IN THE AIRTwo of the top teams in the majors meet at Fenway Park when Gerrit Cole (13-5 Steve Pearce Jersey , 2.86 ERA) and the Astros take on David Price (14-6, 3.60) and the Red Sox in the opener of a three-game set between AL division leaders. Houston beat Boston in the playoffs last year on the way to winning the World Series. Price bruised his left wrist when it was hit by a line drive in his last start Aug. 29 against Miami. The streaking Astros have won five straight behind slugger Alex Bregman, who has reached base safely in 33 consecutive games. Bregman, with four homers in his last five games, batted .486 with seven doubles, five homers and 17 RBIs on the 10-game homestand Houston just completed. He has an extra-base hit and an RBI in five straight games, the longest such streak for an Astros hitter since 2006.WILD, WILD WESTTrevor Story and the first-place Rockies open a pivotal three-game series against the Dodgers at Coors Field with 1 1/2 games separating the NL West rivals. Colorado had a day off following Story’s three-homer outburst in a 5-3 win over San Francisco on Wednesday, which gave the All-Star shortstop a career-best 31 homers this season. He’ll try to resume his powerful pace against resurgent ace Clayton Kershaw J. D. Martinez Jersey , who has a 2.14 ERA since the start of August. Los Angeles expects to be without All-Star closer Kenley Jansen after a team cardiologist recommended the right-hander not travel to Denver, where he’s had heart issues in the past. Colorado has won five in a row.HOPE THEY BOTH LOSEOakland fans will be keeping an eye on Seattle, where the Yankees play the Mariners. The A’s are 3 1/2 games back of New York for the top AL wild card, but the Mariners are 5 1/2 behind Oakland and really the only team with much of a chance to knock the Athletics out of the playoffs entirely. Masahiro Tanaka will face Mariners lefty James Paxton, while the A’s send Chris Bassitt to the mound against the Rangers in Oakland. Tanaka (10-5, 3.83 ERA) is 6-0 with a 2.34 ERA in eight starts against the Mariners — and 3-0 with a 2.17 ERA at Safeco Field. Paxton (11-5, 3.74) returned from the disabled list last Saturday and struck out 10 in five innings to beat Oakland.ARMS RACEBlake Snell (17-5, 2.02 ERA) tries to tie Cleveland ace Corey Kluber for the big league lead in wins when the All-Star lefty pitches for Tampa Bay at last-place Baltimore. Snell, the AL pitcher of the month for August Paul Goldschmidt Jersey , has won five consecutive starts. He and Kluber are top contenders for the AL Cy Young Award.SORRY, CHIEFChief Wahoo is missing from the Indians jersey sleeves this weekend during a four-game series at Toronto. The team nixed the logo for the Canadian trip, partially because of a failed legal challenge against Cleveland when it played in Toronto during the 2016 AL Championship Series. While the Indians played the Blue Jays, a lawsuit was filed to have the logo and team name banned from Canadian TV. A judge dismissed the case. The Indians have said they will permanently remove the logo from their uniforms next season, but Chief Wahoo will return to their sleeves when they play at Tampa Bay next week.HEY, JOEWashington right-hander Joe Ross is set to make his season debut against the Cubs. Ross hasn’t pitched in the majors since having Tommy John surgery in July 2017. The 25-year-old has a 3.95 ERA in 48 major league appearances (45 starts). He’s made six minor league rehab starts, going 2-1 with a 2.39 ERA. With a few spots open in the 2019 rotation, Ross’ performance could influence what the Nationals do this offseason. For many years, the Chicago Cubs had to look up to find their rival St. Louis Cardinals in the standings.Times have changed.Chicago (94-66) has a chance to secure its fourth consecutive National League Central title against the Cardinals during the final weekend of the regular season at Wrigley Field. The Cubs’ magic number is two to clinch the division over the second-place Milwaukee Brewers Richie Ashburn Jersey , who are hosting the Detroit Tigers this weekend.Article continues below ...“Our destiny is in our hands,” Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant told the Chicago Tribune. “If we (pick each other up), we’re going to be in a good spot.”Meanwhile, St. Louis (87-73) is in a much more difficult spot with two games to go.The Cardinals emerged as a legitimate playoff contender after replacing ex-manager Mike Matheny with Mike Shildt, who has led the team to a 40-27 record since taking over just before the All-Star break. But a late-season stumble has pushed St. Louis to the outside looking in when it comes to the wild card.“Clearly, the back is completely against the wall,” Shildt said to reporters after an 8-4 loss in Friday’s series opener.The Cardinals’ task will not get any easier as they go up against Cubs left-hander Cole Hamels on Saturday afternoon.The 34-year-old Hamels is 4-2 with a 2.47 ERA with Chicago and 9-11 with a 3.87 ERA including his time with the Texas Rangers earlier this season. Hamels has allowed two earned runs or fewer in nine of 11 starts with the Cubs.In 13 career starts against the Cardinals, Hamels is 4-4 with a 2.79 ERA. He has struck out 87 batters in 84 innings.St. Louis will send out right-hander Miles Mikolas (17-4, 2.94 ERA) http://www.philliesfanproshop.com/authentic-pat-neshek-jersey , who has taken over the role of ace and earned a selection to the All-Star Game this summer. The 30-year-old is 3-0 with a 1.89 ERA in his last three outings.Mikolas is 2-0 with a 1.86 ERA in five games (three starts) against the Cubs during his career. He is the Cardinals’ first pitcher to win 17 or more games in his first season with the club since the late Darryl Kile won 19 games in 2000.Cubs manager Joe Maddon is trying to lead the team to its fourth straight appearance in the NL Championship Series and its second World Series title in the past three years.“It’s a very alert time of the year,” Maddon said. “You’re always on alert. You don’t really let your guard down, ever. …“It’s always good to be able to hold a lead. But when you get to this time a year against really good teams like St. Louis and whomever else we’re going to play, you have this heightened state of alert about your mind and your observations and trying to piece things together. I’d rather you get more mentally alert as opposed to trying to do more physically.”The Cubs are 50-29 at home. The Cardinals are 44-35 on the road.St. Louis holds a 9-8 edge in the regular-season series. Both teams have scored 89 runs against one another.