With only six days until the end of the baseball season, many teams around the league are still looking to pop the champagne and celebrate a trip to the postseason. To date, the Washington Nationals, Atlanta Braves, Cincinnati Reds and San Francisco Giants have clinched a playoff berth, meaning we still have six spots remaining with under a week to go. It’s going to be tough to match the excitement of last year’s unbelievable heroics the last day of the season, but never underestimate the baseball gods, who seem to bring us something special each night, especially on the last night of the regular season

Looking at the weekend schedule, only two teams with playoff aspirations will go head-to-head. The Tampa Bay Rays and Chicago White Sox  battle this weekend, with the Rays two games back of the AL Wild Card and White Sox two back in the Central. With an upcoming series against the Orioles next week, the Rays need to stay within three games to have a chance of a sweep and a tie for the Wild Card. As for the NL Wild Card, the Cardinals have a three game lead over the Dodgers, who will play the Rockies for three.

First, here’s the updated odds to win the World Series:

Rangers 4-1

Yankees 11/2

Reds 6-1

Nationals 6-1

Giants 7-1

Tigers 9-1

Braves 12-1

Cardinals 15-1

Orioles 16-1

Athletics 16-1

Angels 22-1

Rays 30-1

White Sox 33-1

Dodgers 50-1

Via: Bovada

Standings Via: MLB.com

Here are the pitching matchups for all the big games this weekend.

Rays @ White Sox

Friday:

TB – Hellickson: 9-10, 3.20 ERA, 4.69 FIP, 4.48 xFIP

CWS – Floyd: 10-11, 4.56 ERA, 4.51 FIP, 4.28 xFIP

Saturday:

TB – Moore: 10-11, 3.92 ERA, 3.98 FIP, 4.36 xFIP

CWS – Sale: 17-7, 2.86 ERA, 3.25 FIP, 3.26 xFIP

Sunday:

TB – Price: 19-5, 2.56 ERA, 3.06 FIP, 3.10 xFIP

CWS – Liriano: 6-12, 5.34 ERA, 4.35 FIP, 4.15 xFIP

Red Sox @ Orioles

Friday:

BOS – Cook: 4-10, 5.13 ERA, 5.11 FIP, 4.58 xFIP

BAL – Tillman: 8-2, 3.08 ERA, 4.10 FIP, 4.30 xFIP

Saturday:

BOS – Doubront: 11-9, 4.91 ERA, 4.37 FIP, 3.90 xFIP

BAL – S. Johnson: 4-0, 1.62 ERA, 3.05 FIP, 3.46 xFIP

Sunday:

BOS – Stewart: 1-3, 7.91 ERA, 7.11 FIP, 4.29 xFIP (minor league totals)

BAL – Saunders: 8-13, 4.09 ERA, 4.04 FIP, 4.29 xFIP

Yankees @ Blue Jays

Friday:

NYY – Kuroda: 14-11, 3.34 ERA, 3.88 FIP, 3.65 xFIP

TOR – Jenkins: 0-2, 4.24 ERA, 5.34 FIP, 5.05 xFIP

Saturday:

NYY – Pettitte: 5-3, 2.71 ERA, 3.32 FIP, 3.07 xFIP

TOR – Romero: 9-14, 5.76 ERA, 5.19 FIP, 4.86 xFIP

Sunday:

NYY – Hughes: 5-5, 5.79 ERA, 4.58 FIP, 4.90 xFIP

TOR – Alvarez: 9-14, 4.91 ERA, 5.34 FIP, 4.49 xFIP

Mariners @ Athletics:

Friday:

SEA – Beavan: 10-10, 4.64 ERA, 4.78 FIP, 4.93 xFIP

OAK – Griffin: 6-1, 2.80 ERA, 3.68 FIP, 3.76 xFIP

Saturday:

SEA – Vargas: 14-11, 3.94 ERA, 4.83 FIP, 4.48 xFIP

OAK – Straily: 2-1, 3.60 ERA, 5.99 FIP, 4.95 xFIP

Sunday:

