September is nearly here and that means it’s time to focus on the playoff races. A lot of them, like the NL Central and NL East, would require sea change for any current first-place teams to lose their footing. The AL East is another story.
The Blue Jays, at 74-56, currently own first place in the division followed by the Red Sox (72-58, 2 GB) and Orioles (71-59, 3 GB). Even the Yankees, who were sellers ahead of the deadline nearly one month ago, can’t be counted out at 67-62, 6.5 games behind.
Thankfully, you won’t need the quad-view on MLB.tv to follow, as the Jays and Orioles match up at Camden Yards for the start of a three-game series. Marco Estrada will go for the Jays and Wade Miley will go for the O’s in a 7:05 PM EDT start. Meanwhile, the Red Sox will send AL Cy Young Award candidate Rick Porcello to the hill at Fenway Park to oppose the Rays’ Matt Andriese in a 7:10 PM EDT start.
The rest of Monday’s action...
Washington Nationals (Tanner Roark) @ Philadelphia Phillies (Jake Thompson), 7:05 PM EDT
Chicago White Sox (James Shields) @ Detroit Tigers (Matt Boyd), 7:10 PM EDT
Miami Marlins (Jose Fernandez) @ New York Mets (Rafael Montero), 7:10 PM EDT
Minnesota Twins (Hector Santiago) @ Cleveland Indians (Trevor Bauer), 7:10 PM EDT
St. Louis Cardinals (Carlos Martinez) @ Milwaukee Brewers (Zach Davies), 7:20 PM EDT
Pittsburgh Pirates (Steven Brault) @ Chicago Cubs (Jake Arrieta), 8:05 PM EDT
Seattle Mariners (Hisashi Iwakuma) @ Texas Rangers (Yu Darvish), 8:05 PM EDT
Oakland Athletics (Sean Manaea) @ Houston Astros (Joe Musgrove), 8:10 PM EDT
New York Yankees (Michael Pineda) @ Kansas City Royals (Dillon Gee), 8:15 PM EDT
Los Angeles Dodgers (Kenta Maeda) @ Colorado Rockies (Jon Gray), 8:40 PM EDT
Cincinnati Reds (Dan Straily) @ Los Angeles Angels (Matt Shoemaker), 10:05 PM EDT