There's no shortage of enticing matchups this week in baseball.

The Yankees and Orioles aren't just the top two teams in the AL East -- they have two of the best records in the Majors, and they'll face off in a pivotal divisional showdown. There's also Elly De La Cruz versus Paul Skenes, a battle of two division leaders, a rematch of last year's NLCS and a superstar facing his former team for the first time.

It's only June, but there are plenty of matchups this week that have a playoff feel.

Reds at Pirates
3 games (Monday-Wednesday)

Head-to-head: This will be the first matchup between these two NL Central rivals this season. While the Pirates took eight of 13 games against the Reds last season, Cincinnati actually outscored Pittsburgh by four runs (57 runs scored, 53 runs allowed).

Storyline: It’s Elly De La Cruz vs. Paul Skenes for the first time in the big leagues on Monday in Pittsburgh. De La Cruz is rocking a 116 wRC+ with 12 home runs, 36 stolen bases and 2.8 Wins Above Replacement (FanGraphs). He's also must-watch television -- De La Cruz scored from second base on a pickoff attempt on Sunday and homered -- as is his counterpart Skenes. The Pirates' dominant rookie has dazzled with a 2.43 ERA, 46 strikeouts and only six walks in six starts. It's also De La Cruz's first matchup with Oneil Cruz -- the Pirates' shortstop had season-ending surgery before De La Cruz debuted last year -- who is no slouch himself with a 102 wRC+, 1.2 WAR and some of the hardest-hit baseballs in the Statcast era this year.

Watch out for: Let’s stick with De La Cruz. The talented shortstop is on pace for 27 home runs and 82 stolen bases, which would make him the third player ever with 20-plus home runs and 80-plus stolen bases in a season, joining Rickey Henderson (1985-86) and Eric Davis (‘86). If De La Cruz reaches the 6.3 fWAR he’s on pace for, he’d join Barry Larkin (1988, ‘91, ‘96) as the only Reds shortstops with a six-win season.

Mariners at Guardians
3 games (Tuesday-Thursday)

Head-to-head: The Guardians convincingly took two of three games in Seattle from April 1-3, outsourcing Seattle 17-7 and winning the finale 8-0.

Storyline: Guardians hitters going up against the Mariners rotation is a battle of each team’s strengths. The Guardians have scored the eighth-most runs in the Majors (341) after scoring the fourth-fewest runs (662) last season. José Ramírez (146 wRC+) has led the way for Cleveland yet again, but he’s had ample help from Steven Kwan (191), David Fry (180 wRC+) and Josh Naylor (120). Seattle’s starting rotation performance is less surprising -- Mariners starters had the fourth-lowest ERA (3.89) last season and have the fourth-lowest ERA (3.30) this year.

Watch out for: Kwan has done nothing but rake this season -- the only thing stopping him was a hamstring injury that kept him out most of May. Kwan is leading the Majors with a .398 batting average (min. 150 plate appearances), is slugging .545 and is walking more (8.7 percent) than he’s walking (7.1 percent). He’s been even better since returning from the IL on May 31, hitting an absurd .535/.600/.698 in 11 games.

Orioles at Yankees
3 games (Tuesday-Thursday)

Head-to-head: The Orioles took three of four games in Baltimore on April 29-May 2, holding the vaunted Yankees lineup to just six runs.

Storyline: Buckle up for a battle between not just the top two teams in the AL East but also in all of baseball. The Yankees hold the best record in the Majors at 50-24 and a 1 1/2-game lead over the Orioles in the AL East, whose 47-24 record is tied with the Phillies for second-best in the Majors. There’s not a whole lot these teams can’t do. The Yankees lead the Majors in both runs (374) and ERA (3.02) -- the Orioles are second with 364 runs and a 3.07 ERA.

Watch out for: Three of baseball’s best position players are facing off in this series. The Yankees boast the remarkable 1-2 punch of Aaron Judge and Juan Soto, who are first and second in OPS (Judge at 1.111 and Soto at 1.025). Along with the Royals’ Bobby Witt Jr., Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson should compete with the Yankees stars for the AL MVP Award. The young Orioles star ranks second in the Majors with 4.7 fWAR, is sixth with a 170 wRC+ and has crushed 22 home runs.

D-backs at Phillies
3 games (Friday-Sunday)

Head-to-head: This is the first matchup between these two teams since the D-backs stunned the Phillies to win the final two games of last year’s NLCS in Philadelphia to advance to the World Series. The clubs also faced off for seven regular-season games, which the Phillies took four of.

Storyline: The D-backs ended the Phillies' season in Game 7 of the NLCS in Citizens Bank Park last October. That sour ending clearly hasn’t impacted the Phillies -- who boast the best record in the Majors this year -- but it’s surely in the back of the minds of some of those players. Meanwhile for the D-backs, they haven’t been able to replicate the magic that led them to their run to the Fall Classic.

Watch out for: The Phillies rotation has been overwhelmingly dominant this season, sans Zack Wheeler's tough outing on Sunday against the Orioles (eight earned runs and four home runs allowed). Phillies starters are a top-three unit by ERA (2.99) fWAR (9.0) and FIP (3.42). Wheeler (2.0 fWAR) and Ranger Suárez (MLB-leading 1.77 ERA) are both viable Cy Young Award candidates in the National League, while Cristopher Sánchez (2.1 WAR) and Aaron Nola (3.48 ERA) have been about as good as you can be for a club’s third- and fourth-best starters.

Angels at Dodgers
2 games (Friday-Saturday)

Head-to-head: The Dodgers thoroughly dominated last year’s Freeway Series, taking all four games that were split in two series between Los Angeles and Anaheim and outscored the Angels 25-9.

Storyline: Shohei Ohtani is pretty much the focus any time he’s on a baseball field but that will be magnified in his first matchup against his former team. After a dominant three-year run with the Angels from 2021-23 -- when Ohtani took home AL MVPs in 2021 and ‘23 and finished second to Aaron Judge in ‘22 -- Ohtani signed a record-breaking $700 million deal with the Dodgers last offseason. While the two-way star won’t pitch until 2025 after undergoing a second Tommy John surgery in 2023, Ohtani is a legitimate MVP candidate anyways as a designated hitter, thanks to his .976 OPS and 3.4 fWAR. Ohtani had his second multi-home run game of the season on Sunday, the first of which traveled 451 feet.

Watch out for: We already know the attention will be on Ohtani, but what about Teoscar Hernández -- who was a huge offseason addition and has been the Dodgers’ best hitter for the last month-plus? Since May 1, Hernández is hitting .260/.333/.539 and his 11 home runs trail only Ohtani (12) in that time. When they’re all going well, there’s no better top half of the lineup in the Majors.