MLB Standings 2018: Red Sox, Yankees, Astros Have Baseball's Best Records At Trade Deadline

Three teams have stood out from the rest of the league for most of the 2018 MLB season, and they each got even better ahead of Tuesday’s trade deadline. The Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees and Houston Astros have all made deals in the last week to improve their World Series chances.

Boston has acquired starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi and second baseman Ian Kinsler. New York traded for pitchers Zach Britton, J.A. Happ and Lance Lynn with possibly more moves on the way. Houston made a controversial addition by acquiring reliever Roberto Osuna, who’s serving a 75-game suspension for violating MLB’s domestic violence policy, though there’s no doubting the addition will help the team’s bullpen.

It’s a case of the rich getting richer for the Red Sox (75-33) as the club is having its best regular season in team history. With a six-game lead atop the AL East, Boston is on pace for 112 wins. The Red Sox only need to go 25-29 the rest of the way to finish with 100 victories.

The Yankees (67-33) had to make several moves since their current 104-win pace might not be nearly good enough for them to avoid the single-game elimination AL Wild-Card Game. With MLB’s second-best record, New York has four fewer losses than Houston and seven fewer losses than the best National League team.

The Yankees are five games ahead of the Seattle Mariners (63-43) in the wild-card race. The Oakland Athletics (62-46) are two games behind Seattle for the league's final playoff spot.

The Mariners are only three games behind the Astros (67-4) in the AL West, but Seattle is still considered somewhat of a long shot to win the division. The defending champs have the best pitching staff in baseball, and they only trail the Red Sox by one run in run differential.

The Yankees are third with a plus-136 run differential. The Cleveland Indians (57-48) are fourth in the AL with a plus-93 run differential and well on their way toward winning another AL Central title.

The Chicago Cubs (61-44) have the NL’s best record and the fifth-best record in MLB. The defending NL champion Los Angeles Dodgers (59-48) have a half-game lead in the division after trading for Manny Machado during the All-Star break.