The Texas Rangers have won six of its last seven games, pushing its way back to first place in KP’s latest edition of MLB Power Rankings.

Last week’s first place team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, fell two spots to third place, making way for the surging New York Yankees, who last lost on June 7th and sit in second.

Meanwhile, the red-hot Cincinnati Reds, sparked by a blistering offense this month, jumped nine spots and into the top five.

Here’s where each team sits in the rankings this week, featuring a few stats, thoughts and figures for each of the teams that made major moves (up or down) in the latest poll.

yu-darvish-texas-rangers

Rookie Yu Darvish has anchored the Texas Rangers rotation this season

KP’s MLB Power Rankings: June 18, 2012

*Stats, records and information as of Sunday June 17, 2012

1. Texas Rangers – 40-27 (138 points) – Last Week: #2

2. New York Yankees – 40-25 (128 points) – Last Week: #3

3. Los Angeles Dodgers – 42-25 (125 points) – Last Week: #1

4. Cincinnati Reds – 38-27 (98 points) – Last Week: #13

The red-hot Reds lead the National League with a .287 average in the month of June.  Cincinnati is also third in MLB with 22 home runs this month.

5. Washington Nationals – 38-26 (94 points) – Last Week: #4

6. Baltimore Orioles – 39-27 (78 points) – Last Week: #11

Jason Hammel and Wei-Yen Chen led the Orioles to back-to-back shutouts of the Atlanta Braves over the weekend.

7. St. Louis Cardinals – 34-33 (75 points) – Last Week: #8

8. Los Angeles Angels – 36-31 (73 points) – Last Week: #10

9. San Francisco Giants – 37-30 (72 points) – Last Week: #9

10. Chicago White Sox – 35-31 (71 points) – Last Week: #6

The White Sox have managed to hold onto the AL Central division lead, despite going 6-9 so far in the month of June and losing four of five on the road last week.

11. Tampa Bay Rays – 37-29 (63 points) – Last Week: #7

The Rays faltered last week, getting swept by the Mets at home, while giving up 29 runs over the three-game series.  The result was a major hit on the Tampa Bay pitching ranking.

12. Atlanta Braves – 35-31 (58 points) – Last Week: #5

The streaky Braves are floundering yet again.  Last week, Atlanta was swept by the Yankees and blanked in back-to-back games against Baltimore.  Overall, the Braves were unable to score more than four runs in any of last week’s matchups.

13. Boston Red Sox – 33-33 (52 points) – Last Week: #16

youkilis-beard

If the Red Sox remain out of the playoff chase, will Kevin Youkilis get dealt?

Despite being in last place in its division, the Red Sox managed to jump three spots this week.  Boston has won four of five games on the road and allowed just 13 runs over its last five games.

14. Toronto Blue Jays – 34-32 (41 points) – Last Week: #15

15. Arizona Diamondbacks – 32-34 (38 points) – Last Week: #12

Arizona has the fourth-best ERA (2.98) in baseball this month, but that’s not enough to keep the D’Backs from falling this week.  Arizona’s offense struggled over the last seven days, getting shutout three times and being held to one run once.

16. Detroit Tigers – 32-34 (35 points) – Last Week: #19

The Tigers are waking up, winning six of eight and closing in on Chicago for the division lead.

17. Philadelphia Phillies – 31-37 (25 points) – Last Week: #17

18. New York Mets – 35-32 (18 points) – Last Week: #20

19. Pittsburgh Pirates – 34-31 (16 points) – Last Week: #14

The Pirates were swept in Baltimore last week, being outscored 27-13 in the three-game set.

20. Kansas City Royals – 29-35 (13 points) – Last Week: #22

21. Oakland Athletics – 31-36 (10 points) – Last Week: #25

The A’s won five of its last six games, but it is important to note that this streak was at the hands of the NL West cellar dwellers (Colorado and San Diego).

22. Cleveland Indians – 33-32 (-6 points) – Last Week: #18

The Indians (4.78 ERA in June) have been the worst pitching staff in the AL this month.  Cleveland has given up 51 runs over its last seven games.

23. Milwaukee Brewers – 30-36 (-9 points) – Last Week: #23

24. Miami Marlins – 33-33 (-12 points) – Last Week: #21

The Marlins have now lost 10 of its last 12 games, further falling behind in the division race.  Miami has also posted an abysmal -52 run differential during this stretch.

25. Seattle Mariners – 29-39 (-16 points) – Last Week: #24

26. Minnesota Twins – 26-39 (-43 points) – Last Week: #28

27. Colorado Rockies – 25-40 (-43 points) – Last Week: #26

28. Houston Astros – 27-39 (-57 points) – Last Week: #27

29. San Diego Padres – 24-43 (-66 points) – Last Week: #30

30. Chicago Cubs – 22-44 (-76 points) – Last Week: #29

* All stats per MLB.com

Note: RED = Falling 3+ spots from last week, GREEN = Rising 3+ spots from last week

The Wife Hates Sports MLB Power Rankings system has a method to its madness, attempting to be different and not just rank by popularity and record.  It mixes a secret formula of six completely different categories, meshed into a points system.  The categories don’t just include team results regarding record, but how each team has performed recently, as well as incorporating some statistics on both a team’s offense and pitching staff, too.