Dave Essler
Padres -125
Texas doesn't have a bullpen. Martinez isn't very good. Texas played, lost, and flew from Seattle. Texas isn't hitting. San Diego had yesterday off. I'll take my chances with Cahill at home, where he's been solid.
Jesse Schule
Chicago at Colorado
Pick: Colorado +1½
The Rockies are sitting in first place in the NL West, 2.5 games clear of the second place Dodgers. They host the Cubs tonight, and Chicago could be a little weary coming off a marathon 18 inning game against the Yankees last night.
Jake Arrieta will toe the slab for the Cubs, and he's been pretty average on the road this season. The 31 year old is 3-1 with a 4.63 ERA in four starts away from Wrigley, but he was roughed up pretty good at Boston in his last road start. He gave up five runs on 10 hits and three walks in just 4 1/3 innings in that game. He's only made one appearance at Coors field since 2014, and that didn't go well. He lasted just five innings, giving up nine runs on 13 hits.
The Rockies hand the ball to rookie right-hander Antonio Senzatela, who has been dealing so far. Senzatela (4-1, 2.84 ERA) allowed a pair of earned runs on six hits over six innings in an 11-3 win over San Diego his last time out. He's 2-1 with a 3.15 ERA in his first three starts at Coors Field.
Anthony Rizzo was hit by a pitch in last night's game, and might not be in the lineup for the Cubs today.
Jimmy Boyd
Warriors vs. Jazz
Play: Jazz +8½
I've got a premium play on the total in this game. While I'm not as big on the spread, I do feel that there's more than enough value here with Utah to pull the trigger on a small wager. Most are going to compare what the Cavs are doing in the East and expect the Warriors to follow suit. What people are forgetting is the top of the West is much better than the East. The only thing that scares me here is that the way the Jazz lost Game 3 has crushed their spirits. I'm banking that's not the case and Utah will do everything it can to try and get a win tonight in front of their home crowd, even when they know they aren't winning this series. There's a sense of pride in not getting swept, especially on your home floor.
There's definitely plenty of reason to think Utah can cover this spread, if they show up to play. While it's coming in losing efforts, their defense is giving Golden State problems. The Warriors are averaging 107.7 ppg in the series. They averaged 119.5 ppg against the Blazers in round 1 and 115.9 ppg during the regular season. I look for the defense of the Jazz to keep them in it enough here that even if they lose they cash in on the spread.
Martin Griffiths
Middlesbrough vs. Chelsea
Play: Middlesbrough +2
Chelsea are almost certain now to win the Premier League title and should take a massive step towards that goal today against relegation fighters Middlesbrough.
I do believe that Chelsea will win this game, but I do have a problem with the high handicap set.
Middlesbrough are fighting for Premier League survival, they will be well organised, they know exactly what is at stake, they will stay very tight and hope to hit Chelsea on the counter or a direct play via a corner or free kick.
Chelsea will dominate, but they will face a brick wall throughout and unless they score early on, a high win will be unlikely.
If this game had been played a couple of months ago I would have probably backed Chelsea, but the circumstances of this game make me feel that while Chelsea will win, they will only win by a single goal.
Larry Ness
Washington vs. Baltimore
Pick: Baltimore
Washington will be in Baltimore tonight, as the Nationals and Orioles open a four-game home-and-home set in the latest edition of the Beltway Series. It's been a one-sided rivalry lately, as the Nationals have not won a season series over the Orioles since going 4-2 in 2007. However, Baltimore gets set to host a Washington team which is 21-10, giving them the NL's best record. The Orioles are 20-10, just a half-game back of the 20-9 Yankees, who own MLB's best winning percentage.
The Nats saw their four-game winning streak snapped on Sunday, when the bullpen coughed up a lead and Washington went on to fall 6-5 in 10 innings at Philadelphia. The Orioles are off a three-game home sweep of the White Sox and take a four-game winning streak into tonight's contest. Gio Gonzalez (3-0, 1.64 ERA) will take the mound for the Nats, opposed by the Orioles' Kevin Gausman (1-3, 7.55 ERA). Clearly, Gonzalez is having the better season so far, as he has yet to allow more than two ERs in his six 2017 starts (team is 5-1). However, he's just 1-5 in nine career starts vs Baltimore (team is 3-6), despite a 3.88 ERA that's hardly an embarrassment.
Gausman appeared to be the victim of an overreaction by the umpiring crew on Wednesday, when he was tossed after hitting Boston's Xander Bogaerts with a curveball during that tense series. He will be trying to get back on track after getting lit up for 18 runs in 14 innings (11.57 ERA) while surrendering six home runs in his previous three starts (he's 0-2 and the team 0-3). However, in a modest three career starts against Washington, Gausman may be 2-1 but he owns a 5.63 ERA!
