By Tom Morris Something considerably newsworthy is occurring in Major League Baseball. Confounding. Improbable. And seemingly more than just a passing fad. We take a look at Exhibit NL: in the National League teams have been winning. A lot. With purpose, consistency, talent and a flair for competition, the Marlins, Giants, Phillies, and Padres lead the charge. Stunning viewers and sportswriters across the nation, these squads have temporarily turned the motionless NL wild-card fiasco into an actual race. The NL West may yield a winner of more than 82 games, the Phillies ride the back of another MLB 61+ home-run hitter, and almost nowhere to be found in this mix are the shockingly bad St. Louis Cardinals. Hey, in this world almost anything is possible. I won?t ask why, but rather enjoy it, and be grateful. The division/pennant race in baseball are one of the more exciting daily events a sports fan can ask for, and now, once again I can confidently look to both sides of the DH coin to find it. And with only three weeks to go this season, the possibilities are rich with variety. In addition to the teams mentioned above, the Mets retain their top-ranking position by playing the best baseball anywhere. Barry Bonds is making either a swan song, or just warming up his vocal cords for a 2007 crescendo for history to preserve. Time to break out the record-book asterisks, anyone? Over in the American League, the Detroit Tigers are stumbling through a more than difficult slump. They are losing some games by a lot, some by a hair, but the fact is they are just plain losing. And now it seems Minnesota and Chicago might actually take advantage of this fortuity. Minnesota, with three straight wins over the motown crew, are only 2 back, breathing heavy, and in one week will have not one, but two, 2006 Cy Young contenders in their starting rotation. The rest of the league should take note. In Boston there is a dark cloud hovering over Fenway Park. No, it?s not the shadow cast by Manny?s hair. And it will eventually pass. Anyone who supports this team ?and they?re everywhere?can thank the baseball gods they do not root for the Royals, Orioles or Pirates, three teams with a very small light at the end of a very long tunnel. The Red Sox will be back (no team with that much money will fail for very long. So let?s talk about the winning teams, shall we? The Yankees, Twins and Athletics right now are hands-down the best teams in the American League, and when any combination of those three meet in the postseason, look for the kind of baseball that boosts ratings. And the folks at moveon.org are already lobbying heavily to prevent another Subway series between the cross-town Mets and Yankees. Let?s all hold hands and hope it doesn?t happen. Or better yet, just leave the Yanks out of it all together. Fact is, these two teams top my list this week, which starts ? now This Week?s Rankings: [ Last Week?s Rank, and W ? L Records, in Partentheses ] 1. New York Mets (1) (6 ? 4) The Mets made it clear recently they were not going to fade out, nor jog their way to the finish line. They stay in the throne atop my Rankings for the second straight week as they are playing their best baseball of the year, looking down at the rest of the National League with pity. They outscored opponents. Glavine seems to be in no trouble whatsoever, the Beltran-Delgado-Wright-led offense is in one hell of a groove right now, and I truly forgot this team is still without Pedro for another 1 ? 2 weeks. Wow. 2. New York Yankees (2) (6 ? 3) Yankees: last in the MLB alphabet, this week 2nd place again in my Rankings. Randy Johnson, who turns 43 before his next start, seems to be getting stronger as the season progresses, and was a handful of outs shy of a no-hitter a few days ago. He got upstaged by Marlins rookie Anibal Sanchez, but almost every piece of the Pinstripe puzzle is fitting into place right now. A-Rod has 5 HRs the past ten days, Bobby Abreu has proved to be THE best trade deadline pick up, and this team is now a serious threat to make it past the scuffling AL Central this postseason. 3. Minnesota Twins (3) (6 ? 4) Here?s an argument for Liriano for Cy Young: the Twins went on a 34 ? 8 run, extended that to 40 ? 12. That 12th loss went to Liriano, back too soon from arm ?soreness? and still on the DL almost two months later. Since then the Twins are 18 ? 