Big Bear Nolan's Blog

1. Seattle Mariners (47-44) at Miami Marlins (49-42)

The Mariners go deep in the ocean to visit the home of the fish. Really bad attempt at a pun, the AL West leading Mariners travel across the country for an interleague battle at Miami. The Marlins have been on a roll after a really good June and just swept the Athletics on the road. Now they get the leaders from the same division in Seattle. Both teams are right on the fringe of being right above and right below a playoff spot so this is one they could both afford.

2. New York Yankees (49-40) at Tampa Bay Rays (52-35)

Well when you break a seven game losing streak last weekend, that always nice news. That is until you lose 11-4 and 6-1 in back to back games at home to the Minnesota Twins to lose your first series to them at Yankee Stadium since 2014. To make matters worse, the Yankees now get to go to Tropicana Field to play against the now division leading Rays. When both teams played their back in April, Tampa swept the series. On the bright side for New York, they didn’t lose too much ground as Tampa lost their series to Houston to put the gap in the division at 4 games. Both teams need this one cause New York cannot afford to lose ground where on the other hand, Tampa Bay can definitely open up an even larger gap.

3. Cleveland Guardians (47-44) at Minnesota Twins (44-47)

As I stated in the series above, congratulations to the Minnesota Twins who won their first ever series at Yankee Stadium since 2014. That series also capped off another winning road trip for Minnesota as the Twins now head into a huge homestand just 4 back in the division and 1.5 back in the AL Wildcard. To start this homestand is the Cleveland Guardians, the last time that Minnesota beat Cleveland at home was the week of May 15-17 in 2022. Minnesota did get the Guardians at Progressive Field earlier this season for their first series win there since 2023. If the Twins really want to be there during the trade deadline and a Division/AL that’s wide open, taking this series against their divisional rivals is a start.

4. Milwaukee Brewers (55-33) at St. Louis Cardinals (47-40)

Cardinals, you had a winning road trip at Atlanta and Chicago and with the series win over the Cubs you gave Milwaukee a 6 game lead in the division. Unfortunately you’re next on the schedule for the Brewers. After a game was postponed in their series at Busch Stadium in May. Both of these teams will play in five games this week including a doubleheader on Tuesday. If the Brewers take 3 or more this series, it can really strengthen their lead in the division or if the Cardinals can use their home field to take this series all of a sudden not only would they probably gain a lot of games above the Wildcard standings. But could make things interesting in the NL central as they sit 7 back.

5. Arizona Diamondbacks (44-45) at San Diego Padres (44-45)

After tough series losses to the two teams with the top two records in the Dodgers and Brewers. The D-Backs and Padres find each other facing each other in a four game series this week. Both sit 4 back from the last wildcard spot in the NL and 14 back from the Dodgers in the NL West. While the West looks out of reach, both still are not in a massive hole yet with the Wildcard but need to get going fast cause the All-Star break is coming up along with the trade deadline. While I don’t think both of these teams are dead, it is getting late and it’s getting late fast. Especially with teams like the Marlins and Cardinals finding some fire recently.

(Note: These standings are how they sit at 6:27 pm on July 6th. For up to date standings check here.)