It's no secret—the Orioles and Yankees (and Rays) are locked in an AL East chase. Baltimore hosts New York for four games this weekend, beginning with a Thursday night game.

Josh Hamilton and the Rangers are 5-1 against the Twins this season and are averaging 5.5 RPG at home. This weekend Texas will host Minnesota for four games.

REASON TO CELEBRATE: Tampa Bay has been getting stellar pitching of late, and the Rays are 14-6 over their last 20 games.

SAFE SO FAR: The White Sox head into this weekend still holding an edge on the Tigers in the Central. Chicago will host Oakland for three games beginning on Friday.

OAK rookie A.J. Griffin owns a 2.51 ERA and a 3.5 Cmd through his first seven starts. Griffin is slated to face TOR on Saturday.

The Yankees and Athletics are two of the hotter teams in the AL; they meet for a four-game series beginning on Thursday.

Lined up for a second-half run: The Angels kick off their post-break schedule on Friday at Yankee Stadium.

FIREWORKS DISPLAY: The Yankees and Red Sox meet in a four-game series to highlight the final weekend of the season's first half.

MEN OF THE MONTH: Ivan Nova and the Yankees pitching staff have logged a league-best 2.65 ERA in the month of June.

Matt Cain will face Brandon McCarthy in Sunday's finale of the SF-OAK series.

Ben Revere has 17 hits and five stolen bases in June; he’s a big reason the Twins’ offense has come around of late.