On deck: AL East in focus with Yankees-Red Sox, Rays-Padres

The last full week of August will bring attention to the race for the American League East crown and first-round bye in the National League postseason.

Yankees-Red Sox meet for final time in 2026 regular season

This weekend, the bitter rivals will play four games in the Bronx that could decide how much of a chance either has to catch the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East.

It's a big week for the Yankees, who will face two of their biggest rivals in Houston (at home Tuesday-Thursday) before welcoming in the Red Sox on Friday. Both of those Yankee Stadium series will have impacts on the regular-season standings, with Houston entering Monday tied on top of the AL West with the Texas Rangers.

Boston leads the season series 5-4, and each team has scored 30 runs so far against each other. That's how closely matched the Red Sox and Yankees have been this year. Now, with four games left and the Yankees trailing the Rays by three games and leading the Red Sox by three games, how the season series ends could be big heading into the postseason.

Rays-Padres brings interleague interest

Speaking of the AL East, Tampa Bay will be looking to maintain its lead at the top of the division when the San Diego Padres come calling from Friday to Sunday in a matchup of teams looking to keep their leads for postseason spots secure. 

Interestingly, every series the Rays have played against teams from the National League West this season has ended with a sweep. The Rays are a combined 9-0 against Arizona, Colorado and San Francisco while going 0-3 against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Padres enter the week 2.0 games ahead of Arizona in the Wild Card standings and are 7-3 in their last 10 games. San Diego will have three home games against Pittsburgh before an off day on Thursday.

Braves-Dodgers could decide NL postseason bye

It's been quite a stretch for Atlanta, coming off three games against the Milwaukee Brewers, the team with the NL's best record, and now having the Dodgers in town on Tuesday through Thursday.

The Braves did win the finale against Milwaukee on Sunday night, but are just 3-7 in their last 10 games. The Dodgers, meanwhile, enter the new week on a roll, winning their last six games to sneak ahead of Atlanta in the race for the NL's second seed.

While the entire series should be must-watch television, Thursday's finale could be the most intriguing game of the bunch as Atlanta's Chris Sale is set to go against the Dodgers' Yoshinobu Yamamoto in a marquee pitching matchup.

Atlanta took two of three games at Chavez Ravine in early May. Can they keep the tiebreaker and win two of three against a red-hot Dodgers team? If so, that result could be big for postseason seeding as Los Angeles leads the Braves by four games for the NL's second seed entering the week.