The Colorado Rockies look to make up ground in the NL Wild Card race when they host the Philadelphia Phillies on Coors Field, Thursday at 7 PM ET.

The Philadelphia Phillies (75-58, 33-32 away) currently hold the NL Wild Card spot and sit 5.5-games ahead of the Rockies. They have been very strong on the road of late going 11-2 since the start of August.

The Colorado Rockies (69-63, 43-21 home) are also playing well winning seven of eight before losing their last two.

Their home record is excellent at 43-21 and they have lost just three times in their last 15 home games. The reason for this is run production. They are scoring 2.3 more runs average at home than away.

Head-to-head the advantage definitely goes to the Phillies. Since the start of the 2008 season, they are 17-4 including beating the Rockies 3-1 in the 2009 NLDS.

Starting for the Rockies will be Jhoulys Chacin (7-9, 3.79 ERA). The right-hander has clearly recovered from injury winning two straight since being recalled.

On the mound for the Phillies will be Joe Blanton (6-6, 5.15 ERA). The right-handed Blanton has had lots of success against Coloradeo going 3-0 with a 3.27 ERA in seven starts.

The Chicago White Sox look to make up ground on Minnesota tonight when they go on the road to play the Cleveland Indians on August 30, 7 PM ET.

The Chicago White Sox (70-60, 32-33 away) are 4.5 games back of the Twins, but it looks like they will be getting some help in the form of Manny Ramirez. The ChiSox picked up Ramirez in a waiver claim although they are still negotiating with the Dodgers to finalize the terms of the deal.

Ramirez was a bit of a disappointment in LA playing just 66 games due to leg injuries. He has eight home runs on .311 hitting on the season.

This will be the first in a ten game road trip for Chicago. Mark Buehrle (12-10, 3.93 ERA) gets the start. Buehrle is having his most complete season of his career going 4-3 with a 3.32 ERA in his last eight starts.

The Cleveland Indians (53-77, 29-36 home) have won just three of their last nine; however, they have taken eight of 12 against Chicago.

On the mound for the Indians will be Mitch Talbot (8-11, 4.44 ERA). The right-hander is struggling right now carrying a 5.87 ERA in his last eight starts (five losses and three no decisions). Like the rest of his team, he has done well in three starts against the White Sox this season going a perfect 3-0 with a 1.57 ERA.

The Boston Red Sox look to gain ground on their AL East rival the Tampa Bay Rays starting with the first of six meetings between these two clubs in the next 12 games.

The Tampa Bay Rays (78-49, 39-24 home) are in a heated battle with the New York Yankees for top spot in the AL East. They are currently tied and have been neck and neck for the last month.

The Rays started the season as beasts on the road, but things have leveled considerably since then and they now have 39 wins both at home and on the road. They are playing well, though, and are 19-5 in the last 24 games overall.

The Boston Red Sox (73-55, 33-29 away) are easily the best third-place team in baseball, but when you have the two best teams in your division it’s rough. They haven’t had much luck against the Rays winning just four of 12 games.

The BoSox had a chance to make up some ground on the Rays and the Yankees when they lost last night, but blew it in a 4-2 loss to Seattle. The loss also broke a 4-game winning streak.

Starting for Boston will be John Lester (13-8, 3.26 ERA). In 14 starts against the Rays, Lester is 7-3 with a 4.18 ERA while he is even better in Tampa going 3-0 in five starts with a 3.60 ERA.

David Price Price (15-5, 2.97 ERA) will get the start for the Rays. The lefty is particularly comfortable at home going 7-1 with a 2.11 ERA in 11 starts. His 15 wins is a franchise record, but he hasn’t won in his last two starts while sporting a 4.50 ERA.

Two solid pitchers meet tonight in Arlington as the Texas Rangers host the Minnesota Twins. The first pitch is at 8 PM ET.

The Minnesota Twins (72-54, 32-32 away) dropped the first two games of this four-game series. They have now truly gone cold losing four of six after winning 11 of 13.

The Twins still hold a solid lead in the AL Central sporting a Major-league best 26012 record since the All-Star Break. One of the reasons is the strong play of tonight’s pitcher Brian Duensing (7-1, 1.92 ERA) who moved out of the bullpen mid-season. Since the All-Star Break, he is 5-0 with a 2.18 ERA in seven games including six starts.

Nobody believed the Texas Rangers (71-54, 41-23 home) would be in this position and certainly not this late in the season, but it seems like the Rangers will make the playoffs as they currently sit 8.5 games ahead of their nearest rival.

Josh Hamilton’s 29th home run on Tuesday put him in fourth place among AL home run leaders. His .356 batting average is tops in the majors.

C.J. Wilson (12-5, 3.02 ERA) gets the start for Texas. Like his counterpart on the Twins, Wilson converted from reliever and has excelled. Also like his counterpart, he is 5-0 since the All-Star break so don’t expect a ton of runs. His last outing was a 2-0 win over the Orioles in which he struck out 12 in 8 2/3 innings of work.

The San Francisco Giants look to get back in the NL Wild Card race as they host a Cincinnati Reds team hoping to solidify their lead in the NL Central. First pitch is at 10 PM ET.

After last night’s 9-0 loss to St. Louis, the San Francisco Giants (69-56, 37-23 home) now find themselves six-games back of San Diego in the NL west race. It was a particularly costly loss as St. Louis is one of the teams that they are battling with in the Wild Card Race.

The Cincinnati Reds (72-52, 36-26 away) are a little more comfortable position. They are up on St. Louis by 3.5 games in the NL Central race. They have won eight of their last nine games after beating the Dodgers 5-2 on Sunday.

