Who Stands to Benefit From Rays, Yankees, and Red Sox Duking it Out? Why the Rest of the AL, of Course

It’s hard to argue that the three best teams in the American League right now all reside in the same division. The American League East boasts the Rays (68-46), Yankees (64-51), and Red Sox (63-51). The third-place Red Sox are four games ahead of the next best record in the AL, the White Sox (59-55), whom they just swept in three games.

So what does this all mean?

That the 4/5 Wild Card Round matchup could very well be a second straight installment of Yankees-Red Sox, with the winner set to face the No. 1 seed Rays, because baseball refuses to re-seed the way the NFL did when they had the exact-same six-team playoff field in each conference. On the other side, the 3/6 Wild Card Round winner would face the No. 2 seed, which would be the winner of the tepid AL Central or AL West.

In essence, the path to the ALCS for hopefuls like the White Sox, Astros, Rangers, and Guardians will not include not only one or two of the league’s top teams, but all three. Yes, that’s right, Houston could get to its eighth ALCS in 10 years without having to face one of the Junior Circuit’s three juggernauts simply because of MLB’s rigidity surrounding its postseason format.

So, does a change need to be made?

My opinion is yes, it does. From its inception in 1995 through 2011 (when the league had just one wild card team), two division rivals could not face each other until the LCS, which felt like something of an arbitrary rule. But when a second wild card team was added in 2012, that rule was removed. But the problem of the league’s two top teams facing off in the LDS instead of the LCS was not really solved. There have been a number of instances of the teams with the two best records squaring off as the Nos. 1 and 4 seeds, simply because the second-best record didn’t win its division. Now, it feels even more pronounced with the current situation in the AL East.

One solution would be to simply re-seed in the LDS. In this case, that would at least mean that if the No. 6 seed beat the No. 3 seed, they would face the No. 1 seed, while the Yanks/Sox winner would play the No. 2 seed. Of course, if the seeds hold serve, we would not avoid the best teams playing each other before the ultimate league round.

Another idea is to simply seed the Nos. 3 through 6 teams in the league according to record. It still seems a little unfair for a division winner to have a bye if it finishes, say, seven games behind the top wild card, but it also doesn’t feel quite right for a wild card team to earn a first-round bye, does it?

If we implemented this solution in 2026, the White Sox would earn a first-round bye, but the Yankees would take the No. 3 seed and the Red Sox would be No. 4, meaning both teams would host a wild card series — just not against each other. The worst division winner would be the No. 5 seed, and the third wild card team would take No. 6. The worst division winner would be on the road and not rewarded simply for being surrounded by four mediocre clubs.

Should the Yankees and Red Sox advance in that scenario, the Red Sox would play the Rays, while the Yankees would take on the White Sox. And that means that if the Yankees advance to the ALCS, we would be guaranteed a matchup of AL East titans. And given how good those three teams have been, that feels right.