{"id":628362,"date":"2026-04-24T18:09:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T18:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/628362\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T18:09:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T18:09:09","slug":"first-place-up-for-grabs-in-multiple-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/628362\/","title":{"rendered":"First Place Up for Grabs in Multiple Series"},"content":{"rendered":"

Major League Baseball enters the final weekend of April with a full slate of action over the next three days, including a Mexico City showcase between the Padres and Diamondbacks. There’s a clash of first-place teams as the Tigers travel to Cincinnati to face the Reds that will serve as an early measuring stick. The Mets, winners of two straight<\/a> after snapping a 12-game losing streak, have a solid opportunity to keep momentum going with the Rockies coming into the Big Apple. Out on the West Coast, the Cubs will take their red-hot brand of baseball out to Los Angeles to face the defending champion Dodgers. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile the Phillies are desperate to snap their own nine-game slide and preparing for what is shaping up to be a very important three-game set against the soaring Braves. With Atlanta already holding a 9.5-game lead<\/a> in the National League East, this is a golden opportunity for Philadelphia to shave a few games off that deficit. If things go the other way and the losing continues, it will be that much harder to claw back into the playoff picture. <\/p>\n

The Athletics and Rangers also have a chance to fight it out for top position in the American League West. <\/p>\n

Updated MLB standings<\/p>\n

American League East<\/p>\n

Team<\/p>\n

Record<\/p>\n

Games Behind<\/p>\n

Yankees<\/p>\n

16-9<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Rays<\/p>\n

13-11<\/p>\n

2.5<\/p>\n

Orioles<\/p>\n

12-13<\/p>\n

4.0<\/p>\n

Blue Jays<\/p>\n

10-14<\/p>\n

5.5<\/p>\n

Red Sox<\/p>\n

9-16<\/p>\n

7.0<\/p>\n

American League Central<\/p>\n

Team<\/p>\n

Record<\/p>\n

Games Behind<\/p>\n

Guardians<\/p>\n

14-12<\/p>\n

— <\/p>\n

Tigers<\/p>\n

14-12<\/p>\n

— <\/p>\n

Twins<\/p>\n

12-13<\/p>\n

1.5<\/p>\n

White Sox<\/p>\n

10-15<\/p>\n

3.5<\/p>\n

Royals<\/p>\n

8-17<\/p>\n

5.5<\/p>\n

American League West<\/p>\n

Team<\/p>\n

Record<\/p>\n

Games Behind<\/p>\n

Rangers<\/p>\n

13-12<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Athletics<\/p>\n

13-12<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Angels<\/p>\n

12-14<\/p>\n

1.5<\/p>\n

Mariners <\/p>\n

11-15<\/p>\n

2.5<\/p>\n

Astros<\/p>\n

10-16<\/p>\n

3.5<\/p>\n

National League East<\/p>\n

Team<\/p>\n

Record<\/p>\n

Games Behind<\/p>\n

Braves<\/p>\n

18-8<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Marlins<\/p>\n

12-13<\/p>\n

5.5<\/p>\n

Nationals<\/p>\n

11-15<\/p>\n

7.0<\/p>\n

Mets<\/p>\n

9-16<\/p>\n

8.5<\/p>\n

Phillies<\/p>\n

8-17<\/p>\n

9.5<\/p>\n

National League Central<\/p>\n

Team<\/p>\n

Record<\/p>\n

Games Behind<\/p>\n

Cubs<\/p>\n

16-9<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Reds<\/p>\n

16-9<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Cardinals<\/p>\n

14-10<\/p>\n

1.5<\/p>\n

Pirates<\/p>\n

14-11<\/p>\n

2.0<\/p>\n

Brewers<\/p>\n

13-11<\/p>\n

2.5<\/p>\n

National League West<\/p>\n

Team<\/p>\n

Record<\/p>\n

Games Behind<\/p>\n

Padres<\/p>\n

17-8<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Dodgers<\/p>\n

17-8<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Diamondbacks<\/p>\n

14-11<\/p>\n

3.0<\/p>\n

Giants<\/p>\n

11-14<\/p>\n

6.0<\/p>\n

Rockies<\/p>\n

10-16<\/p>\n

7.5<\/p>\n

Friday’s MLB games<\/p>\n

All times ET<\/p>\n

Tigers vs. Reds, 6:40 p.m.<\/p>\n

Red Sox vs. Orioles, 7:05 p.m.<\/p>\n

Guardians vs. Blue Jays, 7:07 p.m.<\/p>\n

Rockies vs. Mets, 7:10 p.m.<\/p>\n

Twins vs. Rays, 7:10 p.m.<\/p>\n

Phillies vs. Braves, 7:15 p.m.<\/p>\n

Angels vs. Royals, 7:40 p.m.<\/p>\n

Nationals vs. White Sox, 7:40 p.m.<\/p>\n

Pirates vs. Brewers, 7:40 p.m. <\/p>\n

Athletics vs. Rangers, 8:05 p.m.<\/p>\n

Yankees vs. Astros, 8:10 p.m. <\/p>\n

Mariners vs. Cardinals, 8:15 p.m. <\/p>\n

Cubs vs. Dodgers, 10:15 p.m.<\/p>\n

Marlins vs. Giants, 10:15 p.m. <\/p>\n

Saturday’s MLB games<\/p>\n

Mariners vs. Cardinals, 8:15 p.m. <\/p>\n

Guardians vs. Blue Jays, 3:07 p.m.<\/p>\n

Red Sox vs. Orioles, 4:05 p.m.<\/p>\n

Rockies vs. Mets, 4:10 p.m.<\/p>\n

Twins vs. Rays, 4:10 p.m.<\/p>\n

Nationals vs. White Sox, 4:10 p.m.<\/p>\n

Padres vs. Diamondbacks, 6:05 p.m. <\/p>\n

Atheltics vs. Rangers, 7:05 p.m. <\/p>\n

Angels vs. Royals, 7:10 p.m.<\/p>\n

Yankees vs. Astros, 7:10 p.m. <\/p>\n

Pirates vs. Brewers, 7:10 p.m. <\/p>\n

Tigers vs. Reds, 7:15 p.m.<\/p>\n

Cubs vs. Dodgers, 7:15 p.m.<\/p>\n

Phillies vs. Braves, 7:15 p.m<\/p>\n

Sunday’s MLB games<\/p>\n

Red Sox vs. Orioles, 1:35 p.m. <\/p>\n

Phillies vs. Braves, 1:35 p.m.<\/p>\n

Guardians vs. Blue Jays, 1:37 p.m.<\/p>\n

Tigers vs. Reds, 1:40 p.m.<\/p>\n

Rockies vs. Mets, 1:40 p.m.<\/p>\n

Twins vs. Rays, 1:40 p.m.<\/p>\n

More MLB from Sports Illustrated\"\"Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Major League Baseball enters the final weekend of April with a full slate of action over the next…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":628363,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-628362","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}