MLB Wild Card Standings: Royals open lead in American League race

AL Wild Card Standings

Boston Red Sox (57-49, .538, +0.5)

The Red Sox lost control of first place in the NL East after dropping their third straight series over the weekend. On the bright side, Boston is still in line for a playoff spot. Also, new third basemen Eduardo Nunez and Rafael Devers each homered twice, and Chris Sale was his usual dominant self on the mound.

Kansas City Royals (55-48, .534, – GB)

Eric Hosmer, Lorenzo Cain and Whit Merrifield heach had 11 hits and Salvador Perez and Mike Moustakas both homered twice last week for the red-hot Royals. Kelvin Herrera was a perfect 4-for-4 in save opportunities last week. Herrera tossed four scoreless innings in four appearances, striking out three.

Tampa Bay Rays (54-52, .509, 2.5 GB)

Seattle Mariners (53-53, .500, 3.5 GB)

Minnesota Twins (50-53, .485, 5 GB)

Los Angeles Angels (51-55, .481, 5.5 GB)

Baltimore Orioles (50-54, .481, 5.5 GB)

Texas Rangers (50-54, .481, 5.5 GB)

Toronto Blue Jays (49-56, .467, 7 GB)

Detroit Tigers (47-56, .456, 8 GB)

Oakland Athletics (46-59, .438, 10 GB)

Chicago White Sox (40-62, .392, 14.5 GB)

James Paxton has been one of the best pitchers in the American League this season, and the lefty did his part to keep the Mariners in the hunt for a Wild Card spot. Paxton was 2-0 in two starts for Seattle last week, tossing 13 scoreless innings. He allowed 10 hits but didn’t walk a single hitter and struck out 18.

Kevin Gausman put up similar numbers for the Orioles. Gausman notched 14.2 scoreless innings in a pair of wins forBaltimore, with 16 strikeouts, six walks and 12 hits allowed in two starts.