It was a tough week for some of the teams in the top five of last week's power rankings, while some teams in the bottom five had great weeks. Still you won't find any new teams in this week's top 10, and none of last week's bottom five moved higher than No. 25.

While last week produced some surprising upset performances, this week features several marquee matchups of teams in the top 10. Of course, the headliner of the week comes in Boston where the Yankees travel for a mid-week series. The Phillies and the Mets also meet for a mid-week series in Philadelphia, before those two sets of teams swap opponents for the weekend.

The first three-game set in this season's subway series takes place this weekend in the Bronx, while Red Sox travel to Philadelphia for a match-up between the past two World Series champions.

This week's other important series include: Angels at Rays (mid-week), Blue Jays at Rangers (mid-week) and Dodgers at Rangers (weekend). Needless to say, by this time next week we should know a lot more some of the teams in the top half of these rankings.

The rankings are based on how teams would fare if each team played a seven-game series against every other team. (Team 1 would be picked to win a series over every other team, Team 30 would be picked to lose a series to every other team).

Note: Last week's ranking is in parentheses

1. Los Angeles Dodgers (1): Good teams find ways to win some games they shouldn't, and the Dodgers were the poster boys for that idea last week. Four wins, all by one run.

2. New York Yankees (3): The Yankees are nowhere close to the same team that lost five straight to Boston in late April and early May. Still, the mid-week series in Fenway is a good barometer for the Yanks.

3. Texas Rangers (6): After a 3-3 road trip to New York and Boston (including a series win at Fenway), the Rangers get Toronto and the Dodgers at home. Another solid week and we'll have to buy Texas as contenders.

4. Philadelphia Phillies (9): If not for ninth-inning struggles, the defending champs could have swept a four-game set in Los Angeles. I don't know how they do it with that pitching staff, but they're good once again.

5. Boston Red Sox (7): David Ortiz claims he'll bounce back from his "slump." I hope he's right because it's tough to watch someone struggle this badly, but I doubt it.

6. Detroit Tigers (2): Jeremy Bonderman returns Monday night for the Tigers. If he's healthy that makes Rick Porcello a No. 4 starter and the Tigers even scarier for the next four months.

7. Milwaukee Brewers (8): The Brewers gained a spot in the power rankings and a 2.5-game division lead this week, despite dropping three of four to the Marlins. They can thank the performance of the two teams they passed for that.

8. New York Mets (5): Three straight losses to Pittsburgh and news that Jose Reyes is probably out at least a month make Mets fans (such as myself) very nervous. And I'm not thinking this week's series with the Phillies and Yankees will help matters.

9. Chicago Cubs (10): Now is the time for Chicago to make a move for the division lead if it's going to happen. Between now and July 1, the Cubbies play 19 of 22 games against teams with losing records.

10. St. Louis Cardinals (4): Elite teams don't lose four straight at home to teams like the Rockies. St. Louis was outperforming my expectations, but if the team isn't careful it will be in fourth place sooner rather than later.

11. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (13): If the Angels don't get swept in Tampa, the team returns home from its nine-game road trip at least 4-5. That's a positive result for a trip to play the Blue Jays, Tigers and Rays.

12. Toronto Blue Jays (11): A series against the Royals was just what the Jays needed after losing two of three to the Angels in Toronto. However, seven of the team's next 10 games come at Texas and Philadelphia. Those teams won't be as nice as Kansas City.

13. Cincinnati Reds (12): The Reds are on the road for six straight this week, but that shouldn't hurt as the team is 15-13 away from home. Oh, and those six consist of three in Washington and three in Kansas City. That helps, too.

14. Tampa Bay Rays (16): I know what Grant Balfour did last year, but he shouldn't be pitching in close games anymore. He blew wins for David Price and Matt Garza in Yankee Stadium this weekend, although Tampa rallied to win one of the two.

15. San Francisco Giants (19): Congratulations to Randy Johnson on win No. 300. The Big Unit has actually had three very good starts in a row. If Johnson and Barry Zito remain effective behind Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain, San Francisco will sneak into the Wild Card race.

16. Minnesota Twins (20): If anyone is going to challenge the Tigers in the AL Central, it's Minnesota. Francisco Liriano and Scott Baker, the team's supposed top two starters, have to improve if it's going to happen, though.

17. Atlanta Braves (14): The Braves have to start scoring runs, and the addition of Nate McLouth should help some. The team still needs someone with some pop in the middle of the order (other than Chipper Jones) to drive McLouth in, though.

18. Florida Marlins (22): Ricky Nolasco returned from the minors Sunday and had his best outing of the season, by far (seven innings, two earned runs). It did come against the Giants, but it's still a good sign for the 15-game winner of a year ago.

19. Arizona Diamondbacks (21): Dan Haren went seven innings and allowed a single run in both of his starts last week, but failed to pick up a win either time. Sadly, that's nothing new for Haren, who has pitched well enough to have 10 wins but only has four.

20. Seattle Mariners (24): The Mariners have three pitchers (Erik Bedard, Jarrod Washburn and Felix Hernandez) ranking in the top 21 in the majors in ERA. Only one other team places two in the top 21, and 12 teams have none.

21. Baltimore Orioles (17): The Orioles had a rough time on the West coast last week, but that's to be expected with a lineup that relies on so many young guys. Nine straight games in Baltimore should produce better results.

22. Chicago White Sox (15): After dropping game one of a doubleheader with the Tigers Monday, the White Sox have lost six of seven games. All of those came at home, with five to sub-.500 teams.

23. San Diego Padres (18): The Padres rose from the dead in mid-May with a 9-0 home stand, but are just 4-8 since. That includes dropping five of six during two home series last week.

24. Cleveland Indians (25): Even though the Indians are nine games under .500, the team has only been outscored by a total of nine runs by its opponents this season. That could mean this team has just been unlucky and is poised to improve.

25. Houston Astros (28): The Astros took care of some bad teams with series wins at home over Colorado and Pittsburgh last week, but things get tougher now. The Cubs go to Houston for three, then the Astros head out on a nine-game road trip.

26. Colorado Rockies (27): A four-game sweep of the Cardinals was impressive, but the team still dropped three of four to Houston before that. I'm betting the performance in St. Louis was more of a fluke than anything.

27. Pittsburgh Pirates (26): In the past year this team has traded an outfield of Jason Bay, Xavier Nady and Nate McLouth. The Pittsburgh Pirates: AAA affiliate for Major League Baseball's other 29 teams.

28. Oakland A's (29): The current six-game win streak is nice and all, but I see it as less impressive than Colorado's performance in St. Louis and Pittsburgh's against the Mets. Last week will probably end up being Oakland's best of the year.

29. Kansas City Royals (23): Zack Greinke has dropped off in his last two starts, and that's a terrible sign for my preseason upset pick in the NL Central. If he's not pitching like an ace, this team has no chance to even finish .500.

30. Washington Nationals (30): Mike MacDougal has been named Washington's closer. That's reason enough for the Nats to be ranked here. Stephen Strasburg can't arrive soon enough.

Cliff Chartrand is the Editor-in-Chief for TNJN.com. He can be contacted at editor@tnjn.com or cliff@tnjn.com. Click here to subscribe to Chartrand's Twitter feed.