Current form says Gonzalez and the Nats but history says Gausman and the Orioles. I'll go with history in this one.
The Prez
Rangers at Padres
Play: Under 7.5
Texas has not been productive away from hitter-friendly Globe Life Park in Arlington. Not only have they struggled to win on the road in April and early May the offense is striking out at an alarming rate. The Rangers were able to avoid a major-league record on Sunday afternoon. Texas entered Sunday's American League West event against Seattle having struck out at least 10 times in seven straight games - an AL record - and while it was able to avoid matching the major-league mark by swinging and missing on third strikes only six times, the Rangers bullpen allowed four late runs losing by a 4-3 margin to the Mariners making the club 5-11 overall on the road this season.
With the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego game postponed on Sunday the Padres rotation were all moved forward a day meaning that the burley Trevor Cahill will start against Nick Martinez and the Texas Rangers tonight.
Cahill has been masterful at Safeco Field this season. The right-hander has an 0.69 ERA at Petco compared to 5.82 on the road. Cahill has added a cutter to his arsenal this season and increased his strikeout ratio. Cahill has a 11.10 K/9 this season along with a 13.2 SwStr%, both easily career highs. And Cahill squares off against a Rangers lineup that have the 6th highest strike out percentage in baseball.
Right-hander Nick Martinez has the advantage the first two or three times through the Padres lineup tonight. None of the current San Diego player personnel has faced Martinez live and the Texas right-hander has been solid in his six career interleague events, five of those being starts, recording a 2-0 record.
The cool air in San Diego on Monday night along with a stiff breeze blowing in from right field give both starters the chance to go deep into tonight's event. Expect a pitchers dual in this West Coast interleague event.
Tony Finn
Yankees at Reds
Play: Under 8.5
The Reds and the Yanks play the first of their two-game interleague series. The Reds have won five straight contests and seven of eight after sweeping a three-game set from San Francisco over the weekend while the first place Yankees are off a sweep of the reigning World Series champs, the Cubs, at Wrigley Field.
The Yankees' player personnel should be lethargic to some degree tonight. The Bronx Bombers are coming off a nearly six-hour, extra innings contest last night, the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball event that lasted until the wee hours of the morning, two games in truth, as New York found a way to earn a 5-4 victory over 18 innings.
The Yanks send Masahiro Tanaka to the hill to square off against a upstart Reds lineup. Tanaka is coming off a complete game shutout over the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, a game that allowed him to improve on a slow start and lower his ERA to 4.20. There is little to no difference in what Tanaka has done this year compared to last season with the exception of walks. The New York right-hander currently holds a BB/9 at 3.00 while his career average is 1.63.
This is an important night for Cincinnati starting pitcher Rookie Davis. It is a start that the 24-year old has been looking forward to once it was declared he would get the turn against his former team. Davis, formerly a part of the New York Yankees family, was traded away before the 2016 season as part of the Aroldis Chapman deal. Davis is not only friends with many of the current Yankees personnel he was their teammates in New York farm system. However, of the Yankees players that Davis still communicates with, only Aaron Judge is healthy at the moment.
This isn't a matchup where Davis will be nervous. On the contrary, it is a group is he comfortable with and a matchup that Davis knew was coming, ever since the entire rotation was given an extra day of rest in the wake of Saturday’s rainout in St. Louis. The Reds young right-hander will face a tired group of New York bats tonight and is set up to succeed. Davis enters this Interleague affair off of his first major-league victory, and one that was uber impressive, when he held Pittsburgh to four hits and three walks over five scoreless innings.
Davis struggled in early April. The rookie was only able to pitch into the fifth inning in one of his first three turns but everything sets up tonight for a low scoring game where even the umpires are sympathetic to the Yankees late plane trip and lack of sleep for this Monday night contest.
Gary Bart
Nationals at Orioles
Play: Orioles -104
Both teams are coming off wins in their last series and both are off to great starts. Kevin Gausman continues to struggle for the Orioles, while Gio Gonzalez has pitched well for the National. Gio is 3-0 with an ERA below 2.00. I like Baltimore over the Nationals. Take the Orioles.
Brad Wilton
My Monday night comp play is Under the total in Game Four of the Golden State-Utah series.
Why not?
Saturday night was an easy Under between these teams at Utah, as the Under in the series moved to 7-1-1 the past 9 times these teams have faced one another.
