Mike Lundin
Cardinals vs. Royals
Play: Cardinals -117
The St. Louis Cardinals have scored a total of 24 runs through their last two games. I think they'll keep raking tonight when facing the Royals' Jason Vargas on the mound.
Vargas (13-5, 3.10 ERA) is s 1-3 with a 6.85 ERA through his last five starts, and he has posted a 4.09 ERA in four career meetings with the Cards. Matt Carpenter is 4-for-4 against the left-hander, and he is batting .451 at Kauffman Stadium throughout his career. We can also note that the Cardinals are 7-2 in their last nine games vs. a left-handed starter.
The Cards turn to Michael Wacha (8-4, 3.66 ERA) who is 2-1 with a 2.42 ERA in four previous meetings with KC, and he is 5-1 with a 1.90 ERA through his past seven starts.
The Cardinals are 28-11 in the last 39 meetings at Kauffman Stadium.
Doug Upstone
Marlins vs. Nationals
Play: Nationals -140
Washington's power-laden lineup has not has run into some good pitching of late. However, tonight they are in this outstanding situation: NL home favorites with a money line of -125 to -175, with a team slugging percentage of .440 or better, with an on-base percentage of .300 or worse over their last 15 games are 40-8, 83.3% the last 19 seasons.
Mark Franco
Mariners vs. A's
Play: Over 9
The Seattle Mariners are hoping a change of uniform will provide a spark for newly acquired Yonder Alonso when they continue their pursuit of a postseason berth in Tuesday's opener of a two-game set at the Oakland Athletics. The Mariners are 4-3 on their nine-game road trip and are only one game behind the Kansas City Royals for the second wild card spot in the American League.
PITCHING MATCHUP: Mariners LH Ariel Miranda (7-5, 4.41 ERA) vs. Athletics RH Kendall Graveman (2-3, 4.96)
Miranda went 5-0 during a nine-start unbeaten streak from April 28 to June 10, allowing two runs or fewer eight times, but has won only once over his last nine turns (1-3). His drought reached five starts when he took the loss last time out at Texas, giving up five runs (four earned) in 5 2/3 innings. Miranda had his shortest start at Oakland on April 22, yielding four runs on seven hits in three innings.
Graveman had a forgettable performance in his return to the rotation following 2 1/2 months on the disabled list, getting rocked for seven runs on eight hits in two innings at San Francisco. He allowed six runs in his first four starts in April, but missed the Seattle series with his first trip to the DL because of a strained shoulder. Nelson Cruz has tormented Graveman, going 11-for-17 with a home run.
Over is 5-1 in Mirandas last 6 starts overall. Over is 13-3 in Athletics last 16 games following a win.
Wunderdog
Baltimore @ Los Angeles
Pick: Los Angeles -113
Baltimore is 3,000 miles from home, and 21-33 on the road. This is their second straight game on the West Coast, on a 10-game trek. The Orioles are on a 12-26 run on the road, 9-19 away versus a team with a winning home record. Los Angeles is home for the eighth straight game and sports a winning home mark. The Orioles are 7-20 on the road against a right-handed starter and face Angels' righty Parker Bridwell (5-1, 3.20 ERA), who is throwing well. The team has won his last five starts and 9-of-10 since they acquired him in April from Baltimore, so he's facing the team that gave up on him. Baltimore thought he should emphasize his fastball, while the Angels thought he had multiple good pitches and just wasn't using them. It looks like the Angels were right and Baltimore is 0-14 on the road against an AL starting pitcher with an ERA of 3.70 or better.
Bob Balfe
Reds -140
The home team has been victorious in the past few match ups which really doesn’t mean much, but the Padres are very limited on offense and on the road are just as bad. Neither starter has been great this year, but Sal Romano has looked sharp in his last 15 innings of work. The Padres have a bad bullpen on the road. Look for Cincinnati to get the home win.
