Category: Baseball

The American League East leading Toronto Blue Jays take it on the arches tonight when they travel to Florida to take on the Tampa Bay Rays. Marcus Stroman is taking the hill for the Jays and he has been steady, owning a record of 9-5, a 4.58 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP. Tampa will send Alex Cobb to the bump. Cobb is making his first big league start since coming back from Tommy John surgery. Cobb struggled in the minors, going 0-3 with an ERA of 6.65 in 21-2/3 innings and that’s not good. The Jays will feast on Cobb tonight.

Tonight’s pick:

Toronto Blue Jays

The San Francisco Giants will try to keep pace with the Los Angeles Dodgers when they open a 2-game series tonight against the Arizona Diamondbacks at AT&T Park. The Giants’ bats finally came alive on Sunday, when they ripped the Atlanta Braves for 13 runs, and they hope that continues tonight when they face Zack Greinke. Over his last 3 starts, Greinke is 0-1 with an ERA of 9.20 and a WHIP of 1.91. On the flip side, the Giants’ Johnny Cueto has been delivering, with a 1-1 record, an ERA of 2.29 and a WHIP of 1.12 in his last 3 outings. The Diamondbacks are 1-6 in their last 7 road games and 0-4 in their last 4 meetings with San Francisco. The Giants should get this one.

Tonight’s pick:

San Francisco Giants

The Washington Nationals dropped two to the Rockies over the weekend, but a visit to Philadelphia tonight might be what they need to get straightened out. Tanner Roark will get the start for the Nationals. Roark is 13-7, with an ERA of 2.99, and is 2-0 with an ERA of 0.86 in 3 starts this year against Philadelphia. Jake Thompson will go for the Phillies. In his first 4 Major League starts, Thompson has struggled, posting a 1-3 record, with an ERA of 9.78, and has given up 21 runs in 19-1/3 innings. Washington has been dominating Philadelphia, winning the last 6 meetings and they are 8-1 in their last 9 in Philadelphia.

Tonight’s pick:

Washington Nationals

The Texas Rangers own the best American League record at home, 41-21, and they’ll try to put another notch in their belt when they take on the Cleveland Indians today. Derek Holland, the “Dutch Oven”, gets the call today for the Rangers. Over his last 3, he is 0-1, with a 5.14 ERA and a 1.64 WHIP. The Indians are going to put Danny Salazar on the hill. Salazar has been struggling and cannot find his command. Over his last 3, he is 0-2 with a bloated ERA of 19.29 and a WHIP of 3.29 and that’s not good. Cleveland is 3-7 in their last 10 meetings with Texas, and the Rangers are 6-2 in Holland’s last 8 starts against the Indians. I like the Dutch Oven and company today.

Today’s pick:

Texas Rangers

After losing 2 out of 3 games at Rogers Centre to the bottom dwelling Los Angeles Angels, the Toronto Blue Jays look to get back on track tonight when they host another bottom feeder, the Minnesota Twins. Two lefties go at it tonight, with Pat Dean starting for the Twins and Francisco Liriano for the Jays. Dean is 1-3 on the season, with a 5.48 ERA and in his last start on June 17th against the Yanks, he was drilled, giving up 7 runs in just 2-1/3 innings. Liriano is 6-12 on the season, with a 5.21 ERA and is 2-1 in 4 career starts against the Twins. The Twins are 0-7 in their last 7 overall, 0-4 in their last 4 road games, 1-10 in their last 11 against a team with a winning record, 17-45 in their last 62 meetings with Toronto and 8-24 in their last 32 at Rogers Centre. With all their weapons and with Joey Bats’ (Bautista) back in the line up, the Jays should score some runs.

Tonight’s pick:

Toronto Blue Jays

The Beltway Series between the Baltimore Orioles and the Washington Nationals concludes tonight, and the Nationals will try to salvage one game out of the 4-game set. The Nationals will call on Max Scherzer to stop the bleeding. Scherzer is 13-7, with a 3.05 ERA, a 0.96 WHIP and is 2-1 with an ERA of 1.17 in 3 outings against the American League in 2016. Since Chris Tillman is on the DL, Ubaldo Jiménez is back in the rotation and will get the start tonight for the Orioles. Jiménez is 5-10 on the season, with an ERA of 6.94, a WHIP of 1.91, and Baltimore is 1-8 in his last 9 road starts. With that being said, and with the Nationals 5-1 in Scherzer’s last 6 starts, I’m leaning Washington.

Tonight’s Pick:

Washington Nationals

The Washington Nationals dropped the first 2 games of the Beltway Series to the Baltimore Orioles but will try to get one back when the series switches to Washington tonight. Tanner Roark gets the call for the Nats and he has been outstanding. In Roark’s last 3 starts, he is 2-0, with an ERA of 1.77 and a WHIP of 1.08. That can’t be said about the lefty Wade Miley who will get the nod for Baltimore tonight. Miley is 0-1 over his last 3 starts, with an inflated ERA of 10.50 and a WHIP of 2.08. In Miley’s last start on Friday against the Astros, he was lit up, yielding 6 runs on 6 hits in just 1-2/3 innings. The Nats are 14-3 in Roark’s last 17 starts and 6-1 in his last 7 home outings. Washington has had success against lefties, going 7-3 in their last 10 against them.

Tonight’s pick:

Washington Nationals