Yankees are giving the Twins a nice assist in the AL Wild Card standings

A few years ago Paul Rudd went viral for his reaction on Hot Ones where he famously said “Look at us, who would have thought? Not me!”

That’s the Minnesota Twins and the New York Yankees right now. Both teams are in the thick of their own race to the playoffs and each is in a position to help the other one out over the next week.

New York has already gotten a head start on things.

The Yankees won two out of three from the Kansas City Royals this week, which helped narrow the ground Minnesota needs to make up in the Wild Card. If the Twins had woken up a game earlier against the Angels, they’d be just a half-game out of second place in the AL Central. 

Now the Yankees are taking on the Boston Red Sox, a team they’re naturally built to want to beat but can help the Twins out immensely based on how things go this weekend.

Yankees have a chance to get the Red Sox out of the Twins way in the AL Wild Card

Boston is perhaps the biggest threat to the Twins’ playoff chances, thanks to various tiebreakers coming into play. Detroit is closer in the standings and Seattle is right there too, but Minnesota won its seasons series over both and would have the edge in a photo finish. 

The Twins also hold a tiebreaker over the Red Sox based on division records but Boston has a chance to outright pass Minnesota next weekend during a three game series between the two teams. However, Boston is in the Bronx for a three game series against the Yankees which is where the Twins can get some help from a strange bedfellow. 

Coming into that series, Boston was just 4 games back of the Twins. If the Yankees can sweep, which would behoove them for their own reasons, there’s a chance next week start with the Red Sox seven full games behind Minnesota. 

That would be huge given the stakes of next weekend’s series against Boston.

Minnesota getting help from New York extends beyond just the series with the Red Sox. The Yankees go from that set to one against the Mariners in which they can further assist the Twins in putting down a potential Wild Card threat. 

In return, the Twins can help take the Red Sox out of the picture next weekend while also putting Cleveland even further back of the Yankees in the overall standings.

Of course, Minnesota needs to take care of business itself. The Twins have a series against the Reds followed but a massive four game series against Cleveland. There’s a world in which the Twins will have fallen out of the playoff picture by the time their series with Boston starts, but there’s also a chance they’re not only in control of the Wild Card but potentially in first place in the division. 

Based on how hot the Twins looked over their last two games, and with Byron Buxton returning to the lineup, things might be breaking Minnesota’s way at the exact right time. There’s will a ton of work that must be done, but fans are in a position where they’re rooting for the Yankees and not upset about it.

Oh how wonderful this time of the baseball season is. 

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