AL Playoff Roundup (July 24): Astros Stay Hot, Sweep Mariners For 5th Straight Win
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Now that the second half of the season is in full-go mode, there's a lot to fight for in the American League playoff race these days. The fight for the top spot is on the line between the New York Yankees and Houston Astros, and the division race in the AL Central is still up for grabs, too.
The fight for the three wild-card spots is crowded and very tight too, so now that we have the first post-All-Star break weekend under our belts, it's time to start our daily roundup on AL contenders, and keep you up to date on where everyone stands in the various playoff races.
There are six teams that make the playoffs this year instead of five, and the first-round is now a best-of-three series instead of the old one-game wild-card showdown.
So here are Sunday's summaries, Monday's schedule for the teams in playoff contention — there are 10 of them — and the daily update on what the playoff picture would look like if they started today. (And yes, we know the playoffs don't start today.)
Sunday's summaries
- YANKEES 6, ORIOLES 0: Nelson Cortes (8-3) pitched six scoreless innings for New York and center fielder Aaron Judge hit his league-leading 37th home run in the Yankees' 6-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles, taking the three-game weekend series with two wins. Dean Kremer (3-2) took the loss for the Orioles, giving up four runs in 5 1/3 innings.
- ASTROS 8, MARINERS 5: Houston jumped all over Mariners ace Robbie Ray (8-7) and cruised to an easy 8-5 win to sweep the weekend series in Seattle. Rays gave up six runs and 10 hits in just three innings of work. Framber Valdez (9-4) got the win for Houston, going 6 2/3 innings and allowing just three runs. Jose Altuve hit ihis 19th home run for Houston, winners of five straight coming out of the break.
- TWINS 9, TIGERS 1: Sonny Gray pitched six innings of one-run ball in Minnesota's easy win over Detroit, sweeping the two-game series. Twins first baseman Jose Miranda was 3-for-4 on the day.
- BLUE JAYS 8, RED SOX 4: Toronto remained hot, jumping all over Boston rookie Brayan Bello for five runs in the first inning on an 8-4 win. The Blue Jays swept the series and outscored Boston 40-10. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. went 4-for-5 as the Jays took over the lead in the wild-card race.
- ROYALS 4, RAYS 2: For the second straight day, Tampa Bay erased an early deficit, only to have the bullpen get knocked around late again. This time it was Brooks Raley who gave up the go-ahead run in Kansas City's 4-2 win over the Rays on Sunday. It was the second time in two weeks that the Rays lost a series to a last-place team. For complete game story, CLICK HERE
- WHITE SOX 6, GUARDIANS 3: Chicago got five runs off of Cleveland starter Shane Bieber in the second inning to cruise to a 6-3 win and win the last two games of the four-game series. Dylan Cease (10-4) got the win for the White Sox, pitching six scoreless innings.
New York Yankees center fielder Aaron Judge (99) hits a broken bat single during the sixth inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. (Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports)
Monday's playoff contender schedule
- Tampa Bay (Corey Kluber 6-5, 3.73 ERA) at Baltimore (Austin Voth 1-1, 3.42 ERA), 7:05 p.m. ET
- Cleveland (Zac Plesac 2-7, 4.02) at Boston (Nick Pivetta 8-7, 4.50 ERA), 7:10 p.m. ET
- Houston (Jake Odorizzi 4-2, 3.56 ERA) at Oakland (Adam Oller 0-3 8.56 ERA), 9:40 p.m. ET
- Texas (Glenn Otto 4-6, 5:40 ERA) at Seattle (Chris Flexen 6-8, 3.79 ERA) , 10:10 p.m. ET
If the playoffs started today ...
- No. 1 seed — New York Yankees (66-31, AL East leader, would get first-round bye). Lead Houston by 1.5 games for top seed. Lead Toronto by 12.5 games in AL East race.
- No. 2 seed — Houston Astros (64-32, AL West leader, would get first-round bye). Lead Minnesota by 12 games for first-round bye. Lead
- No. 3 seed — Minnesota Twins (52-44, AL Central leader, would host No. 6 seed in best-of-three first-round series)
- No. 4 seed — Toronto Blue Jays (53-43, wild-card leader, would host No. 5 seed in best-of-three first-round series)
- No. 5 seed — Tampa Bay Rays (52-43, second wild-card team, would play at No. 4 seed Toronto in best-of-three first-round series). Trail Toronto by half-game in wild-card race.
- No. 6 seed — Seattle Mariners (51-45, third wild-card team, would play at No. 3 seed Minnesota in best-of-three first-round series). Lead Cleveland by two games for final wild-card spot.
Outside looking in
- Cleveland: The Guardians are 48-46, and are 2 games behind Seattle for final wild-card spot.
- Chicago: The White Sox are 48-48, and are 3 games behind Seattle for the final wild-card spot.
- Boston: The Red Sox are 48-48, and are 3 games behind Seattle for the final wild-card spot.
- Baltimore: The Orioles are 47-48, and are 3.5 games behind Seattle for the final wild-card spot.
