Rob Vinciletti
Braves vs. Rockies
Play: Rockies -161
Colorado will look to bounce back off a blowout home loss. They average over 6 runs per game here and take on an Atlanta team that has lost 20 of 29 to losing teams and have lost 6 straight here to the Rockies. The Braves have Foltynewicz making his first start in this park too. Bettis for Colorado has won 6 of 8 here . Four our power system we are playing on home favorites with a total of 10 or higher off a home loss by 2+ runs and scored 4 or less runs, vs an opponent off a road dog loss scoring 4 or less runs. Play on Colorado tonight.
Marc Lawrence
Marlins vs. Phillies
Play: Phillies -107
Edges - Phillies: Jerad Eickhoff 2.45 ERA home as opposed to 5.51 ERA away this season. Marlins: Tom Koehler 5.02 ERA with 1.73 WHIP away this season; and 1-4 last five team starts in this series. With the Marlins just 2-7 versus N.L. East division foes behind Koehler this campaign, we recommend a 1* play on Philadelphia.
Jim Feist
Rays at Athletics
Pick: Under
A pair of weak offensive teams clash in Oakland, a big park that's great for pitchers. Tampa Bay has been on a 6-0-1 run under the total the last week and goes with Matt Moore, allowing 2 runs or less in five of his last seven starts. Moore (5-7) surrendered two earned runs on five hits and a walk over 7.1 innings in Saturday's 2-1 loss to the Orioles. Oakland goes with Sonny Gray, turning things around allowing 2 runs or less in five of his last eight starts. He has four quality starts in the last five trips to the mound. The Under is 6-1 in Athletics last 7 games vs. a team with a winning percentage below .400.
Larry Ness
Miami Marlins at Philadelphia Phillies
Pick: Philadelphia Phillies
The 51-34 Miami Marlins are in the thick of the National League wild card race and surely don’t want to end this four-game series with a 2-2 split. Miami won Monday and Tuesday at Philadelphia but last night lost 4-1. Wei-Yin Chen allowed four runs on 11 hits over 5.1 innings in last night’s loss, falling to 2-2 in his last eight starts (Marlins are 5-3 but he owns a 6.12 ERA). Manager Don Mattingly pronounced the left-hander's start "OK" and in tonight’s final of the series will send out another struggling starter in Tom Koehler (6-8, 4.68 ERA).
Koehler 0-2 enters with a 7.36 ERA over his last five starts, going 0-2 while the Marlins have gone 1–4 in that span. Koehler has not worked more than FIVE innings in any of his last four starts but does own a 1.93 ERA in two starts against the Phillies this season (he’s 0-1 / team is 1-1). More good news comes Miami’s way in that Koehler will be facing a Philadelphia lineup that entered Wednesday's game hitting a major league-worst .218 at home and one that had produced three runs and 10 hits while striking out 34 times in its three previous games, all losses (note: Phillies did score four runs last night on 12 hits).
Opposing Koehler will be Jerad Eickhoff (6-10, 3.76 ERA). Eickhoff was acquired by the Phillies last season when he came over from the Texas Rangers in the Cole Hamels deal. Eickhoff began the 2016 season losing EIGHT of his first 10 decisions but has turned things around by going 4-2 over his last eight starts (team is 6-2!), allowing just eight ERs over the team’s six wins in that stretch for a 1.91 ERA! The 44-52 Phillies have been a tough matchup for the Marlins in 2016 (Philly leads this year's series 5-4) and I like Eickhoff over Koehler tonight.
SCOTT SPREITZER
Miami Marlins at Philadelphia Phillies
Play: Philadelphia Phillies -107
Philadelphia beat Miami 4-1 last night behind Jeremy Hellickson, who pitched eight strong innings, and the Phillies should get another good performance by Jerad Eickhoff in tonight's matchup. The right-hander has allowed more than three runs just once his last nine starts and that was at hitter-friendly Coors Field. The Phillies have won six of his last eight starts, including a 4-2 win over the Mets on Saturday when he gave up only two runs and five hits in six innings. Eickhoff has done his best pitching at home where he has a 2.45 ERA. Tom Koehler has given up 18 runs his last 22 innings and the Marlins have lost four of his last five starts.
