The Cleveland Guardians’ surge and the Houston Astros’ three-game losing streak at home put both teams level on record entering Monday.
Cleveland has loftier ambitions at this point. The Guardians are one game back of the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central. Cleveland hosts Detroit for three games starting on Tuesday.
The Guardians finish with the Texas Rangers, who should be eliminated by the weekend, so they can still rebound properly if they lose the series to Detroit.
Houston finishes the regular season in California against the Athletics and Los Angeles Angels.
The Astros should, at least in theory, finish the regular season with a winning week. They can put some pressure on the Seattle Mariners in the AL West race, but Seattle gets three with the Colorado Rockies at home to begin the week.
Houston’s likely landing spot is one of the two wild-card spots.
Both the Astros and Guardians would love some help from the Toronto Blue Jays against the Boston Red Sox during the week.
Boston closes with three games at home versus Detroit. That could be the most important series of the weekend in the AL.
If Detroit loses its series in Cleveland, it will be in play for both the AL Central and a wild-card spot at Fenway Park.
Detroit, Cleveland, Boston and Houston are likely fighting for three places. The New York Yankees own a three-game advantage over Boston.
The Yankees finish with the Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles, so the assumption is they will win a few games and clinch a playoff spot while chaos takes place beneath them in the standings.
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