14. True, Liriano wasn?t the only reason for the huge success( Mauer, Morneau, anyone?). But try to find a player whose absence is felt more keenly. The Twins? offense had been the problem of late (29 runs scored and a 4 ? 7 record in 11 games). Yet they rattled off 22 runs and 3 straight Ws against division leader Detroit, and will likely get Francisco back in less than a week. He?ll have to make a fast impact to fend off the White Sox; the Garzas and Nesheks have been good, but will not be enough playing handmaiden to new Minnesota Governor Mr. Santana forever. 4. Oakland Athletics (5) (5 ? 4) Speaking of Oakland, a funny thing happened: their team ERA was above 3.00 for the week.A whopping 6.63, to be exact, in the last 7 days, with opponents? BA at a gaudy .329!. That?s okay. The A?s themselves hit .333, with a .528 slugging percentage and 10 HRs in 6 games. That?s a lot of numbers, but the bottom line is Oakland has been finding more and more ways to get that W. They are smirking at the streaking Angels, Frank Thomas, with the most September RBIs in September, and HRs in 5 straight, is a machine again. A match-up with Minnesota starting today could be a movie trailer for coming October attractions. 5. Detroit Tigers (4) (3 ? 7) The Tigers have been contributing to the precipitous drop in stocks in the AL Central. On August 7 Detroit was 76 ? 36, flying high and seemingly unfazed by the Twins? massive surge. Now, after a 10 ? 22 extended slide, the Tigers find themselves in danger of maybe even giving away the division AND the wild card. A .243 BA the past 7 days does not help them get back on track. Still, with 18 games to go only 8 of them are against winning teams, only 3 against the White Sox. They will need to go into October playing good baseball, however. The Yankees and A?s are waiting ? 6. Los Angeles Angels (8) (7 ? 2) Right behind Oakland, and finally starting to play the kind of ball many of us expected they would, are the Halos. Demanding attention, having won 7 of 8 and 22 of 34 now. With a 1.85 ERA over those 8 games, pitching is still the captain of this ship, though the hitting has slightly improved. With 7 more games against, and 5 1/2 back of, West-leader Oakland, these guys will need to win at least 5 of them toshake things up. Cross your fingers, fans. Or pray. But this year the rally monkey takes a nap. 7. Chicago White Sox (6) (4 ? 6) You would be forgiven for thinking the White Sox are trying to avoid the postseason. Losers of 6 of 10, 15 of 26. Say all what you want about winning the World Series, but these starting pitchers, the same ones that were so stingy last October, have been far from impressive for far too long now. (John Garland notwithstanding). But since Detroit is seriously flailing for the first time all year, the Southsiders have still managed to make up ground. At 1 1/2 back of Minnesota for the Wild Card, and 3 1/2 back of Detroit, they have just as good a chance as any to rev the engine one last time. 8. Los Angeles Dodgers (7) (5 ? 5) On the other end of the freeways, the Dodgers have coolled down a la the Twins. They went 20 ? 2 not long ago, and just recently ripped off another streak, of 7 straight. But in the NL almost evereyone is always in it, and no lead ( other then the Mets? ) is ever secure. So, after losing 5 of 8 now, the Dodgers find themselves only 1 1/2 game ahead of San Diego. The Dodgers still have sturdy framework in place, and Maddux, Penny and Lowe are just the kind of strong, experienced arms one would want down the stretch. They?ll need to improve upon last week?s .227 team BA however; 4 games left against SD, 3 vs. SF, will make the final ride a bumpy one. 9. Florida Marlins (12) (7 ? 3) One thing was talked about in the Marlins clubhouse Wednesday: Anibal Sanchez. The players knew who he was. Fans too. But for many of us outside the loop this relative unknown became famous real fast. By hurling the first MLB no-hitter in two years, Sanchez reminded all of us this young, low-budget Florida team ($14.9 million!) is a lot, lot more than just Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera. In fact, by going 61 ? 40 since a horrendous 11 ? 31 start, they are easily one of the best squads in baseball. Whether they can sustain it is what matters now, though. The Phillies, Padres and Giants mean business. 