Not to worry, there are more rivalries on tap this week. Here's what to watch

Hope you had a cathartic Rivalry Weekend, baseball fans, but now it's back to the old grind.

Just kidding! There are several more rivalries to be enjoyed this week, as three more sets of intradivisional foes will meet for the first time in 2026 (a fourth will be kicking off their second head-to-head series of the year, but theirs is a matchup between first- and second-place clubs. No spoilers.) Capped off by a big arm's first time taking the mound at Rogers Centre in a once-rare interleague pairing, you'll have plenty to choose from.

Here are five series to watch for the week of May 18.

Brewers at Cubs
3 games (Monday-Wednesday)

Head-to-head: The Cubs just barely won the 2025 regular-season series, seven games to six, but this series will be their first meeting since last year's National League Division Series, which the Brewers took in five.

Storyline: This might be what the NL Central comes down to -- it's certainly where we ended up in 2025 -- and already it's been a long year for both of these teams, who've weathered enough hot and cold streaks and injuries to last them at least until the All-Star break. But despite all that's transpired, they still haven't seen each other this year. Who knows where this might go.

Watch out for: Jacob Misiorowski remains appointment viewing, coming off another seven scoreless innings against the Padres on Wednesday (he struck out 10, and through the end of play on Sunday is tied with Cristopher Sánchez for the Major League lead with 80 K's.) Even better, he'll be lining up in this series with another intriguing young arm in Ben Brown (1.60 ERA, 0.86 WHIP), a recent transfer from the Cubs' bullpen.

Dodgers at Padres
3 games (Monday-Wednesday)

Head-to-head: Since 2011, the Padres have won just one season series against the Dodgers, in 2024. Last year, it was back to normal; the Dodgers went 9-4.

Storyline: Barring a truly wild plot twist, this is probably going to be the ultimate fight for the NL West, and finally, the teams involved are meeting for the first time in 2026. What that'll look like is kind of anyone's guess -- although the Dodgers' +94 run differential absolutely dwarfs the Padres' +2, they've already traded possession of first place a few times.

Watch out for: After a 7-RBI weekend against the Angels, we're even more interested in whether Shohei Ohtani is finally working things out at the plate. Either way, he's lined up to pitch on Wednesday, and he's had no issues there -- through his first seven starts, his ERA (0.82) exactly matches his WHIP, and opponents are hitting just .161 against him.

Guardians at Tigers
4 games (Monday-Thursday)

Head-to-head: Another recently lopsided matchup, Cleveland has won nine of the last ten season series, including 2025 (eight games to five).

Storyline: This will be the first meeting between the Guardians and Tigers in 2026 after a 2025 season that ended with Cleveland dramatically overtaking the Tigers in the AL Central -- which they had led, with no company atop the standings, from April 5 through Sept. 21 -- but then falling to them in the AL Wild Card Series. As they meet up here, the Tigers are really going through it, particularly with their rotation still dealing not only with the enormous blow that is losing Tarik Skubal but the somehow even crueler loss of the pitcher who had functionally replaced him, Ty Madden, who was hit by a comebacker on Friday (Madden, thankfully, suffered only a forearm contusion, but could we give these guys a break?). But the Tigers are still 13-8 at home -- maybe seeing a rival at Comerica will do them some good.

Watch out for: Meet Angel Martínez, the relatively anonymous outfielder suddenly leading the Guardians in home runs (with nine). The 24-year-old switch-hitter, who debuted way back in 2024, has really hit on something lately -- coming into this series, he's 7-for-19 with a double and four home runs in his last five games.

Pirates at Blue Jays
3 games (Friday-Sunday)

Head-to-head: The Pirates won last year's series, 2-1, their first series win over the Blue Jays since 2014 -- but, of course, that's not much to read into, as they don't see much of each other even now.

Storyline: Things are starting to feel a little anxious around both of these clubs, with the Blue Jays still kicking around under .500 (and doing very little to defend their title as American League champions) and the Pirates seemingly struggling to define themselves as a genuine threat in the NL Central. But one really does get the feeling that either could click at any moment -- whether that moment is anywhere on the horizon is another question.

Watch out for: Paul Skenes had his scoreless streak shattered by the Phillies on Sunday (he gave up five earned runs, if you can believe it) so we're certainly curious to see how he responds to that against the Blue Jays' puzzling offense. His anticipated start in this series will also be his first ever in Toronto -- so now we can officially call his an international pitching reign of terror, which is fun.

Rays at Yankees
3 games (Friday-Sunday)

Head-to-head: The Yankees won last year's season series, nine games to four, but the Rays earned a three-game sweep back in April at the Trop. Generally speaking, things couldn't get much tighter between these two; in 80 regular-season games since the beginning of the 2021 season, each has won 40.

Storyline: These are the two teams that have dominated the AL East narrative all year, but they've switched places recently as the Rays' hot streak has very much outlived the Yankees' -- the Rays are 12-3 in May while the Yankees have gone 8-8 (with their Sunday loss against the Mets, they've now also dropped seven of their last nine.) That also resulted in the Rays winning the race to 30 wins; they're now 30-15 and three games up.

Watch out for: The Rays are just cruising in May, and maybe it's partially because a steady centerpiece has emerged in their lineup. Jonathan Aranda, who had a breakout 2025 season (.316/.393/.489, 14 HR, 59 RBI), hit .191 in April but so far this month is 19-for-50 (.380) -- huge for a club that really only has the one big bopper in Junior Caminero.