The defending American League champion Tampa Bay Rays started the 2021 season 19-19 but have gone on a tear over the past month, winning 19 of their last 23 games and the No. 1 spot in this week’s USA TODAY Sports MLB power rankings.
The Rays’ surge has them narrowly ahead of the Boston Red Sox atop the American League East, with the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees also above .500 and almost certain to remain in the race all season.
Outfielder Austin Meadows has 22 RBI with a 1.061 OPS in his last 15 games, while 41-year-old lefty Rich Hill has a 0.74 ERA in his last six starts to lead a pitching staff that had the AL’s best ERA (2.70) in the month of May.
Meanwhile, the San Diego Padres dropped from first to third and the San Francisco Giants moved up to second place in the weekly survey.
Here’s how our seven-person panel voted this week:
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RANK (movement from last week)
1. Tampa Bay Rays (+1)
2. San Francisco Giants (+3)
3. San Diego Padres (-2)
4. Chicago White Sox (+2)
5. Boston Red Sox (-1)
6. Los Angeles Dodgers (-3)
7. Oakland Athletics (–)
8. Houston Astros (+1)
9. Chicago Cubs (+2)
10. Milwaukee Brewers (+5)
11. New York Mets (+3)
12. Cleveland (–)
13.Toronto Blue Jays (–)
14. St. Louis Cardinals (-4)
15. New York Yankees (-7)
16. Atlanta Braves (–)
17. Philadelphia Phillies (–)
18. Cincinnati Reds (+1)
19. Kansas City Royals (+2)
20. Seattle Mariners (–)
21. Washington Nationals (+1)
22. Miami Marlins (-4)
23. Los Angeles Angels (–)
24. Minnesota Twins (–)
25. Detroit Tigers (+1)
26. Texas Rangers (-1)
27. Colorado Rockies (+1)
28. Pittsburgh Pirates (-1)
29. Baltimore Orioles (–)
30. Arizona Diamondbacks (-1)
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: MLB power rankings: Tampa Bay Rays take No. 1 spot with hot streak