Coming out of the All-Star break, Major League Baseball’s playoff races are heating up with just over two weeks until the Aug. 2 trade deadline.
Though half of baseball’s six divisions are out of reach, with the AL East (Yankees), AL West (Astros) and NL West (Dodgers) running away with things, things are tight elsewhere.
The Twins lead the AL Central, three games ahead of the Guardians and four ahead of the White Sox. The Braves trail the Mets by just 1 ½ games entering Monday, having once faced a double-digit deficit. In the NL Central, the Brewers have a 2 ½-game cushion over Cardinals.
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In this week’s MLB power rankings, the Dodgers jumped ahead of the Astros to second place behind the Yankees and the Nationals fell from 29th to 30th, last in baseball.
Here’s how USA TODAY Sports’ eight-person panel voted this week:
Rank (movement from last poll)
Last poll was July 11.
1. New York Yankees (–)
- Making the trip to Citi Field for a two-game Subway Series starting Tuesday.
2. Los Angeles Dodgers (+1)
- Eight-game winning streak could get much longer this week with games vs. Nationals, Rockies.
3. Houston Astros (-1)
- The AL West leaders won the first five games of the second half, vs. Yankees, Mariners.
4. New York Mets (–)
5. Atlanta Braves (–)
- Austin Riley is hitting .420 with 10 HR and 20 RBI through 20 games in July.
6. San Diego Padres (–)
- Manny Machado was the first…
