Let’s get a closer look at the potential future of the NL East.

The MLB Pipeline Game of the Month is headed to Binghamton on Thursday for a matchup between the Double-A Rumble Ponies, including recent Mets acquisitions Luisangel Acuña (MLB Pipeline's No. 40 overall prospect) and Drew Gilbert (MLB No. 56), and the Harrisburg Senators, led by Top 10 overall prospects Dylan Crews (No. 4) and James Wood (No. 7).

As with all Games of the Month, the game will be broadcast for FREE on MLB.com, MLB.TV and on the MLB Pipeline homepage. It’ll also be available to regular MLB At Bat and MiLB.TV subscribers through those channels.

• MLB Pipeline | Top 100 prospects | Prospect video

This August edition -- as with the other MLB Pipeline Games of the Month -- will feature a pregame tour of the home team’s ballpark on the MiLB Instagram feed. Opened in 1992, Binghamton’s Mirabito Stadium is nestled comfortably in the rolling hills of New York’s Southern Tier and has become famous for its local concession, the spiedie.

Also as part of the pregame prep for Thursday’s contest, Mets fans can turn their attentions to the MiLB Instagram feed, where we’ll have a live Q&A with Gilbert to chat about his blockbuster trade from the Astros, his transition to the Mets system and his first full season of Minor League ball as a 2022 first-round pick. Speaking of New York prospects, No. 10 Mets prospect Blade Tidwell will break down his repertoire and pitch grips for an upcoming edition of the MLB Pipeline Pitching Lab.

But for all the talk of pregame content, the game itself will be absolutely loaded with prospects.

Crews and Wood combine with Robert Hassell III (WSH No. 8) to form the most formidable outfield trio in Minor League Baseball. Crews -- the No. 2 pick in this year’s Draft -- made his Double-A debut last Tuesday, and while he’s off to a slow start in a small sample (3-for-21 in six games), he has the plus-plus hit tool, impressive power and good speed to turn things around quickly even at the Minors’ second-highest level. Wood leads the Nationals system with 24 homers and sits only five steals away from his first 20-20 season – strong results for a 6-foot-6 20-year-old playing in just his second full season. Partly due to wrist issues over the last two years, Hassell has struggled to find consistency in the Eastern League, but the 22-year-old still shows flashes of being a potential plus hitter from the left side.

The Harrisburg roster also includes No. 43 overall prospect Brady House, who has climbed three levels in his age-20 campaign. The right-handed slugger is still trying to find his trademark power at Double-A, but has found early success with a .309 average and 106 wRC+ through 24 games as a Senator.

For the hosts, Acuña and Gilbert aren’t just new faces in a new place; they’re also the Mets’ top two prospects following MLB Pipeline’s midseason update earlier this month.

Ranked 40th overall, Acuña has settled in nicely with Binghamton, going 13-for-34 (.382) over his last eight games with the Rumble Ponies. His 52 steals on the season, including 42 from his time in the Rangers system before being dealt in the Max Scherzer trade, lead all Double-A position players. Gilbert has been an even more consistent performer since he first joined the Mets in the Justin Verlander swap with a .338/.395/.568 line and four homers through his first 20 games with Binghamton.

The Rumble Ponies added a third Top 100 prospect when catcher Kevin Parada (No. 93) was promoted from High-A Brooklyn on Tuesday. The 2022 first-rounder hit .265/.340/.447 with 11 homers in 87 South Atlantic League games to begin his first full season. He brings plus power to the Binghamton batting order and could complement Acuña and Gilbert's skillsets nicely as a middle-of-the-order thumper.

This week’s series marks the first meeting between Binghamton and Harrisburg since Aug. 8, 2019 due to pandemic-related schedule changes in the Eastern League, but if the talented groups of Rumble Ponies and Senators reach anything close to their ceilings, it’s a matchup we could see in The Show for a long time coming.