Andre Ramirez
Rockies vs. Diamondbacks
Play: Diamondbacks -1½
The Rockies had a solid series in Los Angeles against the slumping Dodgers, while the Diamondbacks just lost two in a row at home against the Padres. Kyle Freeland has been the best starter for the Rockies this year, but he is going up against Zack Greinke, who has gone a very impressive 13-1 with a 2.31 ERA here at home for the year. The Diamondbacks have gone 14-2 in Greinke’s 16 home starts this year and they have gone 45-25 at home for the year overall, while the Rockies have gone a mediocre 36-35 on the road. The Diamondbacks are the better team and they have the better starter on the mound for this one, plus they average 5.63 rpg at home, while the Rockies put up 4.31 rpg on the road.
3G-Sports
Colorado vs. Arizona
Play: Under 9
Kyle Freeland has been one of the best Under pitchers this season, with only seven of his 26 starts going Over the total. However, his last three starts have gone Over, including a 9-5 loss at Coors Field to Arizona on Sept. 1. But he'll pitch well here, and so will Zack Greinke, who has stayed Under in five of his past six starts, winning his last three. All three of his starts against Colorado this season have stayed Under.
Vegas Butcher
Saints at Vikings
Play: Vikings -3
I know the story-line is the return of AP back to Minnesota, but let's not forget that he's a 32-year old RB who averaged 1.9 YPC on 37 carries prior to getting hurt last year. I don't expect him to be a difference-maker in this one. Vikings have a top-10 defense and they are also pretty loaded offensively with Cook, Diggs, Thielen, and Rudolph. Saints 31st ranked D from last year will be without Fairley and top CB Breaux, so I don't see them slowing down the Vikings much in this one. I see Minnesota making enough stops defensively to pull out a win and a cover.
Rob Vinciletti
Dodgers vs. Giants
Play: Dodgers
The Dodgers have now lost 15 of 16 and 10 straight. Tonight, however they should break the Streak as they travel into SF. Road favorites at -140 or higher that lost as a -200 or higher home favorite and scored 2 or less runs, vs an opponent that is also coming in off a los. SF lost in Chicago last night with Bumgarner on the mound.. SF is 1-6 as a home dog off a road loss. Look for the Dodgers to take the opener.
Buster Sports
Dodgers at Giants
Play: Giants +195
The LA Dodgers go to San Francisco tonight to try and stop this horrendous losing streak. The Dodgers have now lost 10 straight games and 15 of their last 16. The starting pitchers for tonight’s game are for the Dodgers RH Kenta Maeda (12-6, 4.02 ERA) and he will face the Giants RH Chris Stratton (2-3, 4.10 ERA) Maeda has a 5.46 ERA in 12 road starts this year and when he has faced the Giants in his career he is sporting a 4.58 ERA with a WHIP of 1.678. Stratton who made seven appearances out of the bullpen for the Giants last year will now make his third home start this year. Stratton has been very impressive in those first two home starts sporting a 1.64 ERA. The situation for the Giants is not one we like as they are coming home from a road trip. However, we just can’t pass up taking a flyer on the Giants as we are getting +195 at the time of this writing. The Giants and the Dodgers are bitter rivals and we know Bruce Bochy will have all hands on deck for this three-game series.
The Prez
Saints at Vikings
Play: Vikings -3
The season opener for New Orleans and Minnesota takes place in primetime, the first of the league's Week #1 Monday Night Football doubleheader. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.
The subplots in tonight's event in Minnesota find the controversial and the 2012 NFL MVP playing with his new teammates against his former ones when Adrian Peterson begins his 2017 season against the Vikings.
One of last year's top ranked defenses (315 yards allowed per game last season), the Vikings, host one of the best offenses in the league (426.0 yards per game last year), the Saints, and tonight's Vegas and Offshore betting board total (48) will likely be the highest of the season for Minnesota. The Vikings schedule does sport a December 3rd affair versus the Falcons in Atlanta that could rival tonight's over/under of 48 points.
