Carmine Bianco
Houston at San Jose
Play: San Jose -0.5
SJE come into this with only 1 loss in 11 home starts to go with 6 wins and 4 draws and currently sit one point out of a playoff spot with a couple games in hand so a full 3 is the objective on Friday night. They'll meet a Houston side that continues to struggle away with 9 losses and 3 draws to show in 12 road contests. I'll lean to the home side here.
Portland at Seattle
Play: Over 2.5
Two sides that have produced some exciting and goal filled matches when they meet on the pitch. 7 of 10 MLS league matches between the two have goal over this listed total producing 38 goals. With a Seattle side that offensively has improved greatly with a recent coaching change I'll take the Over 2 1/2 here.
Andrew Lange
Arizona at San Diego
Play: Over 7.5
San Diego's Jarred Cosart is nothing more than a stopgap starter at this point. Miami wisely unloaded him back in July and the Padres are just hoping for him to chew up enough innings to avoid having to throw someone in their plans for the future. Cosart's velocity is down about 3 mph from last year and he's consistently struggled with his mechanics and command. In 34 innings, he's walked 24 batters and owns a 5.03 ERA despite allowing only one home run. As expected, Zack Greinke's move to Arizona resulted in a significant regression. He's pitched well at times this season but shows some serious red flags by failing to pitching into the third inning in two of his last three starts. Keep in mind, Greinke is getting up there in age and is ultra-competitive. Arizona was expected to contend in the West this season but finds itself 21 games under .500 and playing out this string. Not convinced Greinke is going to be dialed in mentally the remainder of the season. Also note that the Padres' lineup is no longer as right-hand dominant after various trades and call-ups. I expect them to put as many as five lefties in the lineup tonight. Toss is two very suspect bullpens and it points towards this game going over the total.
Wunderdog
Chicago @ Colorado
Pick: Colorado +144
This is a tough situational spot for the red-hot Chicago Cubs, beginning a nine-game road trip against NL West foes. Starter Kyle Hendricks has been great at home, but his road ERA goes up over two runs per game (3.43 ERA). Hendricks is 1-1 with a 5.01 ERA in four starts against the Rockies, who handed him a loss April 15 in Chicago, getting him for eight hits and four runs in six innings. Colorado plays its fourth straight home game, off a pair of wins over Washington, 6-2 and 12-10, as a dog each time. The Rockies are rested, not having played yesterday, and the team is 7-3 when following an off day. Rockies' lefty Tyler Anderson (3.42 ERA) has been a solid contributor to the rotation and is 4-1 at home with a 3.04 ERA. The Colorado offense is second in baseball in runs scored and slugging - tops in the NL in both. With the Cubs 6-14 in the last 20 meetings at Coors Field, grab the home dog again and play Colorado.
Rocketman
Minnesota @ Kansas City
Play: Kansas City -127
The Minnesota Twins travel to Kansas City to take on the Royals on Friday night. Minnesota is 49-72 SU overall this year while Kansas City comes in with a 61-60 SU overall record on the season. Jose Berrios is 2-3 with a 9.32 ERA overall this year, 8.47 ERA on the road this season and 1-2 with an 8.31 ERA his last 3 starts. Edinson Volquez is 5-1 with a 2.38 ERA in his 8 starts vs Minnesota in his career. Minnesota is allowing 7.4 runs per game their past 7 games overall and 5.6 runs per game at night this season. Kansas City is scoring 6 runs per game while allowing only 2.3 runs per game their past 7 games overall. Kansas City is allowing only 3.8 runs per game against division opponents this season. Kansas City has won 8 of the 10 meetings overall with Minnesota this year. Kansas City is 8-1 this year as a home favorite of -125 to -150. We'll recommend a small play on Kansas City tonight!
Neil The Greek
Twins at Royals
Play: Royals
Jose Berrios has an ERA almost as big as his glove size, yet he is still in MLB because pitching is so thin. On the road, he has been blitzed in almost every game this year. And with the Kansas City team getting hot, and finally feeling like they have a chance, this one will get ugly.