CARMINE BIANCO
Vojvodina at Connah's Quay
Play: Vojvodina -1.3 -128
Leg 1 was about as lopsided statistically as you could get but the home side didn't get the game winner until the 86th minute in a 1-0 win. Tactically Connah Q will have to change their approach here get players forward. There's a drop off in quality between the sides and if the visitors can finish on Thursday they'll get a multi goal win here. The Free Play is Vojvodina -1.3 -128 (Split asian line of -1 and -1 1/2) still a play at -1 1/2
Sleepyj
Dodgers +1.5 -135
I like the Dodgers here getting +1.5...Something stinks about this game and my feeling is it's going to be Strasburg...The price seems fishy to me...Nats have been hot, but this road trip needs to be as successful as possible for the Dodgers...Urias will get a start here and the Nats are unfamiliar with him...Dodgers can keep this close and getting +1.5 seems like the right wager in this game..Something doesn't sit right with me with the Nats here..I'm on the other side.
Dave Essler
Yankees +100
Tough sometimes to back Sabathia - but New York has momentum and the Orioles just haven't been hitting. New York fares well against Tillman (who's not as impressive on the road) and the Yankees are not using Andrew Miller in Wednesday nights' game - Brach and Britton (threw one pitch Wednesday) won't have thrown for three days - add in the AS break and if they ARE vulnerable it's here. They're betting the total down tonight - which should clearly favor New York.
Martin Griffiths
Hibernian vs. Brondby IF
Play: Brondby IF -1-122
Danish side Brondby won the first leg in Scotland 1-0 and I expect them to beat Hibs once again this evening.
Brondby will not take this game lightly, they know that a one goal lead is precarious and will want to put this game to bed early on, the last thing they want is for Hibs to either score or build momentum up, the only way to stop that is to get an early goal.
Hibs will be competitive, we saw that from them against Rangers in the Scottish cup final at the end of last season, but Brondby are a decent outfit and are without doubt the better side.
I fully expect the Danish side to qualify for the next round of the Europa league and to confirm their superiority over Hibs by winning this game by a couple of goals.
Brandon Shively
Marlins vs. Phillies
Play: Under 8½
The only thing keeping me away from releasing this as a higher rated play is the Marlins Tom Koehler being the wildcard. My gut instinct tells me he pitches a good game here though as his spot in the rotation is said to be on the line here and he is facing a Phillies team that is ranked last in the Majors since the All-Star Break with a .227 weighted on base average. The UNDER is 2-0 this year in the two starts that Koehler has made against the Phillies. Jose Fernandez has been the only quality pitcher they have faced in their last six games and still have had a hard time scoring on opposing starting pitchers. The Under is 3-0 so far in this series with only a combined 13 runs scored. While the Phillies did have 12 hits last night, they only scored 4 runs leaving five runners in scoring position with 2 outs as that has been a problem for them all season long.
Jerad Eickhoff gets the nod for the Phillies and he has been much better at home this season striking out more batters while walking fewer batters. He has not allowed more than 3 earned runs in a home start this season. From a trends perspective, Eickhoff has some strong under trends going, as the UNDER is 14-3 in Eickhoff’s last 17 starts following a Quality Start in his last appearance and the UNDER is 9-2 in Eickhoff’s last 11 starts overall. For the Phillies the UUNDER is 8-0 in their last 8 home games now. The UNDER is 5-0 the last five meetings when the Marlins play in Philly and the UNDER is 5-0 in the Marlins last 5 road games vs the NL East.
