Dave Cokin
Red Sox vs. Rangers
Play: Rangers +108
I think it's safe to say that Rick Porcello won't be receiving a second straight Cy Young Award. The Boston righty has simply not put things together this season. Martin Perez is throwing for Texas and he's the prototypical end off the rotation hurdler. I won't even try to make a minimal case for Perez. The key for me in this game is that sweet sweep revenge deal, which has been a money in the bank winner all season. There is some trepidation here to be sure, but it's somewhat placated by the fact I'm able to take plus money with a team that has played okay ball at home. Plus. Porcello hasn't recorded what I'd call an outstanding start since early May. There's therefore enough for me to take the Rangers here.
Rob Veno
Royals at Mariners
Play: Royals +130
Kansas City’s push to 41-40 and second place in the AL Central Division has been an absolute jackpot for anyone who saw it coming. Over their last 21 games, the Royals have gone 15-6 and produced a hefty profit of +9.37 units. During this current stretch, Ian Kennedy has taken the hill four times with the team going 4-0 resulting in +4.64 units. The numbers have been good for Kennedy in this streak (2.70 ERA, 0.81 WHIP, 19-4 K/BB ratio and only 29 total bases allowed). Home Runs have been problematic for the fly ball prone veteran and but he’s limited the damage of late allowing four solo shots over his last 23.1 IP. Seattle has a potent and dangerous lineup but it figures to be somewhat diminished tonight with clean-up hitter Nelson Cruz nursing a knee injury.
Taking the mound for the M’s will be 23-year-old rookie Andrew Moore whose first career start came 11 days ago on June 22. In that contest he threw seven quality innings against Detroit giving up just three runs and six hits. The 100-pitch effort saw Moore register six groundball outs and 10 flyball outs while averaging 91.2 mph on his fastball.
Kansas City is on a fantastic offensive run over the last nine days posting a .301 BA, .359 OBP, .869 OPS while over the same span, Seattle has gone cold .236 BA, .322 OBP, .721 OPS. Fundamentally this looks to be a good matchup for the contact making Royals offense vs. Moore who struck out just four of the 26 batters he faced. Meanwhile, Kennedy’s 2-6 record is very misleading considering he owns a season long WHIP of 1.18 and a BAA of .204. KC’s bullpen is the better one in this series matchup but they are a bit taxed heading into tonight’s game making their advantage less than what it would normally be over the disastrous Seattle relief corps. On a short and unattractive Monday card, the hot Kansas City Royals are worth a look at this underdog price.
Bruce Marshall
Pirates at Phillies
Pick: Pirates
Good idea, perhaps, for the Pirates to get out of Pittsburgh, where they were just swept by the NL West basement-dwelling Giants, as this disappointing season continues. One ray of hope for the Bucs has been Ivan Nova and his 3.08 ERA, and he did get a decision vs. the Phils on May 20. Aaron Nola has pitched decent;y his last two outings, but hard not to go against the Phils when favored, considering their MLB-worst 27-53 record.
3G-Sports
Miami vs. St Louis
Play:St Louis -138
The Cards need another gap hitter due to an obvious lack of some depth, and their reliance on power hitting veterans. I still think though, there is still enough skilled bats on the St. Louis roster, to come up with a handful of big hits when needed. St. Louis has been playing with confidence since June 25th. Miami just don't have anywhere near enough talent to beat St. Louis here. Miami could credit their downfall during the last 2 weeks, to a serious lack of run scoring - they have been struggling to put up 2-3 far too many times. How Chuck Hernandez, is still the pitching coach - as the Marlins are flailing along at 19th in strikeouts, is interesting. Miami hasn't been able to find their feet on the bags - and St. Louis will be all over that. St. Louis will be shooting the fireworks with a WIN here on Tuesday afternoon.
Dave Price
Royals vs. Mariners
Play: Royals +130
The Kansas City Royals have battled their way back to 41-40 and above .500 with a legitimate chance to contend for the AL Central title going into the 2nd half of the season. I like this underdog price with the Royals and Ian Kennedy, who is 2-0 with a 2.55 ERA and 0.85 WHIP in his last 3 starts. Kennedy sports a 1.80 ERA in his last 2 starts against the Mariners as he's allowed just 2 earned runs in 10 innings. The Royals are a very profitable 24-14 (+14.5 units) as an underdog of +100 to +150 this season.
Andre Ramirez
Marlins vs. Cardinals
Play: Cardinals -1½
The Cardinals have been getting some solid pitching of late and their team ERs is top 10 in the league, but their weakest link on the staff so far has been Adam Wainwright as he has a 5.17 ERA on the year, despite the fact that he is 8-5 so far. Wainwright has a 7.20 ERA in his last three starts and a 5.61 ERA in his starts at night. He doe have a 2.64 ERA at home for the year and those games have averaged just 7.25 rpg, but his night starts have averaged 9.55 rpg and his last three overall have put up 12.00 rpg. Jeff Locke has a 7.24 ERA in his last three starts and a 5.79 ERA on the road, with his road starts averaging 10.33, plus he has a 5.40 ERA in his career in this park. The Cards have been pitching well of late, but the Marlins have averaged 4.70 rpg on the road, while the Cardinals have put up 5.20 rpg in their last 10 games.
Frank Sawyer
White Sox vs. Athletics
Play: White Sox +119
Chicago (36-45) has won three of their last four games with their 6-5 victory over the Rangers yesterday. The White Sox now go on the road for the first time since June 22nd — and they have won 15 of their last 24 games after playing at least three games at home. Chicago has also won 5 straight opening games of a new series with Rodon on the hill. Oakland (35-47) has lost five in a row with their 4-3 loss to Atlanta yesterday. The A’s have lost 13 of their last 16 games after a loss by two runs or less. Oakland has also lost 7 straight games at home.
OC Dooley
Rangers +110
I am aware that Boston just swept a road series by a combined 29-to-6 count during the weekend, but the fact of the matter is that they have LONG TRAVEL UNRESTED having to go from Canada (Toronto) all the way to the deep south (Texas) of the United States which to me is a momentum killer. While the exhausted visitors have the 2016 Cy Young award winning Rick Porcello on the mound, he has crash-landed becoming the first 2017 hurler to reach the 10 mark in "losses". As a team this season after allowing 3-or-less runs in consecutive contests, Boston has struggled (5-11 record) in the third game of that set