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St. Louis (33-23, 15-10 home) won eight of nine from May 16-24 to go from 1.5 games out of first place in the NL Central to 3.5 games in front. The Cardinals have trailed off since then, however, alternating wins and losses in their last seven games. Most recently, they put together a late rally to overcome a 3-1 deficit to pick up a 4-3 win against San Francisco on Tuesday.

Jaime Garcia (5-1, 3.28 ERA) will start on Thursday for St. Louis. The left-hander is coming off of his first loss and worst outing of the season. He allowed career highs of 11 hits and 12 runs Saturday in a 15-4 loss to Colorado. He entered the game with a 1.93 ERA but saw it balloon to 3.28 by the time his night was over.

San Francisco (29-25, 16-17 away) went 14-6 through the first 22 days of May before going 2-6 to close the month. The Giants have been especially hurt by an unproductive offense that averaged 2 runs per game in those six losses. For the season, the Giants are 25th in the majors in total runs scored (244), 23rd in batting average (.243) and on-base percentage (.311) and 25th in slugging percentage (.368).

The Giants will start Jonathan Sanchez (3-3, 3.38 ERA) on Thursday. The left-hander went 1-2 in May with a 4.06 ERA. He pitched five innings and gave up four hits and one run in San Francisco’s 5-4 win against St. Louis on Apr. 8.

James’s arrival to South Beach didn’t come without some controversy, however. Many critics didn’t like the way he announced his decision to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers on a televised special on ESPN. Others didn’t like that he was essentially admitting that he couldn’t win a championship on his own.

“You know, we’ve got a lot of flack this year, mostly because of myself. And we’ve tried to use that as motivation every day we get on the basketball court,” James said Monday. “But just play the game of basketball. That’s all we can do is play the game of basketball at a high level. Play Miami Heat basketball.”

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Dallas is back in the finals for the second time in franchise history. The Mavs last appeared in the finals in 2006, when they lost four games in a row after holding a 2-0 series lead. Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Terry are the only current Mavericks who were with that team, and Wade and Udonis Haslem are the only holdouts from the Heat team that won the championship.

The Mavs beat the Heat in both meetings this season. But the Heat have already proved that regular season series don’t matter. They beat Chicago in five games in the Eastern Conference finals after losing all three matches against the Bulls in the regular season.

NHL Odds at JustBet have the Canucks as a -200 moneyline favorite and the over/under total at 5.5.

Boston finished the season 46-25-11 SU, the No. 3 seed in the East. Vancouver was 54-19-9 SU, the No. 1 overall seed in the NHL.

Head-to-head, the Bruins have the upper hand at 7-2-0-1 SU in the past 10 meetings. The teams met once this past season, with the Bruins winning 3-1 as a +130 road underdog on Feb. 26. The last time Vancouver played in Boston was Feb. 6 last season, a 3-2 Canucks win.

The Bruins beat the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Final, winning the best-of-seven series. Boston won the seventh and deciding game 1-0 on Friday, covering as a -155 home favorite.

The Canucks beat the San Jose Sharks in five games in the Western Conference Final. Vancouver closed out the series with a 3-2 win in overtime of Game 5 last Tuesday.

Game 2 will be played Saturday in Vancouver.

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Nova is a young pitcher that struggled quite a bit in his first few outings this season, lasting only 4.1 innings in 2 of his first 3 starts. Since then Nova has been much better and has only one start that put his team out of position to win the game. He has had 4 quality starts in his last 6 outings. Nova is 4-3 with a 4.29 ERA this season.

Hernandez didn’t look great early in the season, but he has been much better as of late. He has pitched 8 innings in each of his last 2 starts, giving up 1 and 2 runs in those starts. His strikeout totals are also up as he has managed to strikeout 22 batters in the last 16 innings. He is 5-4 with a 3.01 ERA this season.

Despite a slow start to the season, the Mariners are well within the playoff race in the American League West. They are currently 1.5 games behind Texas and they have won 8 of their last 10 games overall.

However, the Whitecaps still have some hope because of several factors. First of all, Vancouver will have the home advantage on Saturday at the Empire Field. Second of all, the Red Bulls have not tasted victory since late April. May has been frustrating for the Red Bulls, who have ended three league games with ties and suffered one loss. Additionally, New York’s confidence was hurt in a friendly 1-0 loss to Montreal Impact. It’s been a similar story in May for the Vancouver Whitecaps, with four draws and one loss this month.

Vancouver Whitecaps should be most worried about New York’s offensive force. Striker Thierry Henry comes into Vancouver with six goals, most of which were scored in May. Luke Rodgers, who has four goals this season, has provided solid support for Henry on the front end of the pitch. By contrast, Vancouver’s leading men Camilo and Eric Hassli have each scored three goals this season.

New York’s defense has been vulnerable all month long, as the Red Bulls have conceded nine goals in five games. Vancouver has done a better job recently in defending its territory by allowing its opponents to score only four goals in May.

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Tampa Bay (26-23, 11-13 home) will be returning home Friday after a mostly unsuccessful seven-game road trip. The Rays, who are the above-.500 team in the majors with a better road record than home record, went 2-5 on the trip and are coming off of two straight losses to Detroit. They are now in third-place in the hotly contested AL East and trail first place New York by 1.5 games.

