Happy Memorial Day. As our own Steve Drumwright said this morning in his MLB News & Moments lead, this is a day that usually serves as a pretty decent marker for the MLB season. The 2026 campaign is about one-third of the way through, and June is a week from today. That gives the league just over four months to figure out the playoff field before October baseball begins.
This week’s top five series list is a strange one. And certainly, many of you could make the argument for at least one of the series I’ll be leaving off the list.
Here are the facts. There are only two matchups over the next four days involving teams with winning records. Both of those series are in the NL Central, but only one of them is making the top five list. Why? Because, quite frankly, I’m a little sick of having high hopes for the Chicago Cubs only to see them throw away what was a pretty incredible start to the year.
Chicago had two 10-game winning streaks within a month and is suddenly on an eight-game slide after being swept at home over the weekend by the struggling Astros. That’s not to say that their four-game series with Pittsburgh beginning on Monday afternoon at PNC Park isn’t a big one. It certainly is. But I need a break from Chicago and Pittsburgh. I’ve written about them a lot recently, and we know where they stand. Chicago sits in third place in the division with a 29-24 record, while the Buccos are 4-6 over their last 10 games and hovering around .500 at 27-26. Neither is playing well, and that’s really all there is to say about it.
I suppose my mini-rant is kind of a bonus preview in itself. Since this upcoming battle has already gotten far more ink than I wanted to give it, consider this a favor, Pirates and Cubs fans.
Here’s this week’s top five series.
No. 1: Cardinals (29-22) at Brewers (30-20)
Series length: Three games (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday)
From the one NL Central matchup that I absolutely did not want in this section, to the one that absolutely deserves to be here. That’s right, the top two squads in the division begin a three-game set in Milwaukee on Monday afternoon at 2:10 p.m. ET, right before this article’s release.
These teams split a two-game series in St. Louis earlier this month after the second contest of what was supposed to be a three-game set was postponed. Since that time, Milwaukee has rolled to an 11-4 record, while the Cardinals have won eight of 15 games.
What we know about St. Louis so far in ’26 is that they play much better on the road than at home. The Cards are 16-9 on the road and a .500 squad at Busch Stadium. However, if 2025 is any indicator of how St. Louis will play in Milwaukee this season, then Cards fans could be in for a disappointing week after losing five of seven contests to the Brewers at American Family Field last year. The Brew Crew is 16-11 at home entering this series.
Keep an eye on the expected pitching matchups for the first two contests.
Monday: STL – Matthew Liberatore (10 GS, 2-2, 4.70 ERA) versus MIL – Jacob Misiorowski (10 GS, 4-2, 1.89 ERA)
Tuesday: STL – Michael McGreevy (10 GS, 3-3, 2.40 ERA) versus MIL – Kyle Harrison (9 GS, 5-1, 1.77 ERA)
No. 2: Twins (26-27) at White Sox (26-26)
Series length: Four games (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday)
Maybe a bit of a surprise to see two teams with a combined losing record coming in at No. 2 this week. However, the high relevance of this four-game series between AL West rivals, combined with the solid play by both clubs in May, makes for an intriguing and important matchup in this division.
Let’s start with the visiting Twins, who have rarely made the top five list this season. That’s justified by their subpar April. Minnesota, like Chicago, has a 12-9 record this month. Unlike the White Sox, the Twins have the longest current winning streak in baseball at four games, after finishing off a road sweep of Boston on Sunday with a 6-5 victory. The Twins are a very funky team. Considering that they’ve played 53 contests and not a single regular has participated in even 50 of those games, it’s very difficult to project how their next four months will go. They’ve demoted a couple of their top players from the last few years (Royce Lewis and Matt Wallner), and have mixed and matched their everyday lineup like a deck of cards. Yet, somehow, the Twins rank in MLB’s top 10 in OBP (.325, ranked 8th) and runs scored (248, ranked 7th).
The White Sox are an entirely different story offensively. They actually have regulars who play every day, and so far, I think it’s fair to state that, all things considered, after three consecutive 100-loss seasons, things are working out for the division’s second-place club. Four players have participated in 50 or more contests for Chicago, including AL ROY candidate Munetaka Murakami, who hasn’t missed a game yet. Murakami’s 17 homers are tied for the American League lead with Aaron Judge, and he’s exceeded most pundits’ expectations so far (leads team in homers, walks, slugging percentage, and RBI).
Speaking of homers. Something else to keep an eye on is Twins CF Byron Buxton’s 16 long balls. He’s only one back of Murakami and Judge in the home run race, and, if healthy (always a major question with Buxton), he’s on pace to crush his career high of 35 taters from a year ago.
If the playoffs started today, three AL Central teams would be in. Two of them are playing in this series, and, of course, the hottest squad in the American League right now, the Cleveland Guardians, would be the other. There’s no denying the importance of this series. The White Sox and Twins have work to do at 4 ½ and five games behind Cleveland in the division, respectively.
