MLB Standings 2018: Red Sox Overtake Yankees As Baseball's Top Team Before Weekend Series

The Boston Red Sox (55-27) started the second half of the season Thursday night with their 82nd game of the 2018 season. The team also took sole possession of first place in the AL East, as well as the overall MLB standings, right before their biggest series of the year.

Boston heads to the Bronx Friday night for a weekend series with the New York Yankees (52-26). The Yankees had the best record in baseball for most of June, but that changed with a three-game sweep at the hands of the Tampa Bay Rays (39-41) last weekend. The Red Sox are on a four-game winning streak after sweeping the Los Angeles Angels (41-41) at Fenway Park.

C.C. Sabathia goes for the Yankees against Eduardo Rodriguez in the series opener. It’s Sonny Gray against Chris Sale Saturday. Luis Severino takes the hill for the Yankees Sunday as David Price starts for Boston.

Every head-to-head matchup between the Red Sox and Yankees is critical as the two teams try to avoid the AL Wild Card. The second-place finisher in the division will likely need to win a one-game playoff in order to reach the ALDS. New York currently owns the first AL Wild-Card spot, even though they are on pace to win 108 games.

The Red Sox and Yankees are only percentage points ahead of the Houston Astros (55-28) in the overall standings. The defending champions are still favored to win the 2018 World Series. They’ve got MLB’s best pitching staff and don’t face as much competition in the division.

The Seattle Mariners (51-31) are Houston’s biggest threat in the AL West. They recently went 3-7 over a stretch of 10 consecutive games against the Red Sox and Yankees. Seattle has survived a lot of one-run games, and they’ve only outscored their opponents by 16 runs through the first half of the season.

The Yankees have a three-game lead over the Mariners on the wild-card standings. The Oakland Athletics (44-38) are the first team out of the wild-card race, and they trail Seattle by seven games.

The Cleveland Indians (44-35) have an eight-game lead in the AL Central. No one else in the division is even better than seven games below .500.