MLB power rankings: Houston Astros bring their own fireworks on the 4th

This week’s MLB power rankings get a shakeup near the top thanks to the Houston Astros, who start the Fourth of July bringing plenty of fireworks in recent matchups against some of the best teams in Major League Baseball.

In this week’s MLB power rankings, the Houston Astros make a leap and knock the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers down a notch

A weekend sweep of the Los Angeles Angels gave the Houston Astros extended the team’s winning streak to six games and put an exclamation point on an 8-2 mark over their last 10 games. Before and during the stretch, Houston won four straight games over the New York Mets and winning three of five games over the New York Yankees.

Houston had been knocking on the top of our MLB power rankings for a few weeks now. This week, they only trail the Yankees at the top of the list.

With Houston climbing up, they took the place of the Mets at number two. New York fell to fourth thanks in part to a Dodgers team that held strong at third after taking three of four games this weekend against the San Diego Padres and reminding everyone in the National League West and beyond they are still the team to beat in the division.

Below is this week’s MLB power rankings. Once again this week, we have included one note of interest about one team in each of the thirds of our list.

1. New York Yankees (last week: 1)

2. Houston Astros (last week: 4)

3. Los Angeles Dodgers (last week: 3)

4. New York Mets (last week: 2)

5. Atlanta Braves (last week: 5)

6. San Diego Padres (last week: 6)

7. Milwaukee Brewers (last week: 10)

8. Boston Red Sox (last week: 7)

9. Minnesota Twins (last week: 9)

10. Toronto Blue Jays (last week: 8)

Toronto dropped two spots in our rankings this week after dropping three straight home games to the Tampa Bay Rays, who are right behind them in our rankings. A word of warning for the Blue Jays: They are now 3-5 against Tampa Bay this season and 16-18 overall against AL East opponents in 2022.

11. Tampa Bay Rays (last week: 11)

12. St. Louis Cardinals (last week: 13)

13. Cleveland Guardians (last week: 14)

14. Philadelphia Phillies (last week: 15)

Philadelphia’s bullpen has taken a lot of heat in recent seasons, but the bullpen is pulling its weight in recent games. Since June 22 (11 games), Phillies relievers have posted a 0.76 ERA (3 earned runs in 35.2 innings pitched.

15. San Francisco Giants (last week: 12)

16. Miami Marlins (last week: 19)

17. Chicago White Sox (last week: 16)

18. Texas Rangers (last week: 17)

19. Seattle Mariners (last week: 22)

20. Baltimore Orioles (last week: 20)

21. Los Angeles Angels (last week: 18)

22. Colorado Rockies (last week: 23)

On Sunday, Colorado first baseman C.J. Cron belted two, three-run home runs, accounting for all of Colorado’s runs in a 6-5 comeback home win over Arizona. Per ELIAS, the last player to have multiple home runs and account for all of his team’s runs driven in in a come-from-behind victory after trailing by five-plus runs was Mike Greenwell on Sept. 2, 1996 at Seattle.