The lead comes largely thanks to their offense. The Reds are tops in the NL with 4.96 runs per game and a .272 batting average. The offense is led by Joey Votto who has been particularly hot of late. In his last 22 games he has six homers and 22 RBIs on .387 hitting.

Getting the start for the Giants will be Matt Cain (9-10, 3.11 ERA). Cain already has a complete game shutout against the Reds this season and he did it in hostile territory going in to Cincinnati and holding the Reds to seven hits in a 3-0 win on June 8.

Edinson Volquez (3-1, 4.98 ERA) gets the start for Cincinnati. The right hander struggled his last time out lasting just 4 2/3 innings after giving up five runs against Arizona. He is 2-0 with a 5.11 ERA in his career against San Francisco, but it’s been two-full years since he last faced them.

The Kansas City Royals host the Cleveland Indians for a three-game set with both AL Central rivals sporting identical records. First pitch is at 8 PM ET.

The Cleveland Indians (49-69, 23-36 away) had a brief winning streak coming out of the All Star Break, but have since gone sour dropping 15 of their last 24 games.

Travis Hafner’s return from the DL was a memorable one as he hit a grand slam against Seattle in the seventh inning on Sunday. The Tribe would go on to win that game 9-1.

The Kansas City Royals (49-69, 25-31 home) held down fourth place in the AL Central for most of the season, but some poor play of late has seen the Indians catch the Royals. Both teams will have plenty of opportunities to grab the lead in this battle as the two teams meet 13 times before the end of the season.

Zack Greinke (7-11, 3.99 ERA) will get the start for KC. The Royals haven’t been doing Greinke any favors of late giving him just one run of support in four out of his last six starts. In his last four home starts against the Indians, Greinke is 3-0 with a 2.52 ERA.

On the mound for Cleveland will be Jeanmar Gomez (3-0, 1.54 ERA). In three starts since being called up, Gomez is 2-0 with a 2.20 ERA. A win today would give Cleveland their first two game winning streak streak since winning three at the beginning of August.

The Baltimore Orioles look to complete their first sweep of the Cleveland Indians in 23 years when the teams meet August 12 at 7 PM ET.

The Baltimore Orioles (40-71) are 8-1 under new manager Buck Showalter and are on a four-game winning streak. The offenese has come alive under Showalter hitting .308 during his reign. The pitchers are also doing their part with a 2.30 team ERA.

The Cleveland Indians (47-67) are on a four game losing streak and have dropped nine of 11 at home.

Starting for the Orioles is Kevin Millwood (2-11, 5.84 ERA). Millwood has struggled this season, but he finally seems to be coming around after giving up just one run, four hit over six innings against the White Sox.

Rookie Jeanmar Gomez (2-0, 1.56) will try to stop the skid for the Indians. He only has three career starts and has looked inexperienced at times, but so far hasn’t gotten in to too much trouble.

The Texas Rangers host the New York Yankees in a two-game mini series that kicks off a stretch of games against the AL East for the AL West-leading Rangers. First pitch is at 7 PM ET.

The Texas Rangers (64-47) have a commanding eight-game lead in the division thanks to a .621 winning percentage against divisional opponents. They are coming off of a rare loss to the A’s and play their next twelve games against significantly tougher competition. Namely, the AL East.

The New York Yankees (69-42) are battling hard with the Rays for top spot in the AL East. They currently have a 1.5-game lead which can disappear quickly with the Rays chasing.

In their last series against each other, the Yankees outslugged the Rangers 17-6 taking all three games. The Yankees have won in 14 of their last 17 visits to Texas. Josh Hamilton is just 1-for-11 versus Yankees pitching this year.

C.J. Wilson has had some shaky starts for Texas lately. Alex Rodriguez is batting .390 in his last 12 games against Texas and has 8 RBIs in that time. Wilson can’t afford to be sloppy.

Two struggling teams meet as the Chicago Cubs open a four game series with the San Francisco Giants tonight in San Francisco.

The Chicago Cubs (47-64) are coming off of a sweep at the hands of the Cincinnati Reds and have just one win in their last 11 games. They got rocked in the final loss to Cinci losing by a final score of 11-4. The Cubs ERA in the last eleven is an abysmal 7.47.

The San Francisco Giants (63-49) are having a much better season than the Cubs trailing San Diego in the NL West by just two games. They are a half-game up on the Phillies for the wild card spot. However, after losing three of four to Atlanta, the Giants need some wins to keep their hold on a playoff spot.

Pitching is a big concern for Giants backers right now. After trading away Ted Lilly and the injury to Carlos Silva, the Giants have moved Carlos Zambrano back in to the rotation. Zambrano, if you will recall, was the opening day starter , but his struggles pushed him to the bullpen.

The lowly Baltimore Orioles look to build on a rare sweep as they host a Chicago White Sox team that is fighting to stay atop the AL Central. First pitch is at 7:05 PM ET.

The Baltimore Orioles (35-73, 21-33 home) sweep over the Angels were the first back-to-back wins for the team since before the All-Star Break. Their offense was sputtering averaging just three runs per game before averaging 6.7 against LA.

The sudden success comes after Buck Showalter took over manager duties. He is now the fourth manager in the history of the Orioles to start 3-0.

The Chicago White Sox (62-46, 29-26 away) will be a tough opponent for the Orioles to stretch their winning streak against. Chicago has won nine of their last 11 games and their record since June 8 is the best in the majors at 38-13.

John Danks (11-8, 3.40 ERA) will start for Chicago. In his last three starts, Danks is a perfect 3-0 with a 2.45 ERA.

Baltimore counters with Brad Bergesen (3-9, 6.63 ERA). Bergensen is struggling badly. He is 0-7 with a 7.26 ERA in his last 11 starts and hasn’t shown any of the game that made him such a promising prospect in his rookie season.