By Darryl Reina The races for the AL and NL MVP races are heating up as baseball's best begin the stretch run for the playoffs. The Phils' young slugger, Ryan Howard is our NEW #1 ranked player this week, moving ahead of the Cards' Albert Pujols (#2). The Yankees' Derek Jeter (#3) moves ahead of Red Sox' David Ortiz (#4). Congratulations to the White Sox' Jermaine Dye (#8) and the Twins' Johan Santana (#9) for moving into our Top 10 for the first time. Take a moment and check out this week's RealGM's Top 25. This Week (Last Week) (Statistics through games of September 7) 1.(2.) Ryan Howard: Another huge week for the leading NL MVP candidate (54 HR's, 134 RBI's, .308). When will teams begin to walk this guy? He reminds me of Hall of Famer, Willie McCovery. 2.(1.) Albert Pujols: Pujols continues to lead the way for the play-off bound Cardinals (44 HR's, 116 RBI's, .324). Albert's right there if Ryan slips at all down the stretch. 3.(4.) Derek Jeter: Jeter does not like to talk about the AL MVP, but his .344 average and steady defense speaks volumes for the front-running Yankees. It's his award to win or lose. 4.(3.) David Ortiz: Ortiz is back in the Red Sox lineup, but has been slow to regain his stroke (stuck on 47 HR's & 121 RBI's). Can he make another big push to overtake Jeter in the AL MVP voting? 5.(5.) Alfonso Soriano: Another HR this week (44 HR's) for the Nationals. I would love to see him land in San Francisco next season 6.(6.) Miguel Cabrera: Cabrera is playing a huge role in the Marlins' recent wildcard push (.334, 103 RBI's). 7.(7.) Carlos Beltran: Beltran is a distant third in the race for NL MVP, and needs to get healthy for the post-season (.286, 39 HR's, 112 RBI's). 8.(23.) Jermaine Dye: Jermaine jumps into this week's Top 10 and is considered an AL MVP candidate by many observers. His production has been huge for the White Sox (.326, 40 HR's, 110 RBI's). 9.(14.) Johan Santana: Santana is our top ranked pitcher, and is ready to lead the Twins into the playoffs (17-5, 219 K's). Santana may fetch more than $100 million when he becomes a free agent in 2009. 10.(13.) Vladamir Guerrero: Guerrero is keeping the Angels within striking range of the A's (.331). Can he do more in the stretch run? 11.(8.) Joe Mauer 12.(9.) Miquel Tejada 13.(12.) Manny Ramirez 14.(10.) Travis Hafner 15.(11.) Roy Halliday 16.(15.) Justin Morneau 17.(25.) Jon Garland 18.(17.) Ichiro Suzuki 19.(24.) Justin Verlander 20.(16.) Vernon Wells 21.(18.) Brandon Webb 22.(20.) Freddy Sanchez 23.(21.) Lance Berkman 24.(HM) David Wright 25.(HM) Matt Holiday Honorable Mention: Mariano Rivera, Carlos Zambrano, Paul Konerko, Ray Durham, Carlos Delgado, Robinson Cano, Mark DeRosa, Joe Borowski, Steve Trachsel, Josh Johnson, Omar Vizquel, Jason Schmidt, Paul Lo Duca, Dave Roberts, Dan Haren, Barry Zito, Chase Utley, Alex Rodriquez, Francisco Rodriquez, Roy Oswalt, John Smoltz, Billy Wagner, Chris Capuano, Chien-Ming Wang, Brad Penny, Ervin Santana, Gary Matthews, Jr., Ivan Rodriquez, Nomar Garciaparra, Mike Mussina, Carl Crawford, Jose Reyes, Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones, Casey Blake, Grady Sizemore, Carlos Lee, Bobby Abreu, Jeremy Bonderman, Trevor Hoffman, Chris Carpenter, Jim Thome, Michael Young, Ryan Zimmerman, Bobby Jenks, Jason Giambi, Todd Jones, Johnny Damon, Randy Johnson, Aaron Harang, Garrett Atkins, David DeJesus, Mike Piazza, and Juan Pierre.