Although the majority of the playoff races are taking place in the National League, the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays are still battling it out for the East in the tightest AL race.

The two teams are currently in the midst of a three game set in Tampa Bay and will play each other four times in New York next week. While the division battle could go down to the wire, either team could make itself a clear favorite by winning four or five of the remaining games.

Tampa Bay currently is sitting 0.5 games out of first place and will have James Shields pitching against Phil Hughes tonight. The first two games of the series have both been exciting extra innings games.

On the year, the Yankees are 6-7 against the Rays, scoring 66 runs (to the Rays 67) in 13 games. However, the Yankees typically win the season series with the Rays, as the Yankees went 11-7 against them in both 2008 and 2009 (the first two seasons in which the Rays were legitimate contenders).

Two Yankee batters that could play key roles in the final five games between the teams are Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher. Cano has hit .324 with 15 homeruns in 94 career games against the Rays including an impressive .478 clip against tonight’s starter James Shields. Swisher, just a .252 career hitter has hit .294 with 17 homeruns in 62 career games against the Rays. Over a full season, that equates to a 44 homerun season.

Unlike the Yankees, the Rays don’t have any hitters who have been dominant against the Yankees. Carl Crawford has put up a solid .300 batting average, but that isn’t much better than his .296 career average. One player to watch will be rookie catcher John Jaso, who has hit .391 against the Yankees in his brief major league career.

Although the Rays have a one game advantage on the Yankees right now, I wouldn’t be surprised if the teams end up splitting the season series. The Yankees have more guys who have played well against the Rays in their careers, but it’s important to remember that the Rays were an AL bottom feeder before the 2008 season.

After seeing the last two games in the Yankees-Rays series, we can only hope that the final five games between the Major’s two best teams will be as dramatic.

Used with permission of the author.

 Along with contributing to Sports Climax, Brett Kettyle is the Atlanta Braves Community Leader on Bleacher Report and maintains a Braves column for MTR Media. Follow Brett on Twitter.

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