Jeff Alexander
Tampa Bay Rays -127
The Rays are 10-1 in their last 11 overall, 7-0 in their last 7 vs. the American League East, 5-0 in their last 5 home games, 9-1 in their last 10 games as a favorite and 8-2 in Cobb's last 10 starts. Bet Tampa Bay on the money line.
GoodFella
St Louis -139
Pretty simple as to why I like the Cards here. Cards 2 games up over the LAD with 3 games left to play for that final Wild Card spot. Reds of course would like to spoil it for the Cards, but this game simply means much more to the Red Birds, and they hand the ball to Jamie Garcia who has simple been their best SP at HOME the last couple years, and his home/road splits are extreme in favoring backing him when at HOME. I see a SP edge and a motivational edge here for the Cards, and I've played on the home team here in this spot tonight.
Bryan Leonard
Cleveland +105
Corey Kluber, still trying his best to make a lasting impression on the front office with the back end of Cleveland's starting rotation wide open for 2012, gets another shot at the White Sox, who he beat in his last start. The White Sox are reeling, losers of 10 of their last 12 and morale is running very low. With a loss on Monday night (or a Tigers win), the White Sox would be eliminated from the playoff picture. The Indians are still playing hard, having won back-to-back series for the first time since June 28-July 4. With Sandy Alomar Jr. in the dugout, there seems to be an increased effort level. Even in the team's loss against the Royals on Saturday, they bounced back from an early 6-1 deficit and battled into the 14th inning.
Hector Santiago appears to be the starter for the White Sox. He didn't fare very well in his last start, just his third of the season, not making it through the fourth against the Indians and allowing three runs on five hits. He also walked four. This will be Santiago's first road start of the season. He has made 41 appearances, 38 in relief, and this is not a good spot for him. He'll be pitching with the pressure of trying to keep the White Sox season alive and will be on an extremely short leash.
With the Indians still playing hard and the White Sox feeling deflated and playing their worst baseball of the season, the White Sox should be eliminated from playoff contention tonight.
Harry Bondi
Chicago / Dallas Over 41.5
The style and talent on both of these teams' defensive secondaries will lead to both offenses looking to pass the ball tonight. That will lead to some big plays and not a ton of running the ball, which will lengthen the game. Dallas has also gone over in 11 out of its last 17 home games. Ride that trend tonight as the erratic Tony Romo and Jay Cutler both put up big numbers. Go over.
Jeff Scott Sports
3 UNIT PLAY
Chicago/ Dallas Over 41.5: For those that know me, you know I am primarily an Under play in football, so Surprise. LOL. The Over is 26-14 when Dallas is home vs an opponent that is .600 or better on the year and 6-1 in the Bears last 7 off an ATS win. We all know about these two defense being strong, but each team has only faced 1 good offensive team yet, as they Bears faced Green Bay while Dallas took on the Giants. I do not feel that either defense has really been tested yet. Well they will tonight. Jay Cutler has had his struggles, but he does hale a lot of talent and some good weapons around him in Forte and WR's Marshall and Hester and while they will look to get the running game going, that will only open up the throwing lanes for some big plays in the 2nd half. On the other side we have a Cowboys team that also has plenty of offensive weapons behind Tony Romo. Romo's weapons include, receivers Austin, Dez Bryant and Kevin Ogletree as well as tight end Jason Whitten, while DeMarco Murray gets most of the running action. That is a talented group that is due to break out. Romo has also done well vs the Bears, throwing for 351.5 ypg in 2 games vs them, while Cutler has thrown for 351 yards and 3 TD's in his lone start vs Dallas, back in 2010. These two noffense has struggled some but both are due to break out and what better stage than on Monday Night Football. I look for both offense to open up the playbook a bit as this game puts up at least 45 points.