By Tom Morris Fire up the engine. Pump the stereo. Grease the wheels, the Small-Market Bandwagon is ready to roll. Has been for some time now, actually. While the high-powered Yanks and Mets and Red Sox, and other teams of equally deep pockets, have spent the year making their usual noise, the real music is being played on the baseball diamonds of Oakland, Minnesota, and Philadelphia. It is there you can find quality baseball at a fraction of the price of the Other Leading Brands. And you can count me a member of their growing fan base. Oakland is doing the same thing it has done for about six years now: build a team out of young, talented players groomed from one of the deepest, most polished farm systems out there. Win with pitching and defense. Despite losing Tejada, Mulder, Hudson, Giambi, and next year probably Zito, the Athletics continue to spit in the face of the new tradition of buying winners. Same with Minnesota, who manage to play the best baseball in the AL Central, and best pitching in all of baseball, despite a distinctly uncompetitive payroll. They may not be the best teams in baseball, but these two will upset the Tigers and Yankees en route to some of the cheapest, but most exciting, ALCS games of recent years. Of course, there?s also the Yankees, the heavy-hitting, heavy-breathing ogre of the AL, with loose dollars falling to the floor everywhere it goes. Steinbrenner may not be King Midas, but it seems like everything his 76-year-old fingers touch turns to Pennant-Gold. Well, I guess Joe Torre has something to do with it also ?And homespun Derek Jeter? And Mariano Rivera?. And ?alright, I?m getting off topic here. The National League has my favorite team of the month, the Philadelphia Phillies. But it isn?t just the Philly crew that has stepping up their level of play. LA, San Diego, Florida, San Francisco. These teams, for a good two weeks there, temporarily breathed fresh air into the lungs of a league long ago languishing in Intensive Care. They may be old and weak compared to the teams with the Designated Hitter, but I don?t think it?s time to (ahem) pull the plug just yet. The New York Mets are the real reason this league stays alive, and it would not be presumptuous to just go ahead and chalk them up for an appointment at the World Series. They may have lost the throne this week to the Yanks, but for now they can do no wrong. Screw them, though. I've got better things to do. The Small-Market Bandwagon is picking up some Big-Time Steam. I'm serious. Jump on, it's a small wagon. This Week?s Rankings: [Last Week?s Rankings, and W ? L Record, in Parentheses] 1. New York Yankees (2) (6 ? 4) Well, it is official: as of Wednesday, the Yankees clinch the AL East. For the second year in a row and for, I think, the 8,046th time in MLB history. Kind of makes you sick, doesn?t it? Fact is, they earned it, going 46 ? 25 since the halfway mark, and with one heckuva deep line-up. Their starting rotation is strong enough, and experienced enough, to guide them through the postseason. They are the strongest team in the AL right now, an inescapable truth that puts them in my team Rankings throne, usurping the team to follow.. 2. New York Mets (1) (4 ? 4) The Mets held the top spot on the list for a few weeks, and would still be there were it not for that bothersome juggernaut of a team from the Bronx. Still far superior to the rest of the National League, even the flavor-of-the-month Phillies. And with the division long ago clinched, the Mets still managed to win a bunch of games of late. Odd, when you consider that they?ve been manning the field with cardboard cut-outs while the real players rest up for the playoffs with milkshakes and massages. 3. Oakland Athletics (4) (6 ? 2) The Athletics sneak into the #3 spot this week. Not an easy thing to do, with the Twins seemingly unable to stop playing lights-out baseball. The A?s get the edge, though, simply for being able to shrug off their annual September swoon. You know, the one that follows their yearly August hot streak. This time, they keep it going, with the same old ingredients that bore stat-mongers, but delight the true baseball fan: pitching and timely hitting. Thing is, without the A-grade pitching the timely hitting is just garbage homers and sac flies. Rich Harden returns from the DL Thursday, and if the playoffs started today the A?s would go up against the Tigers. You wouldn?t hear anyone say this two months ago, but my money?s on the boys from Oakland. 4. Minnesota Twins (3) (6 ? 2) 77 ? 33. That?s the run-scoring ratio for the Twins over the last 12 games, 10 of which they won, and none of which they lost by more than one run. You know, for all the talk of the impact Liriano would make when he returned, then what an affect his quick return to the DL would have, this team just went about its business as if they truly didn?t mind losing the Rookie of the Year for the rest of 2006. A team .321 BA, and 2.47 ERA the past seven days shows us these guys are determined to win no matter who?s throwing the baseballs. Outstanding stuff, and the cream of the crop in the AL Central. 5. Detroit Tigers (5) (5 ? 3) Detroit has managed to temper its downward spiral of late. It looks like they have done just enough to secure a place on the October ballot. Whether it is as the AL Central division winner or the Wild Card remains to be seen. Fact is, a Tiger fan should still be concerned. The previously unhittable starting rotation has been touched up one inning too many now. And despite a .301 Team BA, 11 HRs and 41 runs the past 6 games, their line-up had been more famine and less feast. We all know what this talented, smart team can do. Let?s see if they bring it when it counts. 6. Los Angeles Angels (6) (5 ? 3) Too little too late, O Angelic ones. Actually, just too late. The hot streak the Halos have put together these past few weeks has been anything but little. That rotation, again, is the backbone of years to come. But try making a dent in a division lead when the team your chasing (Oakland) has to read about losing streaks in history books. Good team, bad timing, last to the party, first to leave. 