The truth of the matter is that as much as Peterson would like to "stick it to the Vikings" he will serve as a ball carrier in a supporting or shared role. Running backs Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara will all receive touches in the Drew Brees pass-happy scheme. The Saints defensive secondary ranked as the league's worst against the pass of a season ago but face anything but a high powered aerial attack led by quarterback Sam Bradford.
The 2016 Vikings were a quick hitting short-yardage passing unit last year. Bradford set an NFL record for completion percentage but not necessarily by the choice of the Vikings coaching staff. They would prefer to be a run-heavy but due to the inability to gain hard fought yards on the ground last season they were forced to be more West Coast oriented. The team will offer Florida State rookie Dalvin Cook and Latavius Murray the chance to change their game-plan tonight in the organizations season opener.
While it isn't always wise to put too much stock in the August exhibition results it is noteworthy to mention that the Vikings’ offense struggled during most of preseason. Tonight's test against Sean Payton's soft defense could be just what the doctor ordered to offer the unit confidence in the first game of the season but do so against a Saints team that is 9-1 ATS in their last 10 games as a visitor.
The Saints square off against a team that has covered just two of their last nine home openers but do so with question marks at receiver. New Orleans won't have their top two receivers from last season on the field tonight. Wide out Brandon Cooks is now catching balls from Tom Brady in New England and Willie Snead is serving a league suspension. Typically, Brees' tight end connection with Coby Fleener would play a factor in projecting a selection against the spread by Fleener benefits from the attention given to the Saints usually explosive wide outs and lacks big-play ability. Fleener does most of his damage on seam but won't have an easy time tonight against a stellar Vikings line backing corps.
Wide outs Michael Thomas and Ted Ginn top the Saints depth chart with Thomas being the redzone target and Ginn the receiver that stretches the field for Brees.
Minnesota saw division foes Green Bay and Detroit start the 2017 campaign with Sunday wins and tonight's victory over New Orleans also makes them 1-0 to begin the bright and shiny new campaign.
Harry Bondi
MINNESOTA (-3) over New Orleans
One of the best-kept secrets in the NFL is just how good the Vikings have been against the spread since Mike Zimmer took over as head coach. Since the beginning of the 2014 season, when Zimmer was hired, Minnesota has the best pointspread record in the entire league, going 33-16 (67%), including a profitable 13-4 ATS mark at home. What’s more, in games in which the line is between +3 and -3 under Zimmer, Minnesota has gone 14-6 ATS (70%). We see no reason to buck these trends tonight. The Saints offense is going to be real strong again this season, but so is the Vikings “D.” Last year, Minnesota allowed just 18 points per game at home and will limit Drew Brees and the Saints here tonight.Take the Vikings.
Bob Balfe
Orioles / Blue Jays Over 9.5
Tonight’s game showcases two pitchers that would love to start this season over. Both pitchers issued way too many walks and base hits this year and both surrender the long ball. Jimenez was once a dominant pitcher, but has looked like a pitching machine this year. Look for both lineups to punch runs in early and often tonight.
Bruce Marshall
Baltimore at Toronto
Pick: Toronto
While the Blue Jays peeled off of the AL wild card race a few weeks, Baltimore remains in the thick of things. But not sure about this matchup tonight for the O's, who are entrusting their Monday hopes on the erratic Ubaldo Jimenez, recently pulled from the rotation by Buck Showalter after a wretched three-start sequence of 17 runs and 23 hits allowed in a 12-inning stretch. One of the few performers in the Toronto rotation worth considering has been Monday starter Marco Estrada, with the occasional superb outing such as his last start when shutting out the Bosox on three hits over 7 IP last Tuesday.
ASA
Rockies vs. Diamondbacks
Play: Diamondbacks -1½
The Diamondbacks, though only 1-2 in their last 3 games, had won 13 straight games. Each of the last 8 victories during that winning streak came by a margin of 2 runs or more. With the Monday pitching match-up favoring Arizona in a big way, we expect another big win by a multiple-run margin for the Diamondbacks in this one. Arizona is 10-3 in the last 13 starts that Zack Greinke has made and 9 of the 10 wins have come by 2 runs or more. Greinke is 13-1 with a 2.31 ERA in home starts this season and has been pitching very well with a 1.83 ERA his last 3 starts. The Rockies Kyle Freeland has a 6.75 ERA in his last 3 starts and most concerning of all is the fact that the southpaw has given up 22 hits in 13 and 1 / 3 innings over those 3 starts. 10 of the 11 losses that Colorado has with Freeland on the mound this season have come by 2 runs or more. You can see why we're expecting a blowout home win for Greinke and the Diamondbacks in this one.
