Category: Baseball

The Cincinnati Reds and the Tampa Bay Rays will play the middle game of their 3-game set tonight at Great American Ball Park. The Reds cruised to a 7-2 win last night in Game 1 and should come out on top again tonight. The Big Red Machine will have their ace, Andrew Abbott, on the hill and he is throwing flames as usual. The 2025 NL Cy Young candidate is 8-1 with a 2.13 ERA, a 1.09 WHIP, and it doesn’t get much better than that. Tampa is expected to counter with Ryan Pepiot. He is 6-8 with a respectable ERA of 3.59 and a 1.16 WHIP but over his last 3 turns he is 0-2 with a 5.00 ERA. The Rays have not been playing well on the road. They have lost 5 straight away from Steinbrenner Field and are 0-7 in Pepiot’s last 7 road starts.
TONIGHT’S PICK: CINCINNATI REDS

The Houston Astros and the Athletics will play the second game of their 4-game set tonight at Daikin Park. The AL West-leading Astros fell to the last placed Athletics last night, 5-2, but should rebound tonight. Despite all of their injuries, the Astros are still 4-1 over their last 5 and at home they are a solid 33-20. Tonight’s expected starter for Houston is Ryan Gusto. He is 6-3 with a 4.46 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP. Gusto’s last start was July 6th on the road against the LA Dodgers, and he was in the zone, allowing just 1 run on 4 hits over 6 innings of work, and the Astros went on to a 5-1 win. Lefty Jeffrey Springs is expected to get the nod for the Athletics. Springs is 8-7 with a 4.18 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP. In his last start against the Cleveland Guardians, he was tagged for 5 runs on 9 hits over 4 innings of work and Cleveland went on to an 8-2 victory. The Astros are 5-1 in their last 6 home games against southpaws and should get to the struggling Springs early.
TONIGHT’S PICK: HOUSTON ASTROS

The 55-47 San Diego Padres and the 52-51 St. Louis Cardinals will open a 4-game set tonight at Busch Stadium. Both teams are riding a 2-game losing streak with the Padres dropping their last two to the Miami Marlins and the Cardinals to the Colorado Rockies. Tonight’s expected starters are Yu Darvish for the Padres and Sonny Gray for the Cardinals. Darvish’s best days might be behind him. He has struggled this year, posting a record of 0-2 with a bloated ERA of 6.08 and a 1.50 WHIP. Sonny Gray was lit up in his last turn against the Diamondbacks, but he is still an elite pitcher and should rebound tonight. Gray is 9-4 with a 4.04 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP. In his career Gray has been a Friar-slayer, going 3-0 with an ERA of only 1.58. San Diego does not score a lot of runs so Sonny should keep them in check. The Cardinals have been solid at home with a record of 29-20, have won the last two meetings with the Padres and are worth considering.
TONIGHT’S PICK: ST. LOUIS CARDINALS

The Cincinnati Reds are on the verge of being swept by the lowly Washington Nationals when they wrap up their 3-game set in a matinée today at Nationals Park. The 52-50 Reds are very much alive in the NL wild card battle and Terry Francona will have his guys ready this afternoon. Cincinnati is expected to hand the ball to Nick Lodolo and he has been steady at 7-6 with a respectable 3.33 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP. Washington will look to Michael Soroka to throw strikes, and his numbers are not good. Soroka is 3-7 with a 5.10 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP. The Reds cannot afford to be swept by the 41-60 Nationals if they want to see the post-season and they know that. The Big Red Machine scores more runs than the Nationals, gives up less, and should right the ship today.
TODAY’S PICK: CINCINNATI REDS

What has happened to the Detroit Tigers? The once best in all of baseball have lost 7 of their last 8 and over that span they have produced just 20 runs. In last night’s Game 1 of their 3-game set with the Pittsburgh Pirates they were blanked 3-0, but we will give them a pass in that one due to the fact that the Bucs had Paul Skenes on the hill. Even with this recent slump, Detroit still has the second-best record in all of baseball at 60-41 and should bounce back tonight at PNC Park. Casey Mize will get the start for Detroit. Mize is finally living up to the Tigers’ expectations, at 9-3 with a 3.15 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP. The Pirates are expected to counter with Mitch Keller. He comes in at 3-10 with a 3.48 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP but has been in the zone over his last 3 starts, going 1-0 with an ERA of only 1.37 and a WHIP of 0.76. Pittsburgh scores the fewest runs in the majors so Mize should keep them in check. The Tigers have the edge in runs scored, run differential, batting average, hits, homers, and are the better team, by far, on the field tonight.
TONIGHT’S PICK: DETROIT TIGERS

The 56-44 New York Mets will hand the ball to Kodai Senga tonight when they open a 3-game set with the 49-50 Los Angeles Angels at Citi Field. When Senga gets the nod, good things happen. He has been lights out all year with a record of 7-3, an ERA of only 1.39, a 1.13 WHIP, and New York is 5-0 in his last 5 starts. The Halos are expected to counter with lefty Tyler Anderson and his numbers are mediocre at best. Anderson comes in at 2-6 with a 4.34 ERA and 1.37 WHIP. New York has been inconsistent of late but is still 56-44 overall, 34-16 in Queens, and with Senga on the hill, the Mets are the side to consider.
TONIGHT’S PICK: NEW YORK METS

The Toronto Blue Jays will go for a 3-game sweep of the visiting San Francisco Giants in an early one today at Rogers Centre but it will not come easy. San Fran will have their ace on the hill, southpaw Robbie Ray. The Ex-Jay Ray will be extra motivated to shut down his former team. Ray won the 2021 AL Cy Young when he was with Toronto and then they traded him. He is also having another stellar year with a record of 9-3, a 2.65 ERA, and a 1.08 WHIP. José Berríos is expected to get the nod for Toronto. Berríos is 5-4 with a 3.75 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP. The Giants have lost 4 straight. If they are going to get back on the rails, who would rather have on the bump than Robbie Ray?
TODAY’S PICK: SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS