The New York Yankees hold the No. 1 spot in the American League wild-card standings, but they would prefer to sit atop their division and let other teams battle it out for the wild card.

New York (83-66) will get a chance to climb closer to first place in the AL East when they open a three-game series against the Minnesota Twins (65-84) on Monday night in Minneapolis.

The Yankees, who have won nine of the last 10 meetings against the Twins, enter the series four games behind the Toronto Blue Jays (87-62) for first place.

New York holds a 1 1/2-game edge over the Boston Red Sox and a 2 1/2-game lead over the Houston Astros, who also occupy wild-card spots. The Texas Rangers and Cleveland Guardians remain in the hunt as they sit two games back and 2 1/2 games back, respectively, of the fi

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