There are several good pennant drives in the MLB standings right now but the battle getting the most attention is between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox in the American League Eastern Division. The Yankees, who've been hot on the Red Sox heels, finally caught and passed them in the standings this past week. New York and Boston head into the weekend only separated by a half game (0.5) as they head into the weekend. The Yankees will feast on the Minnesota Twins for four games beginning Thursday while the Red Sox move into Kansas City to play four with the Royals.
With less than six weeks to play in the regular season, it would take a miracle for the Rays to get in the AL East battle currently trailing the Yankees by 8.5 games. Toronto is out of it 12 games off the pace while Baltimore has disappeared from site 27 back of New York.
After splitting the first two games of their three game set, National League East leaders Philadelphia Phillies and NL West leaders Arizona Diamondbacks play the rubber game at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia Thursday night. The Phillies are cruising with an 8.5 game lead over the Atlanta Braves who are looking like the NL Wild Card is their only option for making the playoffs. The D-Backs are locked in a pretty good battle out west leading the reigning World Champions San Francisco Giants by 2.5 games.
The Milwaukee Brewers have found some seperation with the Cardinals by going on a hot streak and winning eight of their last 10 games while the Cardinals have fallen 6.5 back of them splitting their last 10 games 5-5 including dropping two of three at Pittsburgh. The Brewers head to New York for three games with the Mets over the wekend while the Cardinals play the Cubs three at Wrigley Field.
It looks like the only three way battle is in the American League Central where the Detroit Tigers lead the Cleveland Indians by a pair and the third place White Sox by 3.5 games. If any of these three expect to make the playoffs they'd better win the division because – the way it looks now – the loser between the Yankees and Red Sox will get the AL Wild Card. In the AL West the Texas Rangers have also created a little seperation over the second place Angels who lag 7.0 back while the Oakland A's (16.5) and Seattle Mariners (18) have no chance of making the playoffs.
