It’s our first late-night edition of MLB power rankings. And Monday nights apparently bring out some unnecessary volatility. But not at No. 1.

First 4

1. (¼/6/6/9) Pirates: Pittsburgh rewards us for giving them the top spot last Monday by extending its winning streak to 9 and becoming the first MLB team to win 50 this year. 21 games over .500 is a nice cushion to make sure that losing streak doesn’t reach 21 years.

2. (4/8/4/2/3) Rangers: Stayed hot after St. Louis sweep by winning series in New York and at home against Reds. The AL West has the NL Central’s number, it seems.

3. (9/2/3/5/15) A’s: Beat the teams ahead of them – in the power rankings. Swept the Reds and won 2 of 3 against the Cardinals to replace them in top 3.

4. (3/1/1/1/1) Cardinals: Win the finale in Oakland and the Cardinals would have been No. 2. They’ll be fine.

Middle of the majors 

5. (8/7/7/7/12) Red Sox: We’re overdue to give them their due. Are we still selling them short? Best record in the AL.

6. (13/17/27/12/7) Indians: Swept the White Sox on the road in a four-game series for the first time… ever. Taking over first place from the Tigers is no afterthought.

7. (6/6/11/8/13) Orioles: A sweep of the Yankees picks them up off the canvas after stumbles against the Blue Jays and Indians. 

8. (2/3/5/3/2) Reds: 22 scoreless innings will drop you a few spots in the weekly power rankings. And in the tough NL Central.

9. (7/9/10/11/5) Tigers: Had a 5-game lead not long ago, but losing 6 of 7 helped erase that.

10. (11/5/2/4/4) Braves: Waiting to get pushed by someone. Can the Nationals answer the call? Or will it continue to go unanswered? Atlanta will take it either way. A sweep of Arizona at least provided a measuring stick against another first place team.

11. (19/18/14/13/17) Rays: Coming to life at a good time, and reinforcements are almost ready.

12. (5/10/13/16/20) Blue Jays: It was a fun ride moving a last place team from 20th to 5th in five weeks, but we overstepped last week. The Rays and Red Sox provided the correction at an opportune time for Toronto.

13. (12/13/9/14/6) Yankees: A 5-game losing streak and A-Rod’s cleared for a rehab assignment. Which was worse news?

14. (10/11/8/9/10) Diamondbacks: Managed to hold on to the NL West lead, but can’t hang on to the top 10 here. Everyone is within 4 games, even though Arizona is the only team above .500.

15. (21/19/17/19/14) Nationals: Watching teams slide past them while they stick at .500, give or take a game or two.

16. (15/14/15/10/8) Rockies: Everyone’s a contender again in the NL West, but someone besides Arizona needs to get over .500 first to truly be considered legit.

17. (16/15/18/17/18) Padres: Made their move in the NL West, then fell off track again. It happens. See: Royals.

18. (17/12/19/26/23) Royals: Made their move in the AL Central, then fell off track again. It happens. See: Padres.

19. (23/24/24/23/21) Angels: Responded to sweep by Pirates with a 6-0 run in Detroit and Houston.

20. (14/16/12/15/11) Giants: San Francisco doesn’t make the playoffs the year after a World Series win. So that pattern means good things for 2014?

21. (20/20/16/18/19) Phillies: Hearing Ryne Sandberg’s name mentioned more often. But would he get more out of this group or a youth movement?

22. (18/22/22/22/22) Mariners: Yeah, we were right the first four times.

23. (22/21/21/20/30) Twins: Swept by the Marlins and split with the Royals. Now the Yankees are in town.

24. (24/23/20/27/25) Dodgers: The rest of the NL West have let L.A. get back in the division race. It doesn’t help their overall position here this week.

25. (25/25/23/24/27) Cubs: Treading water here by beating the teams below them on the list. Road gets tougher this week.

26. (28/29/29/25/24) Mets: All in all a solid week despite a flop in the finale against Washington.

Final 4

27. (30/30/30/30/29) Marlins: Swept the Twins and took 3 of 4 against both the Giants and Padres to cap a 15-10 June. A winning month is a shock. All that and Miami still can’t sniff .400 – or the Mets. Last place in the NL East, but not here anymore.

28. (27/26/25/28/26) Brewers: Followed up a promising series against Atlanta with a 6-game skid against the Cubs, Pirates and Nationals.

29. (26/27/28/29/28) Astros: June began so promising but ended at 12-15. Started the month with a sweep of the Angels. Ended it by being swept by the Angels. And now they are back where they started.

30. (29/28/26/21/16) White Sox: A brutal 8-19 in June. Worst month for Chicago’s AL team since 1987. And last month’s record isn’t the whole story. Since they hit .500 at 24-24, the Sox have lost 23 more – in 31 games.