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3 MLB series you have to watch this weekend

Ken Blaze / USA TODAY Sports

Baseball fans won't be short of high-stakes games over the weekend.

Streaks - both good and awful - have dominated headlines in recent days, though they've also dramatically shifted the standings to set up a thrilling final two-and-a-half weeks of baseball. As the calendar slowly rolls toward October and creaks the postseason door open ever slightly, every series along the way becomes that much more intense.

With that in mind, here are three weekend encounters you need to keep an eye on:

Dodgers at Nationals

The Los Angeles Dodgers are finally winning again.

Fresh off of snapping their 11-game losing skid Tuesday against the San Francisco Giants, the Dodgers added another Wednesday for good measure and the team once on pace to threaten the all-time wins record looks to be back. The stumbling Giants, though, should've been easy pickings for the Dodgers. The Washington Nationals are a much more accurate test to determine who reigns supreme in the National League.

Washington sits just five games behind the Dodgers for the NL's best record, a distinction that guarantees home-field advantage until at least the World Series. Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen doesn't care how well the Nationals have done lately, though, and he'll be ready to back his claim from earlier this week that his club is "still the best" in baseball.

Cardinals at Cubs

With three teams separated by only a handful of games, there's no division in baseball closer than the NL Central.

One of the sport's strongest rivalries will kick off Friday and could potentially blow the division open or set up a photo finish down the stretch. The Chicago Cubs have taken eight of 12 contests this season against the St. Louis Cardinals, though that won't mean much when the Route 66 rivals meet at Wrigley.

The good news for the Cardinals is that even the worst possible outcome - a three-game sweep - wouldn't be the end of the world. St. Louis will host a four-game series against Chicago from Sept. 25-28 that would give them another late chance to close the division gap, assuming they don't do so this weekend.

Royals at Indians

If there was a tangible method to measuring momentum, the Cleveland Indians' current run would be off the charts.

The Indians took the first game of their four-game set against the Royals on Thursday to extend their historic winning streak to 22 games. If they hold off Kansas City for the remaining three games, Cleveland would end up a win away from matching the 1916 New York Giants' 26-game streak and possibly within striking distance of the best record in baseball. The Royals, however, aren't inclined to let that happen.

Prior to Thursday, the last time the Indians and Royals squared off, Cleveland embarrassed Kansas City with ease, shutting them out in a three-game sweep while scoring 20 runs. At that point, Cleveland's historic 22-game winning streak was a modest four straight wins, and it took the Royals another two games before they finally scored. They would love nothing more than to exact revenge on their division rivals while trying to keep pace in the AL wild-card race.

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