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
Thursday NHL Pick
The 3-1-0 Boston Bruins lost their first game of the season on Tuesday, falling to the Ottawa Senators, 7-5, at Canadian Tire Centre. The Bruins were the better team by far in that matchup but probably took the Sens for granted and were playing back-to-back games, which is always tough. Tonight they return home to TD Garden to take on the 1-3-0 Anaheim Ducks. Since winning the season opener, the Ducks have lost 3 straight. They are expected to have John Gibson between the pipes and thus far he has not played well. Gibson is 1-2 with a 5.96 GAA and a 0.872 SV%. The Bruins are 2-0 at home and are expected to have Linus Ullmark guarding the net. He is 2-0 with a 2.59 GAA and a 0.927 SV%. Advantage Boston. The Ducks always give the Bruins a run for their money but Boston is averaging 5.33 goals per game which is the best in the league and should have no problem getting the puck past Gibson.
TONIGHT’S PICK: BOSTON BRUINS
Wednesday MLB Pick
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
Tuesday MLB Pick
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
Monday MLB Pick
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
Sunday NFL Pick
The 4-1 New York Giants will host the 3-2 Baltimore Ravens today and are getting no respect, as usual. The current line is Ravens -5½ and they are on the road. Really? New York is coming off a win over the heavily favored Green Bay Packers, and Baltimore was lucky to squeak by the Cincinnati Bengals last week. Simply put, the Giants need to pound the ball (and they can), contain Lamar Jackson, and they come out on top. Moreover, the home team is 5-0 ATS in the last 5 meetings.
TODAY’S PICK: NEW YORK GIANTS +5½
Saturday MLB Pick
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