At some point this week, every MLB team is scheduled to play its 81st game of the year. Yep, we are already halfway through this season.
During this first full week of summer, we'll be treated to a matchup between two red-hot teams in first place as well as two of the sport's top rivalries, including one that dates back to the 1800s.
Here are five series you need to follow this week.
Cubs at Cardinals
4 games (Monday-Thursday)
Head to head: They have been battling one another for more than 130 years, but this week's series will be the first time the Cubs and Cardinals have faced off this year. St. Louis won last year's season series, 7-6.
Storyline: Baseball is better when both sides of this iconic rivalry are playing well, and that is the case right now. The Cardinals have recovered from a little June swoon to win six of their past eight games and pull to within 4 1/2 games of Chicago for first place in the division. St. Louis has averaged six runs per game during this stretch and has gotten big contributions from Nolan Arenado, Alec Burleson and former Cub Willson Contreras.
Speaking of offense, the Cubs have plated the second-most runs in baseball (417), trailing only the Dodgers' 442. Chicago also has six players with double-digit home runs -- no other Senior Circuit team can match that -- including one star with 21 dingers. That leads to our next point. ...
Watch out for: Pete Crow-Armstrong. He ranks in the 90th percentile or higher in batting, baserunning and fielding run value. He is tied for third in FanGraphs WAR (3.9). On Tuesday, PCA made a five-star catch in center field and bashed a projected 452-foot homer. Two days later, he reached the 20-homer, 20-steal mark in just his 73rd game played this season. His talent seemingly knows no bounds. And he's just 23 years old.
Braves at Mets
4 games (Monday-Thursday)
Head to head: We saw this matchup at the beginning of last week, and the Braves took all three games at home, outscoring the Mets 17-5. Atlanta has won seven of the past eight meetings.
Storyline: A seven-dinger barrage on Saturday aside, the Mets had an extremely forgettable week. They scored just five runs in those three losses to Atlanta, were dominated in two of their three games at Philadelphia and dropped out of first place in the NL East in the process. Now they get another shot at the Braves, who have won seven of their past 10 games. Chris Sale's rib injury is a huge blow, but Spencer Schwellenbach and Spencer Strider can be their own formidable duo. Both are scheduled to pitch in this series while Frankie Montas is slated to make his Mets debut Wednesday against Strider.
Watch out for: Ronald Acuña Jr. and Juan Soto. They can carry a team on their back when they are right, and both gamechangers are locked in right now. The Braves' leadoff hitter has been unbelievable upon returning from last year's season-ending knee injury, slashing .396/.504/.698 since his May 23 debut. Soto may have started slow for the Mets, but he went deep twice Saturday and has produced a 1.211 OPS with eight homers over his past 22 contests.
Yankees at Reds
3 games (Monday-Wednesday)
Head to head: The road team has won the last seven meetings in this series. The Reds won all three games at Yankee Stadium last July, one season after the Yanks notched a three-game sweep at Great American Ball Park in May 2023.
Storyline: The Yankees are still atop the AL East, but a recent six-game skid (during which they scored a total of six runs) has shrunk their lead to just 2 1/2 games over the surging Rays. The Yankees' troubles have coincided with Aaron Judge's first slump of the season. Amid his current 7-for-37 funk with 20 strikeouts, Judge is hitting "only" .367 with a 1.195 OPS. Tough times indeed. Still, every Judge at-bat remains appointment viewing, and that should be especially true when he's swinging inside Cincinnati's hitters' haven. The Yankees' captain is 6-for-14 for his career at GABP, including this projected 431-foot homer in '23.
The Reds have dropped three of their previous four games and sit in fourth place in the NL Central. However, star Elly De La Cruz is enjoying another strong season, with 17 homers, 21 steals and a 123 wRC+.
Watch out for: The big league debut of Reds top prospect Chase Burns. The No. 11 prospect in baseball and the No. 2 overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, Burns will debut on Tuesday. The right-hander has been electric in the Minors this season, posting a 1.77 ERA with 89 strikeouts and just 13 walks through 66 innings. Burns will be the fifth player from last year's draft class to reach the Majors and just the second pitcher to do so, joining the Angels' Ryan Johnson.
Phillies at Astros
3 games (Tuesday-Thursday)
Head to head: This matchup brings back memories of the 2022 World Series that the Astros won in six games. The Phillies have won four of six meetings since, including two of three at Citizens Bank Park in 2024.
Storyline: Each of these first-place clubs will enter this showdown on a serious roll. The Phillies have outscored their opponents 64-35 while winning nine of their past 11 games to leapfrog the Mets in the NL East. After left-hander Jesús Luzardo held those Mets scoreless over 6 2/3 innings on Sunday night, Phillies starters own a 2.06 ERA during this stretch. Meanwhile, pitching is a chief reason why the Astros have rocketed to the top of the AL West. They have MLB's best record this month (14-6) thanks to a 2.96 team ERA (second-best).
Watch out for: Cristopher Sánchez versus Hunter Brown. While both sides sport plenty of quality bats, this series should really be all about pitching. And Thursday's finale is set to give us a tantalizing matchup. Sánchez has permitted only six earned runs through 28 innings this month, and most recently allowed one run over eight frames against Miami. Brown's 1.88 ERA is tops in the American League, and his 23.5% strikeout-minus-walk rate ranks sixth in the bigs. Does the first team to two runs win this one?
Dodgers at Royals
3 games (Friday-Sunday)
Head to head: These teams have split their six games at Kauffman Stadium evenly since the start of 2022. The Dodgers won a three-game set against the Royals at Dodger Stadium last year. Shohei Ohtani crushed two homers in the finale.
Storyline: Ohtani and Bobby Witt Jr. on the same field has the potential to produce something extremely special. And this matchup has a little more spice now that Jac Caglianone is in the mix. Although it would have been amazing to have a pair of two-way players in the same game -- Caglianone hit and pitched while at the University of Florida -- the Royals rookie has the ability to be one of the game's great sluggers. We got our first taste of that this past week as Caglianone hammered his first two big league homers. On Sunday, he proved he can rob homers, too.
Watch out for: Ohtani's next start on the mound. It's something we should never take for granted. Ohtani was sharper in his second start of the season Sunday than he was in his first. He threw a scoreless inning with two strikeouts against the Nationals on 18 pitches. He also hit a triple, a home run and drove in five runs once he was done pitching, because he's Shohei Ohtani. Assuming the Dodgers keep him on his current schedule, two-way Ohtani should be out in full force at some point during this weekend set.