Some big series get underway this weekend in MLB so I will take a couple of minutes to talk about these series that will finish off on Sunday. Plenty of money-making opportunity this weekend along with some good television. 

It looks like Florida and Atlanta are going to be the two teams to challenge the Phillies for the top spot in the National League East. The three teams have been neck-and-neck since the all-star break with the Phillies going 16-10, the Marlins 15-10 and the Braves 17-9 during that time. In the end I think it's the Braves who can challenge the Phils. Atlanta had a ton of injuries but the team is healthy now. I don't know if they have the bats to score, but their staring pitching is good and this series couldn't be any bigger for them. The Phillies are the Phillies and Cliff Lee is just a great addition and the Phils could really create some seperation for themselves this weekend in the division.

The Marlins sit three games back of the Wild Card behind the Rockies and it will be interesting to see how the Colorado pitchers hold up in the Florida heat. The Marlins do send out one of the game's best young pitchers in Josh Johnson, but the Rockies send out a good road pitcher as well with Jason Hummel and his 3.00 ERA in 10 starts. With Aaron Cook and Rick Vandenhurk facing each other on Saturday, Sunday's matchup of Jorge De La Rosa vs. Chris Volstad could be a great game if it's the rubber game.

With the Rangers sitting 4.5 games back of first place and Anaheim and the Red Sox having no answers for what the Yankees have been doing (Boston is now 6.5 games back) this series suddenly looms large with Boston ahead of Texas by one game for the Wild Card lead. Tonight's pitching match up is good one with Jon Lester throwing against Kevin Millwood. Tomorrow has Brad Penny against a talented young guy in Derek Holland who is coming off his first complete game and Sunday could again be the wild card of the series with Junichi Tazawa coming off his first major league win and now pitching in a hitter-friendly park vs. Dustin Nippert.

Cleveland at Minnesota

While the Indians playoff hopes have been long gone, they don't strike me us a team that will stop playing. They send out a young talent tonight with Justin Masterson, who is limited to 75-80 pitches. The Twins now sit five games back in the American League Central and have been hurt by going 3-7 their last 10 games. This is huge series here for the Twinkies and if they drop two of three, that just might be a start to putting the nails in the coffin.