Vic Duke
Saints vs. Vikings
Play: Under 47½
Saints/Vikings 7:10: Saints' defense, which has been in the bottom tier of the NFL for the past three years, could be better this year. Their front office worked in the off-season to acquire high caliber defensive players through the draft and free-agency; moreover, they even added a few new coaches. Eventually, we'll see an improvement from them. On the other hand, the Vikings remain defensively strong and have quality corners (Rhodes/Waynes) to take away the Saints' top two receivers. And remember, Snead is suspended for this game. Both run games are bolstered with new additions (Peterson - Saints) (Murray/Cook - Vikings) which are a concern. However, the total showed value at 48 but now falling to 47'. Minnesota is 0-4 O/U on MNF and 4-10 O/U vs the NFC. We'll tread lightly with the "under" here.
Frank Sawyer
Yankees vs. Rays
Play: Over 8½
New York (77-65) begins this series after a 16-7 win in Texas yesterday afternoon. The Yankees have then played 13 of their last 16 games Over the Total after a win. New York has also played 8 of their last 9 road games Over the Total. Tampa Bay (71-73) comes off a 4-1 win at Boston yesterday — and they have lost 6 of their last 7 games after allowing two runs or less in their last game. The Rays have also lost 17 of their last 24 home games against teams with a losing record on the road. Take the Over while listing both starting pitchers.
Joey Juice
The Milwaukee Brewers will play host to the Pirates as these two division rivals begin a three-game series in Milwaukee from Miller Park.
Pittsburgh will go with their twenty-five-year-old left-hander Steven Brault, Milwaukee will go with their twenty-four-year-old right-hander Brandon Woodruff.
A look inside the numbers show that the Pittsburgh Pirates have gone under 12 out of their last 16 games in Milwaukee. In their last seven road games they've gone under 6 times, and in Brault's last four starts he's went under three times.
Over in the other dugout the Milwaukee Brewers have gone under in all four of Woodruff's last 4 starts, and they have gone under 20 out of the last 27 games against the Pirates. The Brewers have also gone under five out of their last six Monday night games.
No other way to go but under in this one.
4* PITTSBURGH-MILWAUKEE UNDER
Eric Schroeder
My free winner on the Oakland Raiders on Sunday was about as easy as it comes, as they took care of the Tennessee Titans outright. Let's carry that momentum over to baseball with tonight's complimentary winner, as I'm playing the San Francisco Giants over the struggling Los Angeles Dodgers.
Though we're talking about the last-place Giants, and a Dodgers team that not too long ago was considered the best in baseball, this is also one of the best rivalries in baseball.
I'm not sure when the Dodgers are going to win another baseball game, or if we're headed toward an all-time collapse. But the fact remains this team has just finished an 0-7 homestand, is mired in a 10-game losing streak - its longest in 25 years - and that has lost 15 of 16.
Los Angeles (92-51) now opens a 10-game trip just nine games in front of the Arizona Diamondbacks (83-60) in the National League West and four ahead of the Washington Nationals (88-55) for the overall best record in the N.L.
The Giants would love nothing more than to add to Los Angeles' woes. I'll take the home dog.
4* SAN FRANCISCO
Jack Brayman
Play the Toronto Blue Jays tonight as my free winner, as they'll easily take care of the Baltimore Orioles, who are mired in a four-game losing streak.
Though the O's would love nothing more than to keep their wild-card hopes alive, this is a bad spot for them, in traveling to Toronto after finishing up a series with the streaking Cleveland Indians.
Toronto steps into this series after back-to-back wins over the Detroit Tigers, the first time the Jays have scored consecutive wins since mid-August.
Baltimore has struggled offensively, hitting a mere .220 this month - third-worst in the majors. The struggle continues tonight, as the Jays win.
5* BLUE JAYS