On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups

Oakland Athletics (53-55) at Boston Red Sox (62-48)- 7:05 PM EST
As debuts go, making two nice catches and scoring both of your new teams' runs in a 2-1 win that helped end a slide of 5 losses in six games is a pretty nice way to start off a career with a new team. That's exactly what Jason Bay did last night with the Red Sox. The thing is, anyone that follows the Red Sox can tell you that it's going to take a whole lot more than that from the guy that's replacing Manny Ramirez in the lineup.

Tonight, he gets his second start in left field at Fenway while the Red Sox try to stave off the Yankees (who they're 2.5 games up on) and/or catch the Rays (who they're three) games behind. Whatever happens to the Red Sox down the stretch, Bay's going to play a huge part in it.

Milwaukee Brewers (61-49) at Atlanta Braves (50-59)- 3:55 PM EST
After their ugly four-game sweep at the hands of the Cubs, the Brewers returned to the land of the living last night with a 9-0 thumping of the Braves. Since they picked up CC Sabathia a month ago, people have assumed that their winning the NL Wild Card is something of a foregone conclusion. They're in a tie with the Cardinals and only 2.5 games up on the Mets, so clearly this is a false assumption. Sabathia's on the mound tonight, and they need another big outing from him to distance themselves from the Cubs series as quickly as they possibly can.

Los Angeles Angels (69-40) at New York Yankees (59-50)- 3:55 PM EST
All year long the Angels have kind of baffled me. Their run differential doesn't suggest a great team and they're winning in kind of fluky ways (see: their excellent record in one-run games and on the road), and their offense. This is not to say that I don't think the Angels are a very good team, because I do. They just haven't struck me as the best team in baseball, which is what their record has suggested they are for most of the year. Now, they've won 14 of their last 16, including five straight over the Red Sox and Yankees, they have Mark Teixeira, and my boy John Lackey is dealing. And so what I'm saying is, "Damn, the Angels might really be the best team in baseball." Jered Weaver and Mike Mussina take the mound in this one today with the Yankees trying to stay relevant in the Wild Card race and the Angels looking to keep flexing their muscles for everyone.

Everyone else:
Pittsburgh Pirates at Chicago Cubs- 1:05 PM EST
Chicago White Sox at Kansas City Royals- 3:55 PM
Detroit Tigers at Tampa Bay Rays- 6:10 PM
New York Mets at Houston Astros- 7:05 PM
Colorado Rockies at Floriday Marlins- 7:10 PM
Cincinnati Reds at Washington Nationals- 7:10 PM
Cleveland Indians at Minnesota Twins- 7:10 PM
Philadelphia Phillies at St. Louis Cardinals- 7:15 PM
Toronto Blue Jays at Texas Rangers- 8:05 PM
San Francisco Giants at San Diego Padres- 10:05 PM
Baltimore Orioles at Seattle Mariners- 10:10 PM
Arizona Diamondbacks at Los Angeles Dodgers- 10:10 PM