We have reached the point in the season when, even with an extra day added to the week because of the Labor Day holiday, it’s difficult for teams to make too much of a leap in our weekly Power Rankings. Teams that have gotten hot recently have made their push upward; teams that have collapsed have long since been identified. There are many playoff spots left to be decided. But by now, we know who’s seriously going for them, and who isn’t.

• MLB standings

Thus, in this week’s Power Rankings, the name of the game is stasis. No team went up more than two spots; only one team fell more than three. There is a slight reshuffling in the top five, but only a slight one. Had the Dodgers done to the Braves in their four-game series what the Braves did to the Dodgers, this might have been different. But that’s not what happened. In many ways, everybody held close to their station over the long weekend. We know how this all works down the stretch: That’ll change soon enough.

Here are this week’s rankings.

• How to determine playoff tiebreakers

Biggest Jump:  The Guardians surprised some people with their aggressive waiver claims from the Angels, and while that might not have immediately resulted in a dramatic move in the standings, our voters at the very least recognized the effort and pushed them up two spots. Unfortunately for them, one of the two other teams to go up two spots was … the Twins, the very team (and the only realistic team) they’re trying to chase down. The other team that went up two spots was the Mets, for what it’s worth.

Biggest Drop: The Red Sox have had a nice season, a better one than their fans might even necessarily be willing to acknowledge this year. They’re also set up well for the future, or at least better than, say, the Yankees seem to be. But their wipeout sweep at home against the Astros last week -- after losing two of three to the Dodgers the weekend before, also at home -- may have dropped them out of the Wild Card race once and for all. They recovered to win two of three in Kansas City, but for 2023, the voters may be out on them: They dropped five spots from No. 12 to No. 17.

Power Rankings Top 5:

1. Braves 90-46 (last week: 1)
The Braves had a three-game primer at Coors Field -- for the Braves this year, a “primer” ends with a three-game sweep for the visitors -- before their highly anticipated series at Dodger Stadium against a team that was still holding out faint hopes of catching the Braves for the No. 1 seed in the National League. Those hopes are essentially squashed after the Braves won three of four in Chavez Ravine in an environment that sure did seem to augur a repeat affair in October. The Braves get a nice breather at home this week against the Cardinals and the Pirates.

2. Orioles 86-51 (last week: 3)
Orioles fans were starting to get a little nervous a couple of weeks ago, when they lost two of three at home to the Padres on Aug. 15-16 and their rotation was starting to fray a bit. They haven’t lost a series since, sweeping the A’s and winning two out of three from the Blue Jays, Rockies, White Sox and D-backs. Winning series is how you stay in first place, even with the Rays still nipping at their heels. They’ll finish up their final West Coast swing of the year before heading back East to Fenway this weekend to face a Red Sox team against which they still have seven games left. They could officially end this for the Red Sox … and with a huge four-game series against the Rays pending in a week, they’ll need all the cushion they can get.

3. Dodgers 84-52 (last week: 3)
Hey, it was a nice thought, Dodgers fan. The blistering post-All-Star break run the Dodgers went on got them, and their fans, excited about the possibility of making a charge at the Braves for National League supremacy with a four-game set in L.A. The Dodgers quickly got a splash of cold reality, losing three out of four and putting a clear, probably insurmountable distance between the teams. The Dodgers will have to console themselves with the fact that their magic number is going to hit single digits sometime in the next few days, and the No. 2 seed, and that first-round bye, is waiting for them.

4. Rays 83-55 (last week: 5)
The Rays had two days off last week, and they couldn’t have come at a better time: They’re about to have their most intense two weeks of the season, with 13 straight games against teams with winning records without a single day off. They have two more against the Red Sox at home before an absolutely fascinating marquee four-game set against the Mariners next weekend. But after three games against a getting-better Twins team on the road, the big one hits: Four games in Camden Yards. The Rays would love to be in striking distance of the Orioles for that series. But the schedule is not going to make it easy.

5. Mariners 77-60 (last week: 4)
Julio Rodríguez’s foot issue came on the heels (sorry) of his face-meltingly hot stretch in August, and while he was back for the weekend and homered, the Mariners had the feel of a team that has come back to earth a little during a weekend series loss at Citi Field. The Mets series ended a happy schedule stretch for the Mariners, who hadn’t played a winning team in two weeks before heading to Cincinnati on Labor Day. That party is now over: They’ve got three against the Angels at home and three against the A’s on the road, but other than that, every team the Mariners will face moving forward is either a clear playoff team (Rays, Dodgers) or a division rival they’re going to be fighting to the end with in the final days of the season. Your lives are about to get a lot more stressful, Mariners fans.

1. Braves (last week: 1)
2. Orioles (3)
3. Dodgers (2)
4. Rays (5)
5. Mariners (4)
6. Brewers (6)
7. Astros (8)
8. Phillies (9)
9. Rangers (7)
10. Blue Jays (10)
11. Cubs (11)
12. Twins (14)
13. Diamondbacks (13)
14. Reds (15)
15. Giants (16)
16. Marlins (17)
17. Red Sox (12)
18. Guardians (20)
19. Yankees (18)
20. Padres (21)
21. Angels (19)
22. Mets (24)
23. Pirates (25)
24. Tigers (23)
25. Nationals (22)
26. Cardinals (26)
27. White Sox (27)
28. Rockies (28)
29. Royals (29)
30. A’s (30)