Very strange things are happening in the major leagues. The NL West has fallen apart at the seams, the Baltimore Orioles and Florida Marlins are each 13-9, and Kosuke Fukodome (.957 OPS) might be the savior of the Chicago Cubs.

Will 100 years of frustration end for fans on the North Side this October? Maybe. But at 15-7 and 5.86 units in the black on the betting odds, right now is a pretty good time to be a Cubs supporter.

We can say the same thing about only one of the four teams in our weekend spotlight. Twenty-two games is still early for the other three to be hitting the panic button, but things should be getting a little hot under the collar in those locker rooms by now.

Yankees at Indians
Game 1: Friday, 7:05 p.m. ET
NYY: Andy Pettitte
CLE: Paul Byrd

Game 2: Saturday, 3:55 p.m. (FOX)
NYY: Ian Kennedy
CLE: Jeremy Sowers

Game 3: Sunday, 1:05 p.m.
NYY: Chien-Ming Wang
CLE:  C.C. Sabathia

Game 4: Monday, 7:05 p.m. (ESPN)
NYY: Mike Mussina
CLE:  Fausto Carmona

The Yankees (12-11, minus-2.64 units) took two of three games from the Chicago White Sox despite playing without MVP Alex Rodriguez (.908 OPS). In addition to being a new father for the second time, A-Rod has a strained quadriceps similar to the one that kept Derek Jeter on the shelf for six games. Now that Jorge Posada’s right shoulder is well enough for him to catch again, the DH spot is available for A-Rod in Friday’s series opener against the Indians.

Cleveland (10-12, minus-6.07 units) is still trying to find its way back to last year’s playoff form. The Indians are 19th in the majors with a .329 OBP and 19th in team ERA at 4.30. One of the prime offenders has been Sabathia, who stumbles into this series with a hefty 10.13 ERA after five starts. But Sabathia’s last start, featuring six shutout innings versus Kansas City, suggests the 2007 AL Cy Young king is rounding into form. If so, he’ll rejoin Carmona (2.89 ERA) and Jake Westbrook (2.73 ERA) as one of the toughest 1-2-3 pitching combos in the majors. Westbrook, however, has a strained rib cage and will be replaced by Jeremy Sowers (6.42 ERA last year) in Game 2.

Diamondbacks at Padres
Game 1: Friday, 10:05 p.m. ET
ARI: Randy Johnson
SD: Randy Wolf

Game 2: Saturday, 3:55 p.m. (FOX)
ARI: Micah Owings
SD: Justin Germano

Game 3: Sunday, 4:55 p.m.
ARI: Brandon Webb
SD: Jake Peavy

Saturday has the national television coverage, but everyone is looking at Sunday’s encounter between 2006 Cy winner Webb (2.31 ERA) and reigning holder Peavy (2.00 ERA). Arizona has won all five of Webb’s starts and collected four units on the moneyline; Peavy is down a third of a unit after the San Diego bullpen faltered in each of his last two appearances. The Padres are ranked 27th in bullpen ERA at 5.30, which is not easy to do at pitcher-friendly Petco Park. They’re also 28th in the majors with a .302 OBP, leaving the team last in the NL West at 9-14 and minus-7.59 units.

Arizona, on the other hand, is the hottest team in the bigs at 16-6 (plus-8.93 units) with the over churning away at 14-6-1. The Diamondbacks are No. 1 in slugging at .483 and second to the Cubs in runs scored at 134. Not only that, the Snakes are first overall in ERA at 3.09 – a tough combination to beat. The Wolf-Johnson matchup is a reprise of last week’s 9-4 Padres’ win in Arizona; the Diamondbacks took the other two games of the three-game set by a combined score of 19-3.