire month.

11) Oakland Athletics (28-24 | 15-11 SLR | Prev: 16)
Dallas Braden's perfect game against the best team in the league in Tampa was great, and while Oakland has played well enough to lead the AL West, Braden himself has struggled since his perfect game, going 0-3 in 4 starts.

12) Philadelphia Phillies (28-22 | 14-12 SLR | Prev: 5)
The Phillies have completely forgotton how to score runs, getting shut out 5 times over an eight game span recently. They got shut out for an entire series against the Mets. Roy Halladay pitched a perfect game, and the Phillies only won it because they scored one run from an error. Losing Jimmy Rollins again shortly before this dry spell isn't a coincedence.

13) Colorado Rockies (27-24 | 15-11 SLR | Prev: 15)
Ubaldo Jimenez is outpitching even Halladay and is the leading candidate for the NL Cy Young at this point. If this Rockies team is anything like last year's team, June should be the month where the team really makes its move.

14) San Francisco Giants (27-23 | 13-13 SLR | Prev: 7)
Tim Lincecum has had control issues and the Giants have had run scoring issues as well. If the Giants aren't careful, they could find themselves in 4th in the division shortly.

15) Texas Rangers (26-24 | 13-12 SLR | Prev: 10)
Last month I mentioned the team losing Nelson Cruz to the DL. This month... I mention the team losing Nelson Cruz to the DL. The Rangers are hurting from this particular loss, losing their AL West lead to the upstart Athletics.

16) Detroit Tigers (26-24 | 10-14 SLR | Prev: 8)
The Tigers finish the month on a 2-7 slide, and the Dontrelle Willis sidestory has also reached an end, the team having designated him for assignment last weekend. That aside, Miguel Cabrera has been tearing up AL pitching and is an early candidate for AL MVP.

17) New York Mets (26-26 | 12-15 SLR | Prev: 9)
The Mets are 3.5 back of currently first place Atlanta in the division, yet they find themselves in a three-way tie for third place (or essentially last place). The Mets have been terrible on the road, their 7 road wins are only more than Baltimore's road win total.

18) Florida Marlins (26-26 | 13-14 SLR | Prev: 11)
Well, I can tell you this about the Marlins aside from their usual attendance struggles: after the Hanley Ramirez incident, the team is probably the hardest hustling team in the league right now.

19) Washington Nationals (26-26 | 13-14 SLR | Prev: 13)
Stephen Strasburg is due to pitch his first career MLB game on June 8th against the Pirates. Its a nice way to ease him into the major leagues.

20) Los Angeles Angels (26-27 | 14-13 SLR | Prev: 17)
Kendry Morales has changed the way we think about walk-off celebrations after injuring his leg slipping during one. He'll be out for most of the year, and the Angels can ill afford his loss given the play of Texas and Oakland.

21) Chicago Cubs (24-28 | 11-15 SLR | Prev: 14)
Aramis Ramirez is well below .200 in average this season, and his turnaround is vital for the Cubs to get back into the NL Central race.

22) Chicago White Sox (22-28 | 12-13 SLR | Prev: 27)
A bullpen by committee, an offense that's not firing as often as it could, and a rotation that has had its struggles. Just imagine if even one of those three things gets turned around.

23) Milwaukee Brewers (21-30 | 11-15 SLR | Prev: 24)
Only Arizona has given up more runs than the Brew Crew this season. Yovani Gallardo is doing all he can to stop the bleeding, but the other guys on the staff haven't been helping.

24) Kansas City Royals (21-31 | 11-16 SLR | Prev: 26)
Luke Hochevar leads the team with wins, with 5. Zach Greinke has pitched well enough to win much more than five games, but the Royals have just not helped him at all in either run support or in the rare event he has a lead, not blowing the lead.

25) Pittsburgh Pirates (21-31 | 11-16 SLR | Prev: 29)
Every bad team usually does well against one and only one other team. For the Pirates, that team is the Cubs, going 6-1 against them thus far.

26) Seattle Mariners (19-31 | 8-17 SLR | Prev: 21)
Seattle's pitching hasn't been terrible, or at least the rotation hasn't been, but their offense seems like its asleep half the time. Figuratively, I mean.

27) Arizona Diamondbacks (20-32 | 9-18 SLR | Prev: 22)
The Diamondbacks are the only team that has surrendered over 300 runs this season. Even with a decent offense, Arizona just can not win games if it has to try to outscore the opponent.

28) Cleveland Indians (18-31 | 8-17 SLR | Prev: 25)
Shin-Soo Choo remains the Indians best player, especially now that the team has lost Grady Sizemore for several weeks. Lets not even start with their pitching.

29) Houston Astros (17-34 | 9-18 SLR | Prev: 30)
Roy Oswalt has been Houston's only consistently good player, and even he wants out at this point. With a league low 155 runs, I guess the lack of run support has finally rubbed the 3-7 Oswalt the wrong way.

30) Baltimore Orioles (15-36 | 8-18 SLR | Prev: 28)
The league's worst road record. The league's worst overall record. Ty Wiggington is their best hitter. "Best pitcher" is an oxymoron in Baltimore though Millwood and Guthrie haven't been that bad. Playing in the ultra-competitive AL East doesn't help any, but Baltimore has definately seen better days.