By Doug Upstone
As baseball heads into its final week of the regular season, the pennant races are red hot as only three of the eight slots are filled with just seven days left. A few different contests have captured the attention of the baseball bettor today and we speculate as to their reasoning. As an added bonus, check out the Nuggets for a Monday Night football system.
MLB- N.Y. Yankees at Toronto 7:07 EDT YES ,RSN
The Yankees are going to the playoffs, it just a matter if they are division champions or as the wild card team. Towards that end, tonight they hope to get another descent effort of out A.J. Burnett (10-14, 5.05 ERA) who has a 3.86 earned run average in his last three starts and is 13-3 UNDER vs. an AL team with an on-base percentage .320 or worse. Toronto will counter with Mark Rzepczynski (2-4, 5.75) who is 0-2 with a 10.47 ERA in four career starts against New York. With Burnett having been bombed in last start against the free-swinging Blue Jays (8 runs, 4 2/3 innings), it is somewhat striking the total of gone from 10 to 9.5. The Bronx Bombers are 29-13 UNDER after seven or more consecutive home games, however Toronto leads the majors in home runs with 241 and they are 21-9 OVER vs. good power teams averaging 1.25 or more shots over the wall this season. Check with SBGGlobal.com for all the hot pennant chase and postseason baseball action.
MLB- Detroit at Cleveland 7:05 EDT
Two hot AL Central Division partners collide in Cleveland on Monday night. Detroit has won eight of nine, while the Indians have won three in a row, which led to taking series over Kansas City. The Tribe pounded out 36 hits and 20 runs against Royals pitching, while Detroit has averaged 7.4 runs per game in last nine outings. The only two losses the Tigers have had of late are when tonight’s starter Armondo Galarraga (4-7, 4.44) has taken the ball from skipper Jim Leyland. With Galarraga and Detroit 6-18 in the second half of the season over the last two years, that might be enough to convince online sports betting activists to take the club from Motown to +111 or higher underdogs from starting figure of -104.
MLB- Baltimore at Tampa Bay 7:10 EDT MASN2, SUN
Tampa Bay has seven remaining games to emerge as AL East division champs and possibly enjoy home field advantage in the junior circuit playoffs. It starts with final three home games against Baltimore to win the crown for the second time in three years. Wade Davis (12-9, 4.13) is the Rays announced starter and he might be their best pitcher at present with a 7-0 record in his last 11 starts and a 3.19 ERA. Against the Orioles, Davis is 3-0 with a 1.86 in four career starts, so why would Tampa Bay be sinking as -199 money line favorites to -170 or lower? The Birds Brian Matusz is the cause for concern with a 4-0 record and a 1.91 ERA since Aug. 19 (six starts). That aside, the lefthander has 6.23 ERA in four trips vs. Tampa Bay and his club has six wins in past 24 meetings in Clearwater.
3DW Bonus Info
ATS Nugget
Monday night division favorites of seven or less or less like Green Bay are 27-9 ATS off two SU triumphs.
Totals Nugget
Texas is 21-6 UNDER after scoring eight runs or more this season, with average score 7.7 runs per contest.
Run Line Nugget
Philadelphia is 35-12 (+24.3 Units) against the run line in road games vs. left-handed starters over the last two seasons, winning by 1.8 RPG.