Adam Hamari will be behind home plate this afternoon and historically had had a big strike zone and has been one of the best when it comes to ‘strikeout to walk ratio’. I will factor in Hamari being behind home plate tonight on the account he should be ringing some batters up with his big strike zone and in return calling fewer walks. Only three of his 17 games behind home plate this season as Hamari called double digit walks. While Hamari has been an ‘over’ umpire this season, that is more because he has called games with ALOT of bottom end of the rotation pitchers but he is still calling a large amount of strikes.
Jimmy Boyd
Orioles +105
Baltimore has lost 4 straight, while New York has won 4 in a row. I believe that's created some big time value on the Orioles in Thursday's series finale. Baltimore will send out Chris Tillman, who is 13-2 with a 3.29 ERA and 1.213 WHIP in 20 starts. He's also in prime form at the moment, posting a 1.29 ERA and 1.048 WHIP over his last 3 starts.
New York counters with C.C. Sabathia. It wasn't that long ago it looked like Sabathia was going to have a resurgent season, but things have gone downhill quickly. Sabathia has allowed at least 5 runs in 5 consecutive starts. During this stretch he's allowed 5 home runs, after only giving up 2 in his first 11 starts. I look for the struggles to continue in the second half.
Tillman is a perfect 9-0 against the money line when facing a division opponent this season and 7-0 in his last 7 starts against a team with a winning record.
Chase Diamond
Detroit at Chicago
Play: Detroit
Real value here in the line as the 49-46 Tigers take on the 46-48 White Sox. Am I missing something here? Mike Pelfrey is not much of a pitcher but James Shield has been a train wreck pretty much all year long. Yes hes pitched better last 3 or 4 starts but this guy is due for a very bad game. Tigers have the better team today the better pitcher I love the plus money in this game. Only 38% of the betting public money is backing the road Tigers but we have seen this line move 15 cents the opposite way.
Greg Shaker
Orioles / Yankees Under 9
I'm not terribly thrilled about playing the UNDER in a day game in NYY but plenty of other reasons to do so here, especially the way the O's have been hitting (Or Not) Left handed pitching lately. Both Pens performing very well and Tillman on a nice pitching run. Couple of Fun Trends: The O's are 8-0 UNDER last 8 games. Sebathia is 8-1-2 UNDER last 11 games thrown at home. This number opened 9 Skewed Down to UNDER, dropped to 8.5 at most books, now heading back up with Better Vig for UNDER Players. That's makes this one a GO now as all 4 Totals Models agree.
Scott Delaney
My free winner is on the Washington Nationals getting it done over the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers, and in this one I want you playing the home team on the Run Line.
Stephen Strasburg is having a career year, and looks to improve upon his unbeaten record after becoming the first National League starter to open a season 13-0 since 1912. The last pitcher in the bigs to start a season 14-0 was Roger Clemens, in 1986 with the Red Sox.
The hard-throwing righty has been dominating of late, going 3-0 in as many starts with a 0.83 ERA in that span.
Meanwhile, Julio Urias is back in the big leagues and the verdict is still out after eight starts. The left-hander has thrown just one inning since being demoted to Triple-A in early July, and the last time he faced the Nats was June 22, when he allowed two runs over five innings. He's going to get rocked by Washington's power-packed lineup.
1* NATIONALS -1.5
Chris Jordan
I nailed my free winner on the St. Louis Cardinals in their doubleheader opener yesterday, and tonight I'm back on the Redbirds against the San Diego Padres. We're playing this on the Run Line, and it's merely because the Cardinals are on a mini win streak here, and could deliver a knockout punch to the overzealous San Diego Padres.
I say overzealous because the Friars came to St. Louis too overconfident after winning three in a row over the San Francisco Giants last week, to start the second half of the season. But a wake-up call was served at Busch Stadium.
Tonight I expect to see the Redbirds roll to a rather easy win over a team that can't match offensively, and will wilt as the game wears on.
2* CARDINALS -1.5