ASA
Jets/Redskins Under 40
Neither of these two teams performed well in the opener as the Jets were outgained by 131 total yards by the Jaguars while the Redskins were outgained by 125 yards against the Falcons. The Skins first team defense played well against the #1’s of Atlanta as they held Falcons starting QB Ryan to an 0-4 night. Atlanta put up 23 points against the Redskins defense but a large part of that was due to the stellar play of former starting QB Matt Schaub (10 of 15 for 179 yards) going against the 2nd team of Washington. The Jets QB rotation isn’t as strong as Atlanta’s last week so that should limit New York’s ability to score later in the game. Not to mention the Falcons got a 101 yard kick return for a TD last week against Washington. Washington didn’t put up great offensive numbers last week either against the Falcons so we don’t expect them to score a ton of points in this game against a solid Jets defense. The Redskins were called for 14 penalties for 123 yards during last Thursday’s preseason opener against the Falcons and barely had over 230 total yards of offense in the game. The Redskins have made a commitment to running the football and are going to stick with it this week and hope that they can break through against a talented Jets run defense that allowed just 34 rushing yards in the two teams’ regular season matchup last fall. The Jets QB rotation is just OK with Ryan Fitzpatrick, Geno Smith and Bryce Petty but we don’t expect to see much of Fitzpatrick and talk out of the Jets camp is they may give extended time to rookie QB Christian Hackenberg to see what he can do at the NFL level. Similar to Washington last week the Jets barely managed over 240 yards of total offense and we expect a heavy dose of the running game in this contest too. Both of these teams averaged less than 4.3 yards per play last week which clearly translates to a lower scoring game. Combined these two head coaches Gruden and Bowles have a preseason ‘UNDER’ record of 9-5.
Bruce Marshall
Cardinals / Chargers Under 40.5
These teams have played four times over the past three seasons (three in pre and once in regular) and the highest scoreline was 41. With little expected from Philip Rivers, the San Diego offense should not be expected to produce many fireworks. Sense this one in low-to-mid 30s with uninspiring backup QB work both ways.
Gabriel DuPont
Complimentary play, I look to improve on my 106-82 run with free picks: Miami at PITTSBURGH (-1' +135).
The STORYLINE in this game today - Miami and Pittsburgh lock horns this weekend in Steeltown, as the Bucs will be looking to climb into the National League Wild Card race, sitting just one game back. Miami is right there, too, sitting 2 1/2 games back in the wild card, but it also arrives mired in a three-game losing streak.
The X-FACTOR in making this choice on this game - Two teams playing opposite right now, so I have to side with the Pirates, who have won four in a row and seven of 10. At home, the Pirates have done well at the plate, ranking eighth in the league with a .271 batting average.
BOTTOM LINE is - I know Miami is the No. 1 road hitting team in baseball, with a .282 batting average, but it will be facing Gerrit Cole, who struggled with the Dodgers last Saturday, but has fared better at PNC Park this season, posting a 2.94 ERA in nine home starts.
4* PIRATES -1.5
Scott Delaney
My free play is a longshot, with the Cincinnati Reds taking on the surging Los Angeles Dodgers. Suddenly, the Dodgers are in first place, and have overtaken the heavily favored San Francisco Giants in the National League West. But my money tells me the Reds, who have won three in a row, are in the right spot and will catch L.A. off guard tonight.
I'm not listing the scheduled starters tonight, as I think the Dodgers will be surprised to see a different team they swept in at Chavez Ravine back in May. Cincinnati, which was mired in an 11-game losing streak when it lost three at Los Angeles, is 19-12 since the All-Star break.
The home crowd will be rocking tonight, as the Reds look to move to .500 at home. Take the home pup and take a shot.
5* REDS
Jeff Benton
Your Friday freebie is the Nats and Braves to hold Low with Tanner Roark and Julio Teheran working the mound.
Both teams have been on Over upticks of late, and that includes last night's 8-2 series opener in favor of Washington, but tonight it will be the pitchers turn to quell the bats.
Roark is 3-0 his last 3 starts with a 1.77 ERA. In fact, he has won 4 straight starts now, and has allowed one earned run or less in 5 of his last 7 starts!
The Under is 8-3 his last 11 starts, and he has owned the Braves in his career to a tune of 5-1 with a 1.77 ERA in his 9 career starts versus Atlanta.
