MLB Power Rankings: Teams Moving Up as Playoffs Approach

It's officially crunch time with just one week remaining until the regular season comes to a close. The playoff picture is starting to come into focus with several teams clinching spots, but there are still a couple postseason berths up for grabs.

As the season winds down, certain teams are getting hot at the right time. As history has shown, it's not always the best team that wins a championship, but rather the team that's playing the best baseball at the right time.

Let's take a glance at three teams trending in the right direction with just a handful of games left. A full power rankings table can be found at the bottom of the article as well.

Baltimore Orioles

All season long baseball fans outside of Baltimore have been waiting for the Orioles to fade and it still hasn't happened. Now the team has a playoff berth in its grasp, which would be its first since 1997, and are playing all-around good ball.

The Orioles have won seven of their last 10 games, including a six-game winning streak last week. The unsung pitchers continue to string together good starts and the offense is able to scrap together enough runs to earn the wins.

While Buck Showalter deserves a lot of credit for putting the team in position to make the playoffs, so do the players for continuing to play well even when the pressure began to rise. They just have to hold on for one more week; then, anything can happen.

Atlanta Braves

If you want perspective on what the Braves have been able to accomplish, look at the Boston Red Sox. Both teams suffered collapses of momentous proportion last season, but while the Red Sox continue to struggle, the Braves have clinched a playoff spot.

Alarm bells started to ring after the Braves were swept by the Milwaukee Brewers earlier in the month. Atlanta bounced back nicely to win eight of its last 10, including Tuesday's playoff clincher on a walk-off home run by Freddie Freeman.

Even though Chipper Jones is rightfully receiving a lot of attention as his career nears a conclusion, Kris Medlen has played the role of hero quite a bit down the stretch. He's 8-0 with a microscopic ERA of 1.01 since the All-Star break.

St. Louis Cardinals

Baseball fans have seen this story before. The playoffs are right around the corner and suddenly the Cardinals look like a contender after flying under the radar for most of the season. They have won four straight and eight of their last nine.

Losing Albert Pujols to the Los Angeles Angels didn't cause as big of a problem as expected before the season. St. Louis ranks fourth in runs scored and leads baseball in on-base percentage at .338, a good sign as it tries to wrap up a wild-card spot.

If the team's pitching staff, which is certainly not short on talent, can find a groove over the next few weeks, there's no reason the Cardinals can't make another World Series run. Just another reason St. Louis is becoming a model franchise.

Week 26 Power Rankings

1	Cincinnati Reds
2	Washington Nationals
3	New York Yankees
4	Atlanta Braves
5	Texas Rangers
6	Baltimore Orioles
7	San Francisco Giants
8	Los Angeles Angels
9	Oakland Athletics
10	St. Louis Cardinals
11	Tampa Bay Rays
12	Detroit Tigers
13	Chicago White Sox
14	Milwaukee Brewers
15	Arizona Diamondbacks
16	Philadelphia Phillies
17	Los Angeles Dodgers
18	San Diego Padres
19	Kansas City Royals
20	Pittsburgh Pirates
21	Seattle Mariners
22	Minnesota Twins
23	Boston Red Sox
24	New York Mets
25	Toronto Blue Jays
26	Cleveland Indians
27	Miami Marlins
28	Colorado Rockies
29	Chicago Cubs
30	Houston Astros