In 4 of their last 6 games this postseason, the Jazz has failed to reach the triple-digit mark, and Utah is also on a 6-4 Under run their 10 games contested in the playoffs.
Series numbers show an 11-4-1 Under run the last 16 times these teams have met in Salt Lake City, so let's look for another lower-scoring game here on Monday night.
Warriors and Jazz to hold Under.
3* GOLDEN STATE-UTAH UNDER
Chris Jordan
I'm ready to improve on this 90-68-3 run with free picks, including a 15-15 mark on the young MLB season with freebies.
My free winner for Monday night is on the New York Mets on the Run Line, as they host the travel-weary San Francisco Giants.
While the Mets have been home, after a weekend set with the Miami Marlins, the Giants arrive mired in a three-game losing streak, and on their third stop of a three-city tour. San Francisco went to visit its arch-rival Los Angeles Dodgers and lost two of three, they lost three in a row to the Cincinnati Reds and now they're in Queens to play the Mets.
I'm going to roll on the strength that I believe the Mets will pound the ball tonight, and the Giants will be tired for this series lid-lifter.
1* METS -1.5
Eric Schroeder
My free winner for Monday night is on the Oakland Athletics against the Angels, who are in from a homestand in Anaheim. And in this game I want you listing the scheduled starting pitchers: Kendall Graveman and Ricky Nolasco.
This is a rematch from just two weeks back, and Graveman will be out for revenge against the Halos and Nolasco.
Graveman endured his worst start of his season against the Twins, allowing six runs on five hits over a mere 3.1 innings in a loss. The right-hander is mired in a 0-2 slide with a 7.71 ERA in two starts since his return from the disabled list, and is due for a big game.
But here is the thing, this is the same kid who opened the season 2-0 with a 2.00 ERA. He'll get back to his dominance and pitch hard tonight.
Nolasco is 1-1 with a 3.18 ERA in his first two starts against Oakland this season, and tonight the Athletics will get the best of the right-hander.
1* ATHLETICS
Jack Brayman
My free play for tonight is on the Baltimore Orioles against the Washington Nationals, in their annual territorial battle. Do not bother listing pitchers tonight, as I'm basing this on the Orioles recent surge and them playing at home.
Baltimore enters the week, and this series, having completed a three-game sweep of the Chicago White Sox over the weekend, and with a 20-10 mark for the first time since 2005.
I know Washington boasts the No. 1 batting average (.285) in the league, but after the first seven days of May, Baltimore has the ninth-best batting average (.271) this month, while the Nationals are hitting just .243 in May.
Look for the Orioles to roll here.
1* ORIOLES
Jeff Benton
Monday's comp play is the Reds to take care of the fatigued Yankees.
No doubt the pitching matchup is in favor of New York, as the Yankees send their "ace" Masahiro Tanaka to the hill to take on Rookie Davis who is making just his 5th start of his career.
Davis is coming off an impressive showing in a win over Pittsburgh, working 5 shutout innings for his first major league win.
The Reds have won 5 in a row and 7 of their last 8, while the Yankees have won 5 in a row. The problem for New York is they just played a 6 hours-plus, 18-inning game in Chicago last night against the Cubs!
You will have to excuse the Yanks if they are just a little "tired" tonight when they take to the field.
Have to side with the Reds here to take advantage of the fatigued Yankees.
3* CINCINNATI
John Martin
Yankees vs. Reds
Play: Reds +130
The New York Yankees are in a huge letdown spot here in Game 1 of this series with the Cincinnati Reds. They just swept the Chicago Cubs with their 18-inning win last night. Now they'll have a very hard time getting up emotionally to face the Reds a day later. This situation will help the Reds overcome their disadvantage on the mound. And it's not like Masahiro Tanaka has been great on the road, going 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA in three starts away from home. Rookie Davis is 1-1 with a 4.50 ERA in two home starts this year.
Brandon Lee
Giants / Mets Under 7
The UNDER is worth a look here in tonight's series opener between the Giants and Mets. San Francisco is going to send out Matt Moore, who is 1-4 with a 6.75 ERA in 6 starts, but he's had a pretty brutal start to the season having to face the Rockies, Diamondbacks and Dodgers each twice. Those are 3 of the better offenses in the NL. The Mets are coming off a game where they managed just 1 hit in a shutout loss to the Marlins and are scoring just 3.8 runs/game at home and an identical 3.8 runs/game in 6 games against a left-handed starter. New York's Jacob deGrom hasn't been elite by any means, but owns a 2.31 ERA at home, a 3.42 ERA in 4 career starts against the Giants and San Francisco comes in averaging 3.3 runs/game on the season and have scored 2.9 runs/game over their last 7.