Yu Darvish and Sonny Gray headed a parade of prized arms on the move Monday, leaving little doubt on trade deadline day: Top teams made a big pitch for the playoffs.

All-Star Brandon Kintzler, Addison Reed and Justin Wilson were among the many relievers swapped before the cutoff. There were 14 deals involving major leaguers – all six division leaders got someone new.

Yu Darvish, an All-Star in four of his five major league seasons, was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday. Darvish is 6-9 with a 4.01 ERA in 22 starts this season. Associated Press/Richard W. Rodriguez

The Yankees acquired pitcher Sonny Gray from the Oakland Athletics at the nonwaiver trade deadline Monday. New York also got pitcher Jamie Garcia from the Twins on Sunday. Associated Press/Ben Margot

“We’re trying to go from good to great,” New York Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman said.

The Yankees bolstered their rotation by getting Gray from Oakland for three minor leaguers. That swap came a day after the AL East leaders acquired starter Jaime Garcia from Minnesota.

Oakland received Jorge Mateo, a top shortstop-outfielder prospect at Double-A; right-hander James Kaprielian, the 16th overall pick in the 2015 amateur draft who is recovering from Tommy John surgery on April 18; and Dustin Fowler, an outfielder who ruptured the patellar tendon in his right knee in the first inning of his major league debut on June 29, ending his season. New York also receives $1.5 million in international signing bonus allocation from the A’s.

A 27-year-old right-hander who has been slowed by a series of injuries, Gray is 6-5 with a 3.43 ERA in 16 starts this season and 4-2 with a 1.37 ERA in his last six outings. He makes $3,575,000 and is not eligible for free agency until after the 2019 season.

Gray was an All-Star in 2015, when he won 14 games for the second consecutive season and finished third in AL Cy Young Award voting.

“I think we’ve definitely improved ourselves,” Yankees Manager Joe Girardi said. “When I look at ownership and the front office, they’ve given us an opportunity to do something special here. Now we have to go out and do it.”

The Los Angeles Dodgers, owners of the best record in the majors and the top payroll, gave up three minor leaguers for Darvish. The Texas ace will join three-time Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw, currently on the disabled list, as the Dodgers try to reach the World Series for the first time since their 1988 title.

“We’re not going to be lining up our playoff rotation quite yet,” General Manager Farhan Zaidi said.

Los Angeles also added relievers Tony Watson from Pittsburgh and Tony Cingrani from Cincinnati.

Darvish was an All-Star this year for the fourth time in his five seasons playing for the Rangers. He joined Texas before the 2012 season, and missed all of 2015 after elbow surgery. In 22 starts this season, he is 6-9 with a 4.01 ERA.

In 122 starts overall for the Rangers, he was 52-39 with a 3.42 ERA and 960 strikeouts over 7822/3 innings. But the pitcher who turns 31 on Aug. 16 was 0-5 with a 5.81 ERA in his last eight starts. He was tagged by the Miami Marlins for a career-worst 10 runs last Wednesday, and later revealed he was tipping his pitches.

A few stars mentioned in trade speculation stayed put – Orioles closer Zach Britton, Detroit starter Justin Verlander and San Diego reliever Brad Hand, among them.

Teams had until 4 p.m. to make trades without waivers. For the rest of the season, players can be dealt only if every other club passes on a chance to claim them.

A year after the champion Chicago Cubs and Cleveland used deep bullpens to reach the World Series, several teams boosted their relief corps, as did the Cubs and Indians.

Chicago got Wilson, a valuable lefty, along with backup catcher Alex Avila from Detroit. Avila was traded away by his dad, Tigers GM Alex Avila.

Joe Smith, who relieved for Cleveland from 2009-13, was sent from Toronto to the Indians.

NL East-leading Washington got Kintzler from Minnesota. The Nationals recently acquired relievers Ryan Madson and Sean Doolittle from Oakland.

The Houston Astros, already running away with the AL West, plucked lefty Francisco Liriano from Toronto. He’ll help patch a rotation that’s dealt with injuries to Dallas Keuchel, Lance McCullers and Collin McHugh this year.

The contending Boston Red Sox added Reed, who had been serving as the New York Mets’ closer. Reed is 1-2 with a 2.57 ERA and 19 saves in 21 chances, and he joins a bullpen that includes dominant closer Craig Kimbrel.

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