There’s a lot left to play for in 2025, but with no more than 20 games left on any team’s schedule, everyone’s running out of time to position themselves for a last-minute surge, and every loss comes packaged with an extra sense of dread — when all is said and done, is that the one that’s going to haunt you?
Only one way to find out. Here are five matchups with Wild Card implications — three between big-time rivals — that you can catch this week.
Mets at Phillies: 4 games (Monday-Thursday)
Head-to-head: The Mets may be chasing, but they’ve had the Phillies’ number all year — they’re 7-2 coming into their final head-to-head series, but the Phillies did win the first matchup at Citizens Bank Park, two games to one.
Storyline: The NL East seems pretty fixed at this point, but stranger things have happened, even staying within the history of this rivalry. Is this the year the Mets finally truly avenge that 2007 team? For better or worse, they’ve set themselves up to do it — as of Sunday evening, they’re seven games back with 19 games left on the schedule; those Phillies were seven back with just 17 to play.
Watch out for: Juan Soto is absolutely fine. And that’s putting it lightly. He’s been absolutely rolling since the beginning of last month and he’s still seemingly gathering momentum — in 16 games since Aug. 22, Soto is hitting .386/.545/.807 (1.352 OPS) with seven home runs, 21 RBIs and, just because he can, nine stolen bases.
Brewers at Rangers: 3 games (Monday-Wednesday)
Head-to-head: The Brewers and Rangers have met twice since the introduction of complete yearly interleague; Milwaukee swept both series.
Storyline: You might look at this series as a test for the Rangers, who are right on the edge but still hanging onto their chance at a trip to the postseason. The Brewers aren’t the unstoppable force they were a month ago, but they’re definitely still getting those “team of destiny”-esque wins, and the Rangers, still navigating the recent losses of Nathan Eovaldi, Corey Seager and Marcus Semien, will have their work cut out for them.
Watch out for: A great young pitcher — but maybe not the one you’re thinking of. Jack Leiter, scheduled to start Tuesday’s game, has been a totally different guy since the All-Star break. If the Rangers are still confident they can make a run without Eovaldi, he’s a big reason why.
Leiter, 1st vs. 2nd half numbers:
ERA: 4.37 -> 2.66
WHIP: 1.36 -> 1.18
K/9: 7.7 -> 10.8
AVG: .233 -> .186
HR/9: 1.1 -> 0.8
Astros at Blue Jays: 3 games (Tuesday-Thursday)
Head-to-head: The Astros swept their first head-to-head series, way back in April (21-23) — that was, in fact, their first sweep of 2025. Safe to say the teams who met over 100 games ago bear little resemblance to the ones who’ll be seeing each other in Toronto this week.
Storyline: A must-win series for all involved. Both squandered opportunities to build up their leads this weekend — the Blue Jays lost two of three to the Yankees and the Astros suffered the same fate at Globe Life Field — which should serve as a reminder that midseason success has nothing on a late rally. All four clubs in the chase — the Mariners, Rangers, Red Sox and Yankees — can take advantage of the Astros and Blue Jays being occupied with each other this week, and with New York (2 GB in the AL East) and Seattle (2.5 GB in the AL West) both within three games of first place, nothing short of a sweep would be guaranteed to keep either club atop its division. At this point, that would still be more of a symbolic blow, but any hit is worth avoiding.
Watch out for: George Springer has been in Toronto long enough that the “old friend” angle is probably overplayed. Not a problem — he’s also been unbelievable in the second half. Interrupted halfway by a stint on the concussion IL, Springer has 11 home runs in 31 games since the break, and among guys with at least 100 plate appearances has the best batting average (.377) and the second-highest OPS (1.161).
Yankees at Red Sox: 3 games (Friday-Sunday)
Head-to-head: The Yankees finally broke their eight-game losing streak against the Red Sox in the finale of their last head-to-head series in August, but the bigger picture is still pretty dire — Boston has already locked up the season series, entering with an 8-2 record against New York in 2025.
Storyline: The exact implications of this series will depend on what happens in the days leading up to it — in addition to Astros-Blue Jays, the Yankees will be hosting the Tigers while the Red Sox visit the A’s. Separated by a game and a half to start the week, there’s a solid chance they won’t make huge gains on each other before Friday, which would make this series a prime opportunity for one to take the other out. All things being equal, a three-team race is twice as difficult to win as a two-team race, and Toronto is still hanging onto the advantage.
Watch out for: Through their solid start, abysmal summer and recent upturn, one thing has become very clear: where Max Fried goes, so go the Yankees. Fried has looked a lot more like himself lately, and that started with him throwing six scoreless innings against the Red Sox on Aug. 22. Including that outing, he now has a 1.67 ERA in his last four games, and he’s on turn to start Saturday. Regardless of the outcome, one last Fried start against the Red Sox could tell us a lot about where both of these teams are going.
Dodgers at Giants: 3 games (Friday-Sunday)
Head-to-head: With about three weeks left on the schedule, the Dodgers and Giants aren’t even halfway through their season series; the Dodgers won each of their first two matchups, two games to one.
Storyline: The Giants are not going to win the NL West, but one way or another, they’ll probably end up deciding who does. The Dodgers are one game up on the Padres heading into Monday, and for the first time in a long time, they’re truly vulnerable. The Giants, meanwhile, are on a mini heater that started in Milwaukee, which certainly makes them sound like potential spoilers. If they are, they’ve figured that out just in time — they’ll be playing the final seven games of their season series against the Dodgers over a 10-game span from Sept. 12-21. (Whether they’re more interested in helping the Padres win the NL West is, of course, another question.)
Watch out for: The Giants acquired Rafael Devers in the middle of a series in Los Angeles. The Dodgers took notice, but any impact that deal was expected to have was pretty neatly neutralized by the Giants’ poor play. But now Devers is red-hot, posting a 1.311 OPS with six home runs and 16 RBIs over his last 11 games, and the Giants are playing well enough to back him up.