10. Philadelphia Phillies (10) (5 ? 5) It?s becoming clear to everyone just how huge Ryan Howard is to his team. And to baseball. The Phils? last 16 games they have hit 24 HRs. 12 of those are owned by Howard. In 16 games, folks! MVP candidate? I?m sold. Now with 56 on the year, Howard has an offensive bug that is definitely the cantagious kind, and, who knows, that bug may be enough to carry a team of slowly improving starting pitching to October ball. They just split 4 games with surging Florida, and with 7 more to go against them, if these squads keep going blow-for-blow it will only make it easier for the Pads and Giants to claim the Wild Card. 11. San Diego Padres (14) (6 ? 3) The Padres, along with Philly, Florida and SF, jump up the Rankings again with superior play on the diamond. A slump by the division-leading Dodgers means San Diego is now only a game back, the Giants not far behind. Despite a 2.88 ERA this past week, and an opponents? .233 BA, the Pads won 6 of 9, 14 of 21 going back further. Go figure. Pitching, not hitting wins ballgames, they say. But to fight the Dodgers in front, and the Wild-Card contenders behind, and with only 6 of their last 21 at home, they will have to do more than that. 12. San Francisco Giants (NR) (6 ? 3) Another member of this strange National League revitalization is San Francisco. They have won 18 of 26 now, putting themselves right back in the thick of the scoreboard watching, and making the Bay Area, once again, a place where playoff baseball is talked about on both sides of the water. But like the Padres and Astros this pitching excellence is offset by a line-up at or near the bottom this week in most offensive categories. They may have 12 HRs over the last 8 --including a bunch by the resurgent Bonds?but in order to nab a postseason berth they will need to stop leaning on the pitching staff to get them there. 13. St. Louis Cardinals (8) (3 ? 7) In St. Louis things do not look good. Having spent almost an entire season waiting to return to their form of years past, they put up another average week. Hitting is thin ?almost extinct after SuperPujols?and Isringhausen?s DL stint only magnifies this pitching staff?s lack of depth. Hey, it?s not all bad. They lead the worst division in baseball by 4 1/2 games, and Cincinnati is not going to make a last-second surge. I only hope the Cards don?t completely embarrass themselves come playoff time. 14. Houston Astros (13) (4 ? 4) Houston?s starters are back, it?s official. A downright scary 22 runs allowed in 8 games, with opposing batters hitting just .207. The predictable tendency for Houston?s batters to get shut down (especially when the Rocket?s on the mound), should still be seen as a liability until they can prove it has been fixed. Still, at only 4 games back of Wild-Card leader San Diego, Houston has a reasonable shot at getting hot again. My money says more of the same, however. 15. Boston Red Sox (11) (4 ? 5) Here we are down at the business end of the Rankings, a dubious position held by a newcomer with a hot streak, or a has-been grasping on to the list wth desperation. The latter is the Red Sox, though I?m sure where they are on my list is the least of thir concerns. The Red Sox, already heavily wounded, are now officially dead in the water, despite the rapid returns of Crisp, Varitex, Nixon, and Ortiz, whose public push for the AL MVP needs our full-throated support. They still suffer from a weak pitching staff. The toughest part is muscling through the rest of the season with a shred of skill and pride. Hey, at least they?re not the Cubs or the Orioles. I may support one of the most frustrating teams in all of baseball right now, but I spent almost half of my spare weekend time watching the birds lose to the Yankees. Glutton for punishment? I am practically begging for it. Besides, I have two more NFL games to watch tonight. Each one has a player from my Fantasy football team pitted against a player from my opponent?s team. As it stands I have a 5.3 point advantage, and I have never hated Antonio Gates as much as I do today. This is a dangerous, dangerous game. But then again, you stopped reading two minutes ago, so maybe I should call it quits on my end. Hey, you have to give me credit for not wasting three of my opening paragraphs on football. As always, keep your mind in the game, and your game on the mind.