Category: Baseball

The San Diego Padres will go for a sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays in a matinée today at Rogers Centre. Blake Snell will be tapping the rubber for the Friars and he has been lights out. Over his last 3 starts, Snell is 2-0 with an ERA of 0.00. That’s right, 0.00. Forget about it.
TODAY’S PICK: SAN DIEGO PADRES

The Miami Marlins will snap their 5-game skid tonight when they take on the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium. Sandy Alcántara is on the hill for the Marlins. The Sandman will take care of business tonight. Enough said.
TONIGHT’S PICK: MIAMI MARLINS

The Texas Rangers remain hot, winning Game 1 of their 3-game set with the Tampa Bay Rays last night at Globe Life Field, and have now won 4 straight. The AL West-leading Rangers will send their ace and All-Star Nathan Eovaldi to the hill for tonight’s matchup. The ex-Ray’s numbers speak for themselves. He is 10-3 with a 2.83 ERA and a 1.02 WHIP. The expected starter for Tampa is rookie Taj Bradley and he has struggled. Bradley is 5-5 with a 5.43 ERA, a 1.39 WHIP, and over his last 3 he is 0-2 with a bloated ERA of 11.68. Texas should get to Bradley tonight like they did on June 10th when they lit him up for 5 runs over 3-2/3 innings, going onto a 8-4 victory. The Rangers are #1 in the Majors in runs per game, run differential, batting average, hits, and are 31-18 in Arlington.
TONIGHT’S PICK: TEXAS RANGERS

The 53-42 Miami Marlins will look to snap their 3-game skid when they open a 3-game set with the 40-53 St. Louis Cardinals tonight at Busch Stadium. Tonight’s expected starters are lefty Jesús Luzardo for the Marlins and Miles Mikolas for the Cardinals. Mikolas is 5-5 with a 4.12 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP. Luzardo is 8-5 with a 3.29 ERA, a 1.13 WHIP, and over his last 3 turns he has been locked in, going 2-0 with an ERA of only 0.96 and a 0.86 WHIP. Luzardo last faced St. Louis on July 4th, when he pitched 6 scoreless innings resulting in a 15-2 Marlins romp. Miami has won 3 of the 4 meetings with St. Louis this year and will notch another tonight.
TONIGHT’S PICK: MIAMI MARLINS

The 50-43 New York Yankees have been overpriced for the way they have been playing of late and have been worthy of a fade, except for one exception when their ace, Gerrit Cole, takes the hill. Cole will be tapping the rubber today when the Bombers conclude their 3-game set with the 35-58 Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. The future Hall of Famer has been throwing flames as usual. Cole is 9-2 with a 2.85 ERA, a 1.12 WHIP, and is 5-1 in his career against Colorado with a 2.47 ERA. The Rockies are expected to send Chase Anderson to the hill. How he is still in The Bigs is beyond me. Anderson is 0-4 with a 6.89 ERA, a 1.55 WHIP, and it gets worse. Over his last 3 turns, Anderson is 0-3 with a 11.74 ERA, a 2.02 WHIP, and is 0-1 in his career against the Yankees with a 16.88 ERA, which is not a typo. The Bombers’ bats finally came alive yesterday, hitting can become contagious, and they should have no problem putting the screws to the Rockies.
TODAY’S PICK: NEW YORK YANKEES

With last night’s 1-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds, the Milwaukee Brewers and the Reds are now tied for the top spot in the NL Central. Corbin Burnes pitched a gem last night for Milwaukee and Cincinnati was only able to muster two hits, but tonight’s outcome should be different. The Reds are expected to give the nod to lefty Andrew Abbott and he has been dealing. Abbott is 4-1 with a 2.38 ERA, a 1.03 WHIP, and Cincinnati is 6-1 in his last 7 starts. The Brewers are expected to counter with Freddy Peralta. He comes in at 5-7 with a 4.70 ERA, a 1.30 WHIP, and Milwaukee is just 1-9 in his last 10 road starts. Cincinnati has the edge in runs per game, run differential, batting average, hits, and homers. Consider the Reds.
TONIGHT’S PICK: CINCINNATI REDS

The Arizona Diamondbacks and the Toronto Blue Jays will open a 3-game set tonight at Rogers Centre to kick off the second half of the season. Arizona has been a surprise to everyone, with a record of 52-39, but hit a bump in the road going into the break and maybe showed their true colors, losing 5 of their last 7. The Snakes are expected to send Ryne Nelson to the hill. Nelson is 5-5 with an elevated ERA of 5.19 and was lit up in his last turn against the Mets, allowing 7 runs on 9 hits over just 3 innings of work resulting in a 9-0 D-backs loss. Toronto is 50-41 and was hot going into the break, winning 5 of their last 6. They have yet to announce a starter but chances are it will be José Berríos. He is 8-6 with a 3.50 ERA and was lights out in his last turn against the White Sox, allowing just 1 hit and no runs over 7 innings of work resulting is a 6-2 Jays win. Toronto’s young guns should get to Nelson and have lost their last 3 at home so they are due.
TONIGHT’S PICK: TORONTO BLUE JAYS