SEA – Ramirez: 1-3, 3.43 ERA, 3.62 FIP, 3.70 xFIP

OAK – Milone: 13-10, 3.74 ERA, 3.99 FIP, 4.06 xFIP

Angels @ Rangers

Friday:

LAA – Weaver: 19-4, 2.74 ERA, 3.72 FIP, 4.13 xFIP

TEX – Dempster: 12-7, 3.07 ERA, 3.61 FIP, 3.75 xFIP

Saturday:

LAA – Santana: 9-12, 4.93 ERA, 5.44 FIP, 4.41 xFIP

TEX – Holland: 11-6, 4.50 ERA, 4.69 FIP, 4.07 xFIP

Sunday:

LAA – Greinke: 15-5, 3.42 ERA, 3.06 FIP, 3.16 xFIP

TEX -  Darvish: 16-9, 3.90 ERA, 3.30 FIP, 3.56 xFIP

Tigers @ Twins:

Friday:

DET – Smyly: 4-3, 4.24 ERA, 3.90 FIP, 3.94 xFIP

MIN – Diamond: 12-8, 3.64 ERA, 3.97 FIP, 3.92 xFIP

Saturday:

DET – Verlander: 16-8, 2.72 ERA, 3.00 FIP, 3.36 xFIP

MIN – Walters: 2-4, 5.88 ERA, 5.60 FIP, 4.68 xFIP

Sunday:

DET – Sanchez: 9-13, 3.95 ERA, 3.58 FIP, 3.63 xFIP

MIN – Hendriks: 1-8, 6.09 ERA, 5.80 FIP, 4.79 xFIP

Nationals @ Cardinals

Friday:

WAS – Jackson: 9-10, 3.77 ERA, 3.81 FIP, 3.72 xFIP

STL – Wainwright: 13-13, 4.02 ERA, 3.15 FIP, 3.23 xFIP

Saturday:

WAS – Zimmermann: 12-8, 2.90 ERA, 3.56 FIP, 3.79 xFIP

STL – Lohse: 16-3, 2.77 ERA, 3.54 FIP, 4.03 xFIP

Sunday:

WAS – Detwiler: 10-7, 3.28 ERA, 3.94 FIP, 4.29 xFIP

STL – Lynn: 17-7, 3.69 ERA, 3.42 FIP, 3.62 xFIP

Rockies @ Dodgers:

Friday:

COL – Francis: 5-6, 5.54 ERA, 4.17 FIP, 4.03 xFIP

LAD – Kershaw: 12-9, 2.68 ERA, 2.99 FIP, 3.27 xFIP

Saturday:

COL – Chatwood: 5-5, 5.49 ERA, 5.14 FIP, 4.51 xFIP

LAD – Blanton: 9-13, 4.86 ERA, 4.02 FIP, 3.44 xFIP

Sunday:

COL – De La Rosa: 0-1, 9.45 ERA, 8.96 FIP, 5.52 xFIP

LAD – Beckett: 6-14, 4.76 ERA, 4.13 FIP, 4.20 xFIP

Former Braves and Yankees outfielder Deion Sanders is 44 years of age, but it looks like he can still play. He stopped by Camden Yards for a little BP with the Baltimore Orioles, and even gave some advice to the team.

Random Stat:

Kansas City Royals DH Billy Butler has had a great season this year recorded 185 hits and a .314/.372/.509 slash line. Currently, Butler sits sixth in American League Average, 12 points behind the Tigers’ Miguel Cabrera. The reason I bring this up is due to the season Butler had against the Blue Jays. On the year, he recorded just one hit in 28 at-bats against the Jays. Take those numbers off the board and you have a .331 average, thus competing with Cabrera for the batting crown and possibly taking away any chance of a Triple Crown.

And the rest around MLB:

The Twins have released infielder Tsuyoshi Nishioka [MLB.com]

There is mutual interest between Terry Francona and the Cleveland Indians [Twitter]

Dan Haren is not happy with talk of his contract status for next season. [ESPN]

Chad Billingsley of the Dodgers is trying to avoid Tommy John surgery. [MLB.com]