David Price (5-4, 3.89 ERA) will take on Cleveland for the second time this season. The left-hander struck out seven and allowed six hits and five runs in eight innings of work when Tampa Bay defeated Cleveland 8-2 on May 11. He has not won in two starts ever since.

Cleveland (30-17, 11-11 away) will also be trying to snap a two-game skid. The Indians, who own the best record in the majors, suffered their worst loss of the season Wednesday with a 14-2 loss against Boston. They trailed 7-0 after the first inning. Their previous worst loss of an otherwise stellar season was by seven runs against Minnesota on Apr. 24.

Josh Tomlin (6-1, 2.41 ERA) will start for the Indians on Friday. The right-hander allowed six hits and three runs and did not earn a decision in his May 10 start against the Rays. He allowed one run and three hits Saturday in Cleveland’s 2-1 win against Cincinnati to pick up his sixth win of the season.

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The Angels jumped ahead of the competition behind the arms of Dan Haren and Jered Weaver, but they have now fallen to the .500 mark on the season. They are only 1.5 games out of first place, but their sub .500 record at home is disconcerting.

The Atlanta Braves are 25-21 on the season, but they are in a division that may be the most talent division in baseball. The Phillies have the best group of starting pitchers in the league, the Marlins are loaded with young talent and even the Mets and Nationals are solid teams.

The Braves have relied on some excellent pitching to keep them in games throughout the season. While the Phillies are the team that everyone thinks of when they think of starting pitching, the Braves have only allowed 9 fewer runs than the Phillies and they don’t have nearly as expensive of a pitching staff.

On Sunday the Angels will send Joel Pineiro to the mound. He is 2-0 on the season with a 1.98 ERA for the Los Angeles Angels. This should be a pitcher’s duel as Tommy Hanson will take the mound for the Braves. Hanson has been great this season. He is 5-3 to this point with a 2.35 ERA and a BAA of .201.

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This matchup will likely feature the Yankees as AJ Burnett is a pitcher that is known for having some of the best “stuff” in baseball. While his pitches are electric, the problem is that he is not nearly consistent enough to be considered a top of the rotation kind of pitcher. While he is inconsistent, the Yankees will win most of their games when he is on his game.

Capuano hasn’t been much of a help for the Mets this season. He has put up some poor numbers to this point in the season. He has an ERA of 4.78 and has allowed his opponents to hit .296 on the season. His 1.57 WHIP shows that it is not uncommon for him to allow multiple runners on base in an inning. He can’t afford to pitch out of jams against the Yankees as they have a solid lineup.

The Yankees are currently in 2nd place in the AL East at 23-19. They have now won 3 games in a row ,but they’ve still lost 6 of their last 10 games overall.

The Mets are 21-22 on the season, but they are on their way up. They have won 6 of their last 10 games. They are only 11-20 on the road this season, and the fact that they will still be in New York may help them in this road series.

Chicago (17-24, 5-11 home) went 4-18 from Apr. 13-May 6 after starting the season 7-4. The White Sox have shown some signs of life ever since they started an 11-game stretch against AL West teams, though. They are 6-2 in their last eight games, with all eight games against AL West teams.

John Danks (0-6, 4.50 ERA) will start for the White Sox on Tuesday. The left-hander has yet to win in any of his eight starts thus far. He is coming off of his worst start of the season, in which he gave up 10 hits and 6 runs in Chicago’s 6-2 loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Tuesday.

Texas (21-19, 6-10 away) has been inconsistent after opening up the season by winning nine out of its first 10 games. The Rangers are 12-18 ever since, although they remain just one-half of a game out of first place in the AL West. They are second in the AL in runs scored with 188 on the season.

Matt Harrison (3-4, 4.35 ERA) will be Tuesday’s starting pitcher for the Rangers. The left-hander started the season by winning his first three starts, but he has lost all four of his starts since then thanks in large part to poor run support. Texas hasn’t scored an average of 1.75 runs in each of Harrison’s four losses.

The first game of the series will take place on Monday. Texas won two of three in Chicago last year.

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On Sunday Jon Lester and Freddy Garcia will take the mound. Both of these pitchers have been fantastic for their respective teams and should put up good performances when they square off on Sunday.

Lester has been his normal self for the Red Sox. He has been their most consistent pitcher over the course of the last 3 years and he continues to be a model of consistency in 2011. He has a 4-1 record with an ERA below 3.00 this season. With that sort of an ERA and an offense like Boston has, Lester should put up a bunch of wins this season.

Garcia has seemingly rejuvenated his career this season. It has been years since Garcia pitched like one of the best pitchers in baseball, but he looks like he is back to the form that he formerly held in his prime. This is good news for the Yankees, as they were looking for more starting pitching in the offseason. He has an ERA of 2.61 this season.

Garcia pitched one inning against the Red Sox a month ago, and surrendered a run in his outing. Since becoming a starting pitcher for the Yankees he has looked solid, posting 3 quality starts in his 5 total starts.