With the season well underway, we revive our MLS Power Rankings with the Chicago Fire in the penthouse.

Defending champs Houston opened their season account on the weekend to surge into the top #10, but the top six teams in the chart still play in the East.

#1 Chicago Fire - The Columbus Crew may have the most points in MLS, but the Chicago Fire have the league's best club after seven weeks. The Fire have the league's best player (Cuauhtémoc Blanco), the best defense (led by sophomore sensation Bakary Soumare) and a goal differential of +10. Allowing a league minimum of only three goals just shows how hard it is to beat the Fire.

#2 Columbus Crew - Six wins from seven, but only one of those victories was to a team in our top five. Guillermo Barros Schelotto has been terrific for the Crew, but the big story has been Robbie Rogers. The former Heerenveen player is tied for second in MLS with five goals and is showing confidence rarely seen in an American attacking player. The Crew travel to Toronto, which will very much be a statement game for the league's point leaders.

#3 New York Red Bulls - With only a few changes in the offseason, many pundits left the Red Bulls for dead this season. So far, this is not the case. New coach Juan Carlos Osorio has built a well-disciplined unit that has produced results in the club's first six games, including a win at red-hot Los Angeles on Saturday night. Juan Pablo Angel had a delayed start to the season, but the game winner on Saturday should install some confidence in him to get him back into form.

#4 New England Revolution - The Revs had a string of injuries to start the year, but the return of Taylor Twellman on Sunday (he scored the game winner), they are back to their winning ways. Even after all the injuries and being pummeled by Chicago twice early in the season, the Revs currently sit third in a stacked Eastern Conference. Given all the changes in New England, Steve Nicol has to be satisfied with the position the team currently occupies in the standings.

#5 Toronto FC - Toronto has shown they are one of the best home sides in MLS, but until they can show consistent results on the road they will not be considered one of the league's best. The additions of Rohan Ricketts and Laurent Robert are significant, but the addition of Amado Guevara gives the TFC what the top two teams in MLS have: a dynamic playmaker. A huge game with Columbus on Saturday will tell how good Toronto actually is.

#6 Kansas City Wizards - There's only been one team to knock off Chicago this year and it was Kansas City. In recent weeks, however, the Wizards have struggled to find the net. They have made some nice additions, highlighted by the signing of Argentine Claudio Lopez, but the defense still leaves a bit to be desired - it's young and fairly inexperienced. That defense has the difficult task of having to defend the combination of Jozy Altidore and Juan Pablo Angel this weekend.

#7 FC Dallas - Somebody needs to step up and provide some offense other than Kenny Cooper. Dallas has more depth than anyone in MLS, but for right now they are flat. Dallas has some young guns such as Brek Shea and Anthony Wallace, who can provide some bite with a bit more seasoning, but right now its up to Arturo Alvarez and Juan Toja to push ahead in the Western Conference.

#8 Real Salt Lake - Kyle Beckerman is having an outstanding, All-Star worthy season for a much improved RSL side. They are another team who has been good at home, but need to show some road form to move higher up in this list. Jason Kreis has done a decent job welding some Latin influence into an otherwise young American squad. RSL has one of the best contingent of young Americans in MLS (Tony Beltran, Robbie Findley, Chris Seitz, and Nathan Sturgis), and for RSL to get to the next level, they will need a couple of those guys to step up and be factors.

#9 Houston Dynamo - The defending champions finally got over the hump to post a big win over Colorado. Houston still seems to have problems up front, but the quality of their midfielders and defense still remain. It shouldn't be long before Houston moves up in these rankings.

#10 Colorado Rapids - The Rapids are the biggest mixed bag in MLS. Sometimes they play great (like in their victory over DC United), but other times they fall apart (like in their last game at Houston). Omar Cummings is showing the qualities needed to be an effective forward in MLS, but the Rapids still appear well short in the attacking third to contend with the best teams.

#11 Los Angeles Galaxy - The David Beckham and Landon Donovan show was put to a halt by a stifling New York defense. The Galaxy looked frustrated after lighting up teams around the league with the best offense so far. The Galaxy's holes on defense are clear, and it will be up to Ruud Gullit and Alexi Lalas to fix it.

#12 DC United - It was another home loss for DC United as they continue to stagger behind the leaders. It's no secret that things are not clicking at the moment for the defending Supporters Shield winners. A difficult schedule to start the season didn't help either. Once Fred and Marcelo Gallardo return to the lineup, DC should begin to make some noise.

#13 San Jose Earthquakes - The Quakes are an expansion side, and like most expansion clubs in the league's history, are near the bottom of the standings. However, Frank Yallop had a pretty good expansion drafting emphasizing defense. It's this mindset that has kept them in games this year against the league's best, Chicago and Columbus.

#14 Chivas USA - Injuries, injuries, and more injuries... when you a team is forced to start Bobby Burling, you know things aren't going well. Brad Guzan has had a bad start to the season. If not for the quality play of Sacha Kljestan, Chivas USA would be even further behind in the standings.