They're back! Here's the weekly rankings, one day before they appear in the Sunday paper. Sorry for last week. Life happened.

1. New York Mets (3) – Swept Phillies this week to open up a comfortable lead in NL East.
2. Detroit (2) – Nice turnaround: Won 44th game Friday, surpassing total for the awful 2003 season (43-119).
3. Chicago White Sox (4) – In case you were unsure now you know that some pitchers are order to hit people.
4. St. Louis (6) – Go Italy: Cardinals have won the World Series (1982, 1932) in years the Italians win the World Cup.
5. New York Yankees (5) – Bubba Crosby comes off DL to be the savior in the outfield.
6. Toronto (9) – OF Alex Rios living up to comparisons once made to Dave Winfield.
7. Boston (7) – Could Red Sox search for pitching including Seattle’s Gil Meche?
8. Cincinnati (1) – Blowing their chance to bury the Pujols-less Cardinals.
9. Los Angeles Dodgers (10) – Finally people are seeing why everyone raves about their farm system.
10. Oakland (17) – Like the bad guy in some slasher flick, the A’s just can’t be killed off in the early going.
11. Houston (16) – Steadily climbing up the standings and will be a threat to the Cardinals once they get Clemens back.
12. Arizona (8) – Jason Grimsley incident sent the team into a tailspin.
13. Colorado (18) – Like that Monty Python line, the Rockies “aren’t dead yet” in competitive NL West.
14. San Diego (14) – It was bound to happen: Pads fire hitting coach Dave Magadan because of offensive woes.
15. Texas (11) – Not so hot start, Rangers go 1-4 in first five games played in 90 degree heat.
16. San Francisco (13) – What the Geritol Giants really need is 40-something Julio Franco on their team.
17. Philadelphia (12) – If Pat Gillick can turn this around, he really is a genius.
18. Minnesota (25) – Say what? How can Joe Mauer not be in the top five of All-Star balloting?
19. Milwaukee (19) – Seemingly stuck in that mediocre not-bad, not-good nowhere land.
20. Cleveland (15) – Manager Eric Wedge got the dreaded vote of confidence from GM this week.
21. Mariners (23) – Safe bet the Mariners can’t beat the A’s in video games, either.
22. Los Angeles Angels (21) – Like my disaster of a garage, where do you start to clean up this mess?
23. Washington (22) – Don’t think just because they’ve played better that Alfonso Soriano won’t be dealt.
24. Atlanta (20) – Bold prediction of the week: Braves will not win the division.
25. Baltimore (24) – Inking Ramon Hernandez was one of the best free agent signings last year.
26. Chicago Cubs (27) – There’s always next year, Cubbies fans.
27. Florida (28) – Fishin’s good as Marlins go 9-3 in first 12 June games.
28. Pittsburgh (29) – Here’s one reason they’re so bad: Pirates are major-league worst 7-20 in one-run games.
29. Tampa Bay (26) – If everyone wants to trade for their players, why are Devil Rays still so bad?
30. Kansas City (30) – Season will be considered a success if they can convince Yankees to take Reggie Sanders off their hands.