MLB Weekend Preview - Playoff Picture Coming into Focus

Baseball betting is set for an exciting weekend of wagering. The MLB schedule has some important series on tap that could play into the playoff picture in the coming months.

In the American League East, the Tampa Bay Rays are struggling on their way to Canada to face the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Rays are trying to stay in contention for the Wild Card but have lost three of their past four games heading into Friday. Their mighty bats have been silenced during this recent skid, including getting blanked by Chicago White Sox ace Mark Buehrle's perfect game Thursday.

Tampa Bay is hitting .237 and scoring under four runs per game this month. All-Star Evan Longoria is mired in a nasty slump, hitting just .136 with two home runs and six RBI in the past week. Slugger Carlos Pena has also been coming up empty in recent games with a .158 batting average, no home runs, and nine strikeouts.

Toronto has struggled in July and has lost six of its past 10 games heading into Friday's opener with the Rays. The Blue Jays’ offense is all over the board. They've averaged .244 at the plate this month but have shown flashes of their early-season form. Toronto hung a season-high five home runs on the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday night. They launched another two round trippers Thursday, but scored just four runs in a 5-4 loss.

The Detroit Tigers are trying to hold off the Chicago White Sox this weekend. The rivals open with a double header on Friday.

Chicago is coming off a strong showing against Tampa Bay and improved to 10-7 this month. Despite Buehrle's perfect performance Thursday, the White Sox have an ERA over 5.00 in July but have come around this past week. Rookie Carlos Torres, lefty Clayton Richard, and righthander Gavin Floyd were all solid in their most recent outings.

Detroit is in the middle of a funk, losing five of its past six games heading into the weekend. The Tigers’ offense has gone AWAL during this skid. The team is swatting a mediocre .227 in the past week and has scored just one run in four of those five losses. The big bat of Brandon Inge has gone limp, hitting .071, and he’s struck out six times in that span.

In the National League, two of the top teams go head-to-head when the St. Louis Cardinals visit Citizens Bank Park and the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Cardinals lost three straight outings to rival Houston before heading to Washington for a one-game series on Thursday. Despite an ERA just over 3.00 this month, St. Louis gave up a total of 18 runs in those three losses to the Astros. The team's steady bullpen was responsible for one of those defeats.

Philadelphia had its 10-game winning run snapped earlier this week. The Phillies still own the best record in baseball for this month (14-4) and also had a one-game showdown, with the San Diego Padres, before welcoming the Cardinals. During that winning streak, Philly totaled 57 runs and got great work from the starters, who posted a 2.41 ERA in that span. This weekend's starters - Joe Blanton, Rodrigo Lopez, and J.A. Happ - were all solid in their most recent starts.

Out west, the San Francisco Giant and Colorado Rockies play an important series. Both teams are on pace to compete for the NL Wild Card.

The Giants managed to get just their second win in the past seven games with a 5-1 victory over Atlanta on Thursday. San Francisco's sudden offensive surge is a big turnaround from the 3.7 runs it had averaged this month. Lone power bat Pablo Sandoval hasn't hit a home run since July 11 and is batting under .200 this past week.

The Rockies will be coming into the series on a day’s rest. That won't help ace Jason Marquis, who will miss his scheduled start Friday due to a blister on his throwing hand. In his place, Colorado will give the nod to Jason Hammel, who was beat up for five runs in eight innings in his last start against the Giants. San Francisco sends righty Matt Cain to the bump; he's allowed one run or less in eight of his past 10 starts.