As the final week of the regular season dawns, USA TODAY Sports' power rankings remain largely unchanged - the top nine are intact as playoff races settle.

It's a different story looking back on our preseason rankings, however.

Oh, the usual suspects are there - the defending champion Houston Astros and National League champion Los Angeles Dodgers atop the list, though our panel somehow down-voted the Boston Red Sox into a No. 7 preseason ranking.

Hey, nobody's perfect.

The biggest rises and leaps, however, could hardly be foreseen. The Washington Nationals were our preseason No. 4 squad, and rightly so, having won 97 games the year before and facing what appeared to be soft competition in the NL East.

They were eliminated from playoff contention over the weekend and have fallen to No. 15, befitting a .500 team.

Meanwhile, the Oakland Athletics ranked 26th entering the season. They will finish just shy of 100 wins and have risen to No. 4 in our rankings, just behind a Yankees squad they'll very likely meet in the wild-card game.

From 1 to 30, how they stack up now based on voting from our nine-person panel:

Ranking (change from last week)

1. Boston Red Sox (–)

Mookie Betts will be their first MVP since Dustin Pedroia in 2018.

2. Houston Astros (–)

Should clinch the AL West in Toronto.

3. New York Yankees (–)

Awful timing for Didi Gregorius' injury.

4. Oakland Athletics (–)

He won't win MVP, but Khris Davis has done some very MVP-ish things.

5. Chicago Cubs (–)

Last-week rarity: Very likely to be No. 1 seed in NL, but also could lose the division title.

6. Cleveland Indians (–)

Yup, looks like Josh Donaldson will be a legit October weapon.

7. Milwaukee Brewers (–)

Batting champ, OPS champ, second in WAR - Christian Yelich's MVP bid hard to deny.

8. Atlanta Braves (–)

Back end of playoff rotation will be an adventure.

9. Los Angeles Dodgers (–)

With three homers this week, Chris Taylor can give them eight 20-homer guys. Which is ridiculous.

t-10. St. Louis Cardinals (+2)

Might be fun to start Jordan Hicks in a wild-card game.

t-10. Tampa Bay Rays (+1)

Blake Snell should win the Cy Young Award - and perhaps finish in the top half-dozen in MVP, as well.

12. Colorado Rockies (-2)

Kyle Freeland's 165 ERA-plus a nod to his brilliance in spite of home office conditions.

13. Seattle Mariners (–)

In Seattle, October's for the birds (Seahawks).

14. Arizona Diamondbacks (–)

8-21 slide knocks them out far sooner than many expected.

15. Washington Nationals (+1)

For all the early struggles, Bryce Harper will end up with second-most homers, second-best OPS of career.

16. Philadelphia Phillies (-1)

Everybody's "team to watch" in the winter.

17. Pittsburgh Pirates (–)

Can't crack 1.5 million in attendance, lowest mark since 1996.

18. Los Angeles Angels (-1)

Third consecutive sub-.500 season.

19. New York Mets (+1)

Jeff McNeil update: Now batting .340 through 57 games.

20. San Francisco Giants (-1)

Andrew Suarez, Dereck Rodriguez prevent year from being a total loss.

21. Toronto Blue Jays (–)

John Gibbons should be given a nice Rogers Centre send-off.

22. Minnesota Twins (–)

A soul-crushing 15 walk-off defeats.

23. Texas Rangers (+1)

Kind of an upset Jeff Banister made it that long.

24. Cincinnati Reds (-1)

Is Luis Castillo's strong September (3-1, 1.09 ERA, 34 strikeouts in 33 innings) a harbinger or mirage?

25. Miami Marlins (+3)

Derek Jeter saw enough in Don Mattingly to bring him back.

26. San Diego Padres (–)

Yeah, the future is very bright, but shouldn't the present be better than 62-94?

27. Detroit Tigers (-2)

In era of big power, Nick Castellanos (22 homers) their only 20-homer guy.

28. Chicago White Sox (-1)

None of their five starting pitchers has a FIP better than 4.38 - and Dylan Covey pairs that with a 5.33 ERA.

29. Kansas City Royals (–)

Esky Magic has vanished: Alcides Escobar going out with a .226/.275/.311 line.

30 Baltimore Orioles (–)