In my opinion, it makes little sense to start with power rankings too early in the MLB season. It takes a couple months to find out enough about these teams to know which squads are contenders and which are pretenders.

Seattle, Florida and Kansas City got off to fast starts in April but faltered in May. Toronto appeared poised to compete through six weeks but showed its true colors during a recent bad stretch.

Similarly, the Yankees struggled until around three weeks ago. Now the Bronx Bombers look like one of the top teams of the game.

With almost a third of the season out of the way, here's the way the team's stack up as we enter the dog days of summer. As we all know, much can change in a week, so be sure to come back next Sunday night to see what changes over the next seven days.

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).

1) Los Angeles Dodgers: The Dodgers have to own this spot, and there can really be no argument. L.A. has a run differential of nearly +90. No one else in the league is better than +45. This is a complete team.

2) Detroit Tigers: Justin Verlander, Edwin Jackson and Rick Porcello combined to go 14-2 during the month of May. Their ages: 26, 25 and 20, respectively.

3) New York Yankees: Mark Teixeira's batting average has risen from .198 to .281 since Alex Rodriguez returned. Funny what a little protection can do.

4) St. Louis Cardinals: Pitching coach Dave Duncan is at it again. The Cards have four starters with a sub-4.00 ERA, including Kyle Lohse and Joel Pineiro.

5) New York Mets: Is there any doubt Francisco Rodriguez was worth the money he got in the offseason? 14-for-14 on save opportunities with a 0.73 ERA.

6) Texas Rangers: Texas has five regulars batting .278 or better. Josh Hamilton is not one of them. It seems impossible, but this offense is going to get even better.

7) Boston Red Sox: Boston has lost three straight series and five of its past six, and the schedule is about to get tougher. Match-ups with the Tigers, Rangers, Yankees and Phillies loom over the next two weeks.

8) Milwaukee Brewers: Milwaukee has six pitchers in the bullpen with an ERA below 4.00. It's a good thing, too. Only one starter can say the same.

9) Philadelphia Phillies: Brett Myers had the best ERA of any Philadelphia starter, and he is now done for the season. Cole Hamels will come around, but others are going to need to step up.

10) Chicago Cubs: A series win over the league's top team could be a jumping off point for the Cubs. They haven't gotten off to the start anticipated, but if they weather the storm and get Aramis Ramirez back for the stretch run, they'll be in good shape.

11) Toronto Blue Jays: It was a nice story while it lasted, but it looks like Toronto has come back to Earth. The series win over Boston was huge, but it doesn't erase the nine straight losses that preceded it.

12) Cincinnati Reds: With Edinson Volquez returning Monday, the Reds could boast the deepest starting rotation in the National League if Aaron Harang and Bronson Arroyo start to pitch like they're supposed to be capable of.

13) Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: Injuries and tragedy rocked this team for the past two months, but with John Lackey and Vladimir Guerrero back from injury and Kelvim Escobar coming back soon, things are looking up.

14) Atlanta Braves: All the Braves lack is a big bat in the middle of the order. If they'd have signed Adam Dunn instead of Garret Anderson during the offseason, they'd be the team to beat in the NL East.

15) Chicago White Sox: Chicago has quietly won four straight series after falling seven games under .500 on May 18. Ozzie Guillen's squad could make it six straight with home series against lowly Oakland and Cleveland up next.

16) Tampa Bay Rays: If Scott Kazmir can come back and be merely solid the Rays will make a run. A rotation of James Shields, Matt Garza, David Price and an effective Kazmir is too good to not win some games.

17) Baltimore Orioles: I'm expecting the O's to be the most exciting offensive team in baseball the rest of the way. This team will be a pain for the division's big boys.

18) San Diego Padres: How good would Adrian Gonzalez be if he had any protection in the line-up and/or played somewhere other then Petco Park? He leads the Padres in eight offensive categories.

19) San Francisco Giants: San Fran bounced back from nine losses in 11 games with series wins over Atlanta and St. Louis this week. Up next is a 10-game road trip to Washington, Florida and Arizona.

20) Minnesota Twins: Francisco Liriano has only pitched 12 innings over his past three starts, while allowing 16 runs. Tennessee alum R.A. Dickey has pitched well in long relief of Liriano twice, allowing just two runs and seven base runners over eight innings.

21) Arizona Diamondbacks: The D'backs appeared to be turning things around after a 6-3 road trip, but the team returned home and lost back-to-back series this week.

22) Florida Marlins: There's a common theme with these next few teams. Florida is 6-14 and has won only one series over the past three weeks.

23) Kansas City Royals: Brian Bannister is quietly having a solid season on the mound (3.64 ERA in eight starts). However, Kansas City has won just five of its past 21 games.

24) Seattle Mariners: The Mariners surprised people with a 12-6 start to the year, but since then the team is just 12-21. The latter is a more accurate representation of Seattle's talent level.

25) Cleveland Indians: After two rough starts to open the year, Cliff Lee has bounced back with nine straight outings of at least six innings and fewer than three runs allowed. His record during the stretch is just 2-4.

26) Pittsburgh Pirates: After three straight bad seasons, 26-year old Zach Duke appears to be living up to the potential he showed as a rookie in 2005. The lefty is 5-4 with a 2.75 ERA.

27) Colorado Rockies: It's good to see Todd Helton, another Tennessee alum, having a bounce back season after an injury-plagued 2008. However, he and Brad Hawpe are pretty much the only hitters producing in Colorado right now.

28) Houston Astros: Miguel Tejada is enjoying a resurgence with a .350 batting average, but there's not much else going well in Houston. The team ranks 26th in runs scored.

29) Oakland A's: Adam Kennedy has hit four home runs over the past three weeks since coming up from AAA. That puts him only three off the team lead. Needless to say, Oakland doesn't score much.

30) Washington Nationals: The Washington offense is doing its part with Adam Dunn, Ryan Zimmerman, Nick Johnson and others enjoying fine seasons. However, the pitching staff's 5.71 ERA is almost a third of a run higher than that of any other team.

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.