[SirGreatWhite]

It's towards the back end of May in the 2020 season and the division standings across the league remain dominated by one team each! 5 of the 6 division races have the first place team with a minimum of a 7 game division lead! The Rays (29-13) lead the Yankees by 8 in the AL East; the Indians (34-8) lead the Royals by 13 in the AL Central; the Astros (35-10) lead the Angels by 11 in the AL West! Over in the National League, the Mets (29-13) lead the Braves by 7 games; the Dodgers (31-12) lead the Padres by 10 games in the NL West; and the only close race is the NL Central where the Cubs (28-15) lead the Cardinals by 1.5 games.

The Astros just swept the Angels on the road in a 3 game series to increase their division lead. They've won 6 in a row overall and 10 of the last 11. There is a possible ALCS preview coming to Houston this next series with the Cleveland Indians (34-8) coming to town. These two teams have the most wins in MLB and the two highest winning percentages right now.

There will be some great pitching matchups to go with 2 great lineups. In games 2 and 3 of this 3 games series we will see Justin Verlander (5-1; 2.93 ERA) take on Trevor Bauer (6-0; 3.29 ERA) in game 2 of the series. Then Gerrit Cole (5-1; 2.59 ERA) take on Corey Kluber (3-1; 2.61 ERA) in the series finale.

The Indians rank 1st or 2nd in the AL in every major hitting category except stolen bases (10th). The Astros also rank 1st or 2nd in each of those categories except home runs (5th) and stolen bases (3rd).

In the pitching & defense rankings, the Astros rank in the top 3 of the AL in all pitching and defensive categories except for bullpen ERA (4th; but still a very good 2.91 ERA). The Indians, meanwhile, rank in the top 3 in all of the same categories except bullpen ERA (5th; 3.23 ERA) and defensive efficiency (8th).

This has the makings of a fantastic matchup of teams that have all the tools necessary to make a deep run in October.