7. Philadelphia Phillies (10) (7 ? 2) I?m not hiding it: I like these guys. I think it?s the underdog in me. Either way, we?re dealing with one hell of a hot baseball squad right now, one that has tacked on sharp pitching to its repertoire of home runs and GW RBI. Ryan Howard may be the offensive force of this team, but take the time to watch the Phils play a game and you?ll see 25 guys who know how to get that W. Fun to watch, and a team that could do away with St. Louis in the first round of October, too. 8. Chicago White Sox (7) (2 ? 6) The Tigers just hammered in the coffin?s final nail. Now all you gotta do is throw dirt on ?em. It?s nice when a pitching staff as dominating as theirs was last year goes on to repeat on a yearly basis. In some towns that?s the basis for a dynasty. But, as Jim Leyland would say, ?That?s just baseball.? You can?t expect it to repeat. Only John Garland has managed a return to form of late, so despite a powerhouse line-up that includes Dye, Konerko and Thome, the Southsiders move on to 2007. Hey, as an Oriole fan, I?d kill for their roster any day of the week.. 9. San Diego Padres (11) (5 ? 4) That was an amazing hour of baseball, those explosive 9th and 10th innings between LA and San Diego a few days ago. The Padres would have enjoyed it, of course, if they hadn?t been the team allowing the 4 consecutive, and 1 GW, dingers. As it stands, both these squads are playing good, not great, ball. San Diego has scored 59 runs the past ten games, something that doesn?t happen in this hitting-absent division. But, the NL West is competitive again, and your guess is as good as mine which team grabs the right straw. Could happen the last day of the season. 10. Los Angeles Dodgers (8) (3 ? 6) The other contender remaining in the NL West (barring an unfathomable 10 ? 0 SF Giants run), the Dodgers may have ebbed from their previous onslaught of August (20 ? 2, anyone?). But they still have the right ingredients to make a tasty postseason cocktail. Greg Maddux is the September MVP for sure, and any team that can smash 4 consecutive, and extremely meaningful, taters against a team 1/2 a game ahead of them, in a playoff race, deserves a pat on the back. Still, a 6.00 ERA these past 7 days does not bode well for a team that will not make the playoffs this year. 11. St. Louis Cardinals (13) (4 ? 3) A reversal of fortune could not have been more timely (read: URGENT) for the perennial NL Favorites of St. Louis. Slumping through much of the season with a shallow line-up and sketchy pitching, the Cards were played poorly, no matter how much they were shuffled. But, they are in the NL Central, where no one wants the flag, and now, with two weeks left, they start to put it together. A 2.47 ERA over the past week, over 6 runs scored the past 8, spells success, and could mean all is well again in Missouri. My guess: the Phillies come to town in October and rough things up. It?ll be ugly. 12. Boston Red Sox (15) (5 ? 4) I?m putting the BoSox this high up this week out of respect, despite my despising them with vigor and zeal. They went in the tank in a big way, but with the returns of several key players have managed to return to competitive ball in basically meaningless games. David Ortiz was my vote for MVP until he inserted foot in mouth, so that ship has sailed. Theo Epstein has some work to do. Of course they?ve got plenty of money for the offseason. Spend it wisely, and they?re back in the hunt for 2007. Waste it on no-shows like Beckett and they?re in for another long season. 13. Florida Marlins (9) (2 ? 6) Just after putting together an impressive, months-long run in the dreary National League, the Marlins do an about face and crawl back to the safe haven of mediocrity. In the NL, that?s a crowded haven. But despite a 2 ? 6 record of late, including a woefully subterranean .226 Team BA, the Marlins? 2006 campaign has been a story of success, not failure. Dollars to doughnuts, one of the most impressive displays of baseball passion and talent, amassed brilliantly by Florida?s GM for minimum wage salaries. Good job, guys. 14. Toronto Blue Jays (NR) (5 ? 3) This is becoming a trend this week: My Rankings, as the numbers get higher, is becoming a chronicle of teams gone by the wayside. Hey, even in the National League Wild card Jog you didn?t expect nine teams to stay in it forever, did you? The Blue jays underachieved according to the plan: win the AL East. But let?s think about it, it?s a hard mountain to climb. Allinall, despite glaring weaknesses in the rotation, and a manager three, no six, sheets to the wind in the sanity department, Toronto put on a decent show. They finish strong, too, with a whopping .336 Team BA and 3.27 ERA the past week. May not be in the playoffs, but are a team far better than most of the National League teams in the playoff race only a week ago. 15. San Francisco Giants (12) (3 ? 5) OK, so they just called it a day. After running full-steam ahead at the Dodgers and Blue Jays, getting within a game and a half of the Wild-Card spot, they just plain called it a day. A 9.90 ERA in 6 games doesn?t help, a gaudy number boosted by those 28 runs they allowed to the Rockies in consecutive days. Ouch. I live in the Bay Area, and I don?t have to look far to find cries of the postseason. But with this sudden disappearance of form, those cries are becoming whimpers of desperation. Don?t know if the team will return to shine, but you can bet your boots Mr. Bonds will, one more season to shake baseball?s world when he catches Aaron in a Giants uniform. My uniform needs to get a little dirty tonight. Yet to win a game, my softball team needs to start playing rough if we want to make a run. I suggested sharpening our cleats. That wasn?t universally applauded. Stay tuned for one more week of heated baseball rivalries. It may not all be set in stone by next Thursday, but it?ll be damn close. As always, keep your mind in the game and the game on your mind.