After a day off for all three local professional baseball franchises, the Chicago Cubs, St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago White Sox will kick off the first a trio of three game sets.
The Cubs are home to take on the Pittsburgh Pirates, who find themselves 12 games back of the division leading Cubs.
Jake Arrieta go for his 11th win this today, and will try to match his Chicago counterpart, Chris Sale, who picked up his league-leading 11th win earlier this week.
Francisco Liriano takes the hill for the Pirates at 1:20 pm central time.
Jon Lester faces Jon Niese Saturday night, and Kyle Hendricks tangles with Jameson Taillon Sunday night in the series finale.
The Cardinals stay at home for a three game weekend set with the Texas Rangers. At 35-30, the Cardinals are 8.5 games back of Chicago in the Central.
The Cardinals will send Michael Wacha, Carlos Martinez, and Mike Leake to the mound. Tonight's scheduled starter for Texas is Cole Hamels.
Meanwhile, the Chicago White Sox open up, what could be a crucial three-game set at Cleveland.
The division leading Indians are just 2.5 up on the South Siders, who sit in 4th place in the AL Central. Jose Quintana opens the series for Chicago, opposite Trevor Bauer.
James Shields will look for his first win in Chicago when he faces Danny Salazar Saturday evening. The series wraps up with Carlos Rodon facing Carlos Carrasco.