Julio Teheran is coming off the DL to start this game, and while his record doesn't show it, he does own a 2.81 season ERA, and the Under is 12-7-2 in his 21 starts for the season.
Not a lot of action tonight at Turner Field, Nationals-Braves Under the total.
1* WASHINGTON-ATLANTA UNDER
Brad Wilton
Think we are staring at an Under in tonight's Red Sox-Tigers game from Comerica Park.
Yesterday afternoon this 4 game set got started with a 4-3 Under in favor of the Tigers who plated 3 in the 8th to get the "W".
The series has seen Unders in 3 of the last 4 showdowns between these potential postseason teams.
The Sox have seen 15 of their last 19 games on the road play Under the total, while the Tigers have been Under in 5 of their last 6 games - with a push.
Rick Porcello allowed only one run in his last start at home against Arizona, and the Under stands at 5-2 Porcello's last 7 starts.
Michael Fulmer continues to remain rock-solid on the hill, as each of his last 4 starts have held Under the total.
Fulmer also sports a 1.41 ERA for his 32 innings pitched in the Motor City.
I just don't see many runs scored in this game tonight.
Play the Red Sox and the Tigers Under the total.
4* BOSTON-DETROIT UNDER
JEFF ALEXANDER
Red Sox/Tigers Under 8.5
I'll gladly back the UNDER in tonight's clash between the Tigers and Red Sox. We have two of the best AL starters taking the mound in this one. Boston will give the ball to Rick Porcello, who is 16-3 with a 3.30 ERA and 1.051 WHIP in 24 starts. Opposing him will be rookie sensation Michael Fulmer, who is 10-3 with a 2.25 ERA and 1.017 WHIP in 19 starts. It's also worth noting that Fulmer owns a sensational 1.41 ERA and 0.844 WHIP in 5 home starts. UNDER is 11-2 in the Red Sox last 13 road games against AL teams that are scoring 4.7 or less runs/game in the 2nd half of the season.
BRANDON LEE
Rangers -130
Texas is worth a look here as a road favorite against the Rays on Friday. The Rangers will have their ace Cole Hamels on the mound, who is 12-4 with a 2.88 ERA in 24 starts and he's been even better than that on the road, where he's 8-2 with a 1.97 ERA in 13 starts. I'll gladly take my chances with Hamels and the Rangers against Tampa Bay's Matt Andriese, who is coming into this one in bad form, posting a 6.58 ERA in his last 3 starts. He faces a red-hot Rangers offense that just put up 16 runs on 27 hits in a 3-game sweep of the A's. Rays have won 4 straight, but are a mere 1-10 over the last 2 seasons when they go into a contest having won 4 or more consecutive games.
JACK JONES
Oakland A's -108
The Oakland A's will be motivated to put to end a five-game losing streak tonight in Game 1 against the Chicago White Sox. I like their chances considering the massive edge they have on the mound in this one.
Kendall Graveman has held his own this season for the A's, going 8-8 with a 4.37 ERA in 23 starts. He has faced the White Sox once in his career, giving up two earned runs in 5 1/3 innings back on April 7 of this season.
James Shields is now 5-14 with a 5.78 ERA and 1.602 WHIP in 24 starts this season. Shields has completely imploded of late, going 0-2 with a 20.26 ERA and 3.215 WHIP in his last three starts while allowing 21 earned runs, 6 homers and 30 base runners over 9 1/3 innings.
The A's are 9-3 in Graveman's last 12 starts. Oakland is 6-1 in Graveman's last seven starts during Game 1 of a series. The A's are 7-1 in Graveman's last eight starts following a team loss in their previous game. The White Sox are 2-8 in their last 10 vs. a team with a losing record.
ALEX SMART
Diamondbacks -142
Zack Grinke is a true pro, and will be ready for a prime time bounce back performance after getting hammered last time out. Greinke has a recent history of quality efforts vs the Padres - as is evident by a 7-1 record along with a miniscule 1.91 ERA and 0.83 WHIP . He very much looks like a solid option to back tonight.
Diamondbacks are 6-0 in Greinkes last 6 road starts vs. a team with a losing record.Diamondbacks are 8-1 in Greinkes last 9 road starts.