Bruce Marshall
Brewers at Twins
Pick: Twins
Buoyed by a nice rally last night and still very much in the AL wild card picture, the Twins look to continue some of that momentum tonight at the expense of the visiting Brewers, whose offense has slowed over thew past four games, scoring just 9 runs. Ex-Twin Matt Garza is on the mound for the Brew Crew and needs more support than the Milwaukee offense has provided the past few games. Meanwhile Paul Molitor as usual looks for 4-5 innings from starter Adalberto Mejia before dipping into his bullpen.
Andre Ramirez
Yankees vs. Blue Jays
Play: Yankees +117
The Yankees are looking to close ground on the Red Sox in the American League East, while the Blue Jays are looking to keep their wildcard hopes alive. This is a huge game for both teams and in game one I will have to give the Yankees the edge. C.C. Sabathia has been solid for them this year, especially on the road where he has gone 6-2 with a 2.29 ERA in 10 starts, plus he has gone 8-3 with a 2.80 ERA in 13 career starts here at the Rogers Centre. J.A. Happ is just 1-2 with a 5.21 ERA in his last three starts and 1-5 with a 4.25 ERA here at home. He is 7-2 with a 2.62 ERA in 15 career starts against the Yankees, but I feel that the Yanks will be able to get to him some in this game. New York is the better team with the better starter and the better offense and they will find a way to win this one.
Jack Jones
Cardinals vs. Royals
Play: Cardinals -117
The St. Louis Cardinals are feeling really good at the plate right now. They have scored a combined 24 runs the past two days and should continue to feast on the Royals and Jason Vargas tonight. Keep in mind that the Royals are without arguably their best player in C Salvador Perez, who is one of the more underrated players in the big leagues.
Michael Wacha is having a nice bounce-back campaign in 2017, going 8-4 with a 3.66 ERA and 1.301 WHIP in 20 starts. He has been dominant of late, going 5-1 with a 1.90 ERA in his past seven starts. Wacha is also 2-1 with a 2.42 ERA and 1.038 WHIP in four career starts against Kansas City.
Vargas was 12-3 with a 2.22 ERA at the end of June. But his peripherals did not match his ERA as he was getting extremely lucky. In five starts since, he has gone 1-3 with a 6.85 ERA. Vargas is 1-1 with a 4.35 ERA in three career starts against St. Louis.
The Cardinals are 7-2 in their last nine games vs. a left-handed starter. St. Louis is 5-0 in Wacha's last five starts vs. AL Central opponents. The Royals are 2-6 in their last eight games overall. Kansas City is 0-4 in its last four interleague games.
Dave Price
Phillies vs. Braves
Play:Phillies +156
I really like the price we are getting with the Philadelphia Phillies today against the Atlanta Braves. Starter Zach Eflin is 1-0 with a 1.13 ERA and 0.56 WHIP in two lifetime starts against the Braves, both of which have come over the past two seasons. Julio Teheran has been an awful home starts over the past couple seasons. He is 1-7 with a 6.91 ERA and 1.55 WHIP in 11 home starts this year. The Braves are 7-22 in Teheran's last 29 home starts. Teheran has allowed 14 earned runs, 4 homers and 21 base runners in 8 2/3 innings in his last 2 starts against Philadelphia for a 14.53 ERA. The Phillies are 4-0 in the last 4 meetings.
Jeff Benton
Your Tuesday freebie is the Dodgers over the Diamondbacks.
Anytime I can get the best team in baseball at this type of a price, I am going to jump all over it.
The latest winning streak stands at a modest 4 in a row, and they have also won 13 of their last 14 games overall heading into this divisional matchup!
Arizona is just 3-4 over their last 7 games, and starter Zack Godley's lone start against the Dodgers last season ended in a Diamondbacks 9-7 loss with Kenta Maeda on the hill for Los Angeles.
L.A. swept the most recent series against Arizona over the 4th of July, and they have won 4 straight overall against the Snakes, while going 47-21 overall the past 68 meetings against their division-rivals.
When you add it all up, getting the Dodgers at this price is an absolute gift!
Back L.A.