No. 3: Mariners (25-29) at Athletics (27-26)
Series length: Three games (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday)
I don’t know, folks. I don’t know. What is the AL West going to be at season’s end? Are we looking at the division winner getting in by default while the rest finish well short of the postseason? Or, are teams like the preseason favorite, the Seattle Mariners, going to figure things out offensively and not only run away with the division, but make a deep postseason run? As I said, I don’t know. Because right now, there’s very little about Seattle baseball that excites me. However, what I do know is that they have a high-quality pitching staff and an offense that, at its best, can compete with any team in the league when everything is clicking.
Coming into this series with the A’s, the Mariners are tied for the worst batting average in the American League at .225. They are averaging a hair over four runs per game, and at 25-29 in the standings, the M’s are somehow only 1 ½ games out of a wild card spot and 2 ½ behind Sacramento in the division. And, yes, occasionally, I’m calling the A’s the Sacramento Athletics until they move to Vegas.
Speaking of those Sacramento A’s, they might be the top team in the AL West today, but their 10-12 May record matches their overall record at Sutter Health Park this season. They haven’t played well at home, and their -7 run differential is worse than that of two of their division foes (Seattle and Texas, both at +6). Are the A’s division contenders? Or are they just the result of poor play by teams that were expected to be better? Again, I don’t know. This is the most difficult division to evaluate until we see if Seattle, Texas, and even Houston (currently 23-31, and 4 ½ games behind Sacramento) can turn things around in June.
The A’s won two of three at Seattle last month in their first meeting of ’26. Part of me feels this series is too high on the list, but at the same time, these are the top two squads in a tight AL West. It matters because of the relevance.
No. 4: Nationals (27-27) at Guardians (32-23)
Series length: Three games (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday)
Last night I watched a team do something that’s only been done twice this season. Win a series versus Atlanta. After a lengthy rain delay in Sunday’s rubber game at Truist Park, Washington held on for a 2-1 win after a ninth-inning rally by their opponent came up short. With that victory, the Nats got to .500 and passed the Phillies for second place in the NL East. Who does Washington have to thank for the Phillies dropping two of three contests over the weekend? That would be their opponent this week: the scorching-hot Cleveland Guardians.
Cleveland is 16-7 in May, 8-2 over their last 10 contests, and winners of four straight series. They’ll welcome a Nationals squad that ranks first in all of baseball with 288 runs scored. It’s been the CJ Abrams show in the nation’s capital. The 25-year-old shortstop is batting .289, has collected 24 extra-base knocks, and is tied for the MLB lead in RBI with 45. Without Abrams, this team wouldn’t be close to .500, which in my mind, makes him an early-season MVP candidate (something I prefer not to discuss in May, but I think it’s fair to make that a point in this case). Considering that Washington’s pitching staff has the second-worst ERA in the National League at 4.80, it’s obvious that the offense is the key reason why the Nats are within 2 ½ games of a wild card spot. That makes Abrams’ MVP case even stronger.
Anyway, who cares about MVP talk this early in the campaign? The bottom line is that this is probably the top interleague series of the week, if based on nothing else but the combined records of the clubs involved. Cleveland is 15-10 at home. The Nats are 17-11 on the road. This should be an entertaining few days at Progressive Field.
No. 5: Diamondbacks (28-24) at Giants (22-31)
Series length: Three games (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday)
Here’s a fun little fact about the Arizona Diamondbacks, and one of the main reasons why we need to take notice of a squad that’s won eight of its last 10 contests. The D-backs stink against teams with winning records. And that’s not so much an insult as it is a fact. Arizona is 6-15 against clubs above .500. Knowing that fact, you can do the math by looking at their record above, and calculate that against losing clubs, like the one they are about to play in this series, Arizona thrives. The Snakes beat up on the lesser teams, and after sweeping San Francisco at home last week, followed by winning three of four games against the last-place Rockies, they’ll hit the road for three matches against the Giants and a trio of contests versus the sub-.500 Mariners on the weekend.
It’s a big week for Arizona. They are 4 ½ games behind Los Angeles in the NL West, and on the cusp of grabbing the third NL Wild Card spot at a half-game behind the faltering Cubs. This is a huge opportunity for Arizona to enter June on a high note.
As for the Giants, they’ve been less fortunate of late than their opponent, despite coming off a 2-1 series win at home versus the White Sox. If San Francisco, currently seven games out of the playoffs, has any shot at making a run, these are the types of series they’ll need going forward. Nothing positive about San Fran sticks out right now. They rank 22nd in MLB with a 4.22 staff ERA. However, more concerning is the offense, which ranks last in runs per game at 3.67. Perhaps Sunday’s showing by the former Red Sox star, Rafael Devers (1 HR, 5 RBI), is a sign of things to come. If he’s going to continue performing along his current slash line of .245/.288/.412, then forget it. Their season is already over. You heard it here first.
Missed the Top Five
Cubs (29-24) at Pirates (27-26): Four games
Rays (34-16) at Orioles (23-30): Three games
Yankees (31-22) at Royals (22-31): Three games
Reds (27-25) at Mets (22-31): Three games
Phillies (26-27) at Padres (31-21): Three games
Astros (23-31) at Rangers (24-28): Four games
Marlins (25-29) at Blue Jays (25-28): Three games
Rockies (20-34) at Dodgers (33-20): Three games
Angels (20-24) at Tigers (21-33): Three games
Atlanta (36-18) at Red Sox (22-30): Three games
