Thursday features eight games on the schedule in Major League Baseball as teams hope to secure playoff positions in the final few weeks of the regular season. Here are a few of the exciting games on tap starting this afternoon:

Dodgers And Mets Wrap Up Season Series

The Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets meet again this afternoon to decide which team will come out on top in the series. The last three games between these two division leaders have been decided by one run, with the season series tied 3-3. The Dodgers still dominate the NL West standings and are ahead of the San Diego Padres by 18.5 games. 

New York still holds a slim three-game advantage over the Atlanta Braves in the NL East standings but is 5-5 in their last ten games. Since losing two straight to the New York Yankees last week, they took three of four games from the Colorado Rockies at home and seek their second straight win today over the Dodgers to extend their division lead. 

The Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw will go for his eighth win and holds a 2.64 ERA coming into tonight’s matchup. He’ll go up against Chris Bassitt of the Mets, who is 11-7 with a 3.34 season ERA. 

The Dodgers win to take the season series. 

Rangers Look To Snap Losing Streak In Boston

The Texas Rangers and Boston Red Sox meet today for the first of a four-game series at Fenway Park. Texas is trying to end its four-game losing streak and returns to the road where they’ve won three of their last four contests. 

The Rangers are third in the AL West standings but are 25 games behind the division-leading Houston Astros. The only thing they can accomplish in this series is to make it more difficult for their opponents to have a chance at the playoffs. 

Boston has been in a recent slump where they’ve lost nine of their last 13 games and are quickly falling out of contention for the final wild-card playoff position. They are now eight games behind the Toronto Blue Jays, who currently hold the last AL playoff spot. The Sox are also 2-4 in their previous six games at Fenway. 

Glen Otto will take the mound for the Rangers and is 6-8 with a 4.79 ERA this season. His opponent will be Rich Hill, who holds a 6-5 record and 4.32 ERA for the Red Sox and is making his 20th start.

The Red Sox get a close win to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Brewers Begin Road Trip In Arizona

The Milwaukee Brewers and Arizona Diamondbacks will play the first of four games tonight at Chase Field. The Brewers have fallen six games behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Central standings and are trying to turn things around after winning their fourth game in the previous five last night against the Pittsburgh Pirates to take the series. However, they’re 2.5 games behind the Padres for the final NL wild-card position. 

The D’Backs had their five-game winning streak stopped by the Philadelphia Phillies last night in a series in which the teams scored a combined 55 runs in the three games. They have averaged 7.8 runs per game in their previous two series and hope to keep their bats going tonight against a Milwaukee pitching staff that has allowed just 3.4 runs per game in the last five matchups. 

Brandon Woodruff makes the start for the Brewers tonight and is 9-3 with a 3.31 ERA. The D’Backs will counter with Merrill Kelly, who is 11-5 to lead his team in wins and holds a 2.97 ERA on the season. 

The Brewers win this matchup to break their road losing streak.