5* L.A. DODGERS
Brad Wilton
Tuesday night comp play is to back the Chicago Cubs on the Run Line to again win by at least 2 runs at San Francisco.
Chicago took the opener last night by a 5-3 count, and a similar result tonight wound not be a surprise, as the Cubbies have turned things up a notch here in the second half of the season with a 16-7 mark since the break.
Not only did Chicago knock San Francisco out of the postseason last October, but they have won 4 of thel 5 season series meetings this year over the Giants, 3 of those 4 wins coming by 2 runs or better.
Jose Quintana has turned in 3 straight ugly starts after debuting with a brilliant win over Baltimore in his first start for the Cubs. It is about time he gets himself back on track and fires a quality start this Tuesday.
Ty Blach counters, and he was on the hill in the lone Giants win over the Cubs this season, back in the month of May.
Revenge time for Chicago!
Cubs by 2 runs or more again on Tuesday.
3* CUBS -1.5
Jack Brayman
My free winner for tonight is on the Houston Astros on the Run Line over the Chicago White Sox.
I've been waiting to see how well Keuchel would respond since missing eight weeks with neck injury, and tonight I'll side with him in his third start back. The left-hander allowed three runs in each of his two starts since his return, and suffered his first loss of the season last Tuesday when he was tattered for seven hits versus the Rays.
He'll get the run support against Holland, who has struggled terribly since the end of May. Holland has made 11 starts, spanning 51.2 innings, and allowing 50 earned runs. He's also been tagged for 18 home runs.
Astros dominate tonight.
1* ASTROS -1.5
Chris Jordan
My free play for Tuesday is the Toronto Blue Jays over the New York Yankees, and I want you to list the scheduled starters: J.A. Happ and C.C. Sabathia.
The Yankees have won two in a row, yes. And they're battling in the American League playoff race, ahead in the wild card standings by 2 1/2 games. But they're also 27-31 on the road and have struggled over their last 10, barely splitting those games.
Tonight they'll have issues with Happ, who has posted quality starts in seven of his past 10 outings. He is in after hitting double digits in strikeouts for the seventh time in his career and matching a season high with seven innings.
Meanwhile, with Sabathia, here is a veteran who took the loss his last time out, despite serving up a pair of homers in six innings during a 4-3 loss to the Tigers on Aug. 1. Sabathia will be facing the Blue Jays for the fourth time this year, and he is 1-1 with a 7.62 ERA in those efforts.
Take the Jays and list both.
1* BLUE JAYS
Eric Schroeder
My free winner for Tuesday night is on the New York Mets over the Texas Rangers. And in this game I want you to list the scheduled starters: Andrew Cashner and Chris Flexen.
I know Cashner has won three straight starts with a 2.37 ERA, and has limited opponents to a .217 batting average, but there is a mental block that may occur here. The right-hander has never beaten the Mets in his career, going 0-3 with a 6.18 ERA in four starts and five relief appearances.
I'll take a shot with the favorited rookie, who may not have distinguished himself through two career starts, but I think is still looking to establish himself as a proven winner. The Mets don’t have many other options until Robert Gsellman returns from the disabled list, and tonight with Flexen making his home debut, I like him to rebound after giving up eight earned runs in two road starts.
4* METS
Rob Vinciletti
Phillies vs. Braves
Play:Phillies +156
Philly has taken 9 of 11 this season in the series vs Atlanta. The Braves meanwhile fit a a negative system that plays against home favorites off a 2+ run home favored loss scoring 2 or less runs on 4 or less hits vs an opponent like Philly that comes in off a 1 run road win. Home favorites in this scenario are a lousy 1-8 since 2004. Atlanta has Teheran on the mound but he has a 6.91 home Era and has been dismal of late with a 8.44 era in his last 3 starts. He has allowed 14 runs in 8 innings in his last 2 starts vs the Phillies. Eflin is scheduled to start for Philly and he has a 1.113 era allowing just 2 runs in 16 innings against Atlanta. Look for Philly to surprise Atlanta tonight.