Category: Baseball

After splitting a pair in Houston, the Phillies and Astros will play the next three at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. It goes without saying, Philly fans are the most passionate fans in the majors. They will be geared up for this one which will definitely give an edge to Philadelphia. Expected starters will be (R) Noah Syndergaard for the Phillies and (R) Lance McCullers Jr. for the Astros. Thor is 0-0 in the postseason with a 1.69 ERA and a WHIP of just 0.75. McCullers Jr. is also 0-0 in the postseason with a 2.46 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP. You have to tip your hat to Philadelphia for getting to where they are. They swept the Cardinals, 2-0, then they took down the Champs, 3-1, and knocked off the Padres, winning that series, 4-1. This team knows they can beat anybody, any day, and that makes them very dangerous. Moreover, the Phillies are 6-0 in their last 6 following a day off, 5-1 in their last 6 following a loss, and 5-0 in their last 5 home games against a right-handed starter.
TONIGHT’S PICK: PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES

The Philadelphia Phillies and the San Diego Padres split a pair at Petco Park and now the NLCS moves to the Phillies home turf, Citizens Bank Park, for the next three. The Padres will have confidence and momentum on their side moving forward. With comeback wins against the Dodgers on Saturday and the Phillies on Wednesday, the Padres know they can beat anybody at any time and come back in any situation, and that makes them a very dangerous team. San Diego will hand the ball to their ace, Joe Musgrove. Musgrove delivered all season long and that has carried over to the postseason. In his two starts, he is 1-0 with an ERA of only 1.38 and a nasty 0.85 WHIP in 13 innings of work. Philadelphia will counter with southpaw Ranger Suárez. Suárez is 0-0 in the postseason with a 2.70 ERA and an elevated WHIP of 2.40 in just 3.1 innings of work. The Friars are 18-4 in their last 22 following a day off and 7-3 in their last 10 road games against a left-handed starter. Machado, Bell, Soto, and Drury can all do a lot of damage and should be able to get to Suárez.
TONIGHT’S PICK: SAN DIEGO PADRES

The New York Yankees will be a big dog tonight when they travel to Minute Maid Park to open the ALCS with the Houston Astros. The Yankees will have momentum on their side after winning their last two against the Guardians, and believe me, they have not forgotten 2017. Expected starters are Jameson Taillon for New York and Justin Verlander for Houston. Over his last 3 turns, Taillon is 1-0 with a 2.79 ERA, a 1.09 WHIP, and the Yankees are 4-0 in his last 4 starts against the AL West. Verlander was throwing flames all season long but has come back down to earth. Over his last 3 starts, he is 1-0 with a 3.94 ERA, a 1.19 WHIP, and was lit up in his last turn by Seattle, yielding 6 runs on 10 hits in only 4 innings of work. The Astros last played on Saturday and layoffs do not always work in your favor. The Bombers are worth a shot.
TONIGHT’S PICK: NEW YORK YANKEES

Yesterday’s game between the Cleveland Guardians and New York Yankees was rained out. Today they will play an early one in the Bronx. Nothing has changed from yesterday’s blog except Nasty Nestor Cortés, Jr. will start the first leg for the Yankees over Jameson Taillon, which is a good thing. The pick remains the same.
TODAY’S PICK: NEW YORK YANKEES

The New York Yankees and the Cleveland Guardians will play Game 5 of the ALDS tonight in the Bronx. The winner of tonight’s game will take it on the arches to Minute Maid Park to face the well-rested Houston Astros in the ALCS. If it wasn’t for some poor decisions made in Game 3 by the Yankee skipper, New York would already have this thing locked up, but that’s not the case. Tonight will probably be a bullpen game for each club, with Jameson Taillon expected to get the nod for the first leg for New York and Aaron Civale for Cleveland. Taillon was 14-5 in the regular season with a 3.91 ERA. Civale was 5-6 in the regular season with a 4.92 ERA and was 0-2 this year against the Yankees with a bloated ERA of 10.00. Cleveland is just 3-7 in their last 10 against New York and a dismal 1-6 in their last 7 road playoff games. The Bombers should get to Civale for an early lead and you know The Stadium will be electric.
TONIGHT’S PICK: NEW YORK YANKEES

The San Diego Padres are on the brink of doing what no one expected, knocking off their archrival, the Los Angeles Dodgers, to advance to the NLCS, but it’s in the cards. The Padres will send hometown boy, Joe Musgrove, to the hill and has he has been almost unhittable. Over his last 3 starts, Musgrove is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA (and that is not a typo) and a 0.78 WHIP. In Musgrove’s last turn against the very talented New York Mets, he was spectacular, throwing 7 scoreless innings, resulting in a 6-0 Padres win and advancing them to the NLDS. Los Angeles will counter with lefty Tyler Anderson. Over his last 3 starts, Anderson is 0-2 with a 2.12 ERA and a 0.76 WHIP. San Diego has the momentum. They are 12-4 in their last 16 in Game 4 of a series and will have over 42,000 fans supporting them. Consider the Friars.
TONIGHT’S PICK: SAN DIEGO PADRES

The Philadelphia Phillies were able to get a split in Atlanta with the Braves and now the venue switches to the Phillies’ turf, Citizens Bank Park, for Game 3. It’s been a long 11 years since Philadelphia hosted a playoff game so you know they will be pumped for this one as well as their dedicated fans. Today’s expected starter for Philadelphia is Aaron Nola. Nola has been dealing. Over his last 3, he is 2-1 with an ERA of just 1.86, a WHIP hardly visible at 0.62, and was spectacular in his last turn against St. Louis where he pitched 6-2/3 of no hit ball, resulting in a 2-0 Phillies win. Atlanta has yet to announce a starter but more than likely it will be Spencer Strider, who is 11-5 with a 2.67 ERA, but he has been dealing with an oblique injury which could been an issue. Philadelphia’s bats were silent in Game 2 but you can’t keep the likes of Kyle Schwarber, Rhys Hoskins and Bryce Harper quiet for very long. The Phillies are 14-5 in their last 19 home games and I like them in this situation.
TODAY’S PICK: PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES