Total Annihilation - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #905 Friday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Washington Nationals vs San Diego Padres @ 7:05 ET - I like the over here no matter who pitches. Why? Well, these teams have had only 2 unders in their last 11 meetings! The Padres are scheduled to throw Chris Paddack and he has a 12.71 ERA in his last 3 starts. The Nationals are expected to start Erick Fedde and he has a 9.45 ERA in his last 3 starts. These teams just met for 4 games in San Diego prior to the All Star break and not only was the over a perfect 4-0, the games averaged 15 runs each! That said, as noted above, no matter who starts in this one, my play is the over as these teams continue to pound each other in the first game of this 3-game set in DC. 10* OVER the total in Washington

Contrarian Crusher - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #923 Sunday 10* Top Play OVER 8.5 runs in Houston Astros vs New York Yankees @ 2:10 ET - This is contrarian all the way. This total has moved from a 9 to an 8.5 for a few reasons. A big one is that Carlos Correa is likely to again be out of the lineup Sunday for the Astros. Another is that Jameson Taillon is off a strong start for the Yankees. So, weaker Houston lineup, starting pitcher entering off strong start, and you can see why this total made a downward move. In my mind, this is merely serving to give us excellent line value here. The Astros should still hit Taillon well. His last start was a rare successful road outing and the first time he pitched 7 innings this season. After throwing over 100 pitches and also helped by being given a huge early 8-0 lead in that game, Taillon comes back down to earth here. Taillon, even off the great start at Seattle, still has an 8.25 ERA on the road this season. His trending in recent seasons also has shown him to be much better at home than on the road. This season, the O/U in his road starts is 6-0. As for Astros starter Framber Valdez, he has seen the over go 3-1 in his home starts and he allowed 6 runs (5 earned) on 10 hits in just 5 innings in his most recent home start. The last time Valdez faced the Yankees he allowed 5 earned runs in 3 and 1/3 innings. After yesterday's 1-0 game we have seen an over-reaction here particularly because of the Correa situation too. That said, this is not Cole and Greinke today! This total is being kept way too low considering this match-up is Taillon and Valdez. Look for plenty of runs in this one. 10* OVER 8.5 in Houston

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #929 Sunday 10* Top Play Philadelphia Phillies Money Line (+) @ Boston Red Sox @ 1:10 ET - The Phillies Aaron Nola has allowed 4 earned runs on 8 hits in 11 and 1/3 innings spanning his last two road starts. Overall he has struck out 31 batters in 16 innings spanning his last 3 starts. Yes that is an average of nearly 2 batters per inning! Also, Nola has a fantastic 2.67 ERA in his 4 career starts against the Red Sox. Boston will start former Phillie Nick Pivetta in this one. This will be his first start against his former team. Sometimes the pressure of facing a former team can be tough on a hurler and Pivetta also has struggled at home in recent starts. His last 4 home starts have seen him allow 18 earned runs in 20 innings! That is an 8.10 ERA. Not only that, Pivetta has allowed 22 hits in his last 14 innings at home. The Red Sox are a great team so far this season and they would love to bounce back after yesterday's ugly loss. However, this is too much value on a surging Phillies team with a strong pitcher on the mound. The Red Sox are 3-4 last 7 games and only have had one big game at the plate in their last 8 games. In the other 7 games Boston has averaged scoring only 3.4 runs per game. The Phillies enter this game having won 7 of 11 games and have scored an average of 9 runs per game last 6 games! 10* PHILADELPHIA +110

Earliest Cash EVE - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #975 Saturday 10* Top Play New York Yankees Money Line -105 @ Houston Astros @ 7:15 ET - I know Gerrit Cole's numbers have been off a little of late. But the Yankees right-hander is going against his former team again and I expect this to bring out the best in him. Cole gave up 2 solo homers against the Astros on May 6th but otherwise was rock solid against the Astros in that one and still deserved better than a no decision. Cole has a 3.00 ERA on the road this season. Houston is starting Zack Greinke here which is why we are getting such a favorable line on Cole and the Yankees. While the Astros Greinke certainly deserves some respect he has a 5.26 ERA in his home starts this season. Greinke has walked 8 plus given up 4 runs on 6 hits in 8 and 1/3 innings spanning his last two starts against the Yankees. Greinke lost his most recent home start and was hit hard in that one by the Orioles. Cole will bounce back from a loss in his most recent road start as he was 5-1 in road games on the season prior to that one. He had been solid on the road all season while Greinke has had some issues in home starts this season for sure. Overall, with yesterday's big Yankees win, New York has won 4 of 5 and allowed only 2.2 runs per game in the 5 games! The Astros have lost 5 of last 7 home games. 10* NEW YORK YANKEES -105

IL Total of the Month - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #979 Saturday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Boston Red Sox vs Philadelphia Phillies @ 4:10 ET - This IL (InterLeague) match-up totaled 16 runs yesterday and I expect another wild one today. We get some excellent value here because it looks like Martin Perez has been throwing well but, the fact is, he has not. Perez has a 1.88 ERA his last 3 starts but he has been very fortunate. Perez has allowed 21 hits in just 14 and 1/3 innings. Also, Perez has allowed 7 earned runs in 11 innings in his two most recent starts against the Phillies and he walked 6 in one of those outings so the damage could have been much worse. Matt Moore gets the start for the Phillies here. The southpaw is off a tough start against the Cubs at Wrigley Field and the damage could have been worse as he allowed 5 hits and walked 2 in just 4 innings. Moore has a 6.30 ERA as a starter this season and Boston could pound him here. The Red Sox have won 11 of 14 games and Boston has averaged scoring 6 runs per game during this stretch. The Phillies have seen the over go a perfect 6-0 in last road games. Philadelphia has scored an average of 8 runs per game in those contests. On a very pleasant afternoon at Fenway Park with great weather expected, look for plenty of runs in this one. 10* OVER the total in Boston

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #965 Saturday MLB 8* OVER the total in Tampa Bay Rays vs Toronto Blue Jays @ 1:10 ET - These lineups just faced these pitchers last weekend and I expect the result to be extra success at the plate here as a result. Stripling has a 4.39 ERA in his road starts this season. Yarbrough has a 4.77 ERA in his home starts this season. Also, the over is 10-2 in Yarbrough's home starts this year. Rays off back to back unders now but this was preceded by a stretch of 4 straight overs in home games. Tampa Bay has scored an average of 7.5 runs per game last 6 home games. Toronto, prior to 7- 1 loss yesterday, had won 11 of 16 games and averaged scoring 6.5 runs per game. 8* OVER the total in Tampa Bay

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #920 Friday 10* Top Play Cleveland Indians Money Line -135 vs Kansas City Royals @ 7:10 ET - The Indians are bringing back Triston McKenzie from a stint in the minors and I expect his stint at the AAA level to pay off big. Though he had a high ERA this season it is a bit deceiving. McKenzie held opposing hitters to a .188 batting average and struck out 59 hitters in 42 and 1/3 innings. He is 2-0 with a 1.69 ERA in his 3 career starts against the Royals. I am well aware that the Indians have been on a losing streak but welcoming KC to town could surely be a good thing that snaps the trend. Sure enough yesterday Cleveland got the win to end their losing streak. The Royals are 15-29 on the road this season and 18-33 against teams with a winning record. The Indians are 28-17 this season in games against teams that do not have a winning record and I look for them to build off yesterday's win. Kansas City sends Brad Keller to the mound. Keller lost his most recent start at Cleveland and allowed 5 runs (4 earned) in that one. Also, he enters this start with an 0-3 mark, 6.61 ERA, and 2.14 WHIP in his last 3 starts. Keller has a 6.39 ERA on the season. This series is a great opportunity for the Indians to get back on track before the All Star break and I look for them to build off yesterday's win with another victory this evening as McKenzie comes up big and Keller struggles. 10* CLEVELAND -135

1st Half of the Season Total of the Year - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #915 Friday 10* Top Play OVER 10.5 runs in Chicago White Sox vs Baltimore Orioles @ 7:05 ET - The over is 8-2 in Chicago's last 10 games. The White Sox should pound Jorge Lopez but they have concerns on the mound of their own here as Dallas Keuchel gets the call in this one. Keuchel has allowed 13 runs (10 earned) in 6 and 2/3 innings spanning his last two starts. Both of those outings were on the road where he has a 5.12 ERA on the season. The White Sox southpaw allowed 3 homers among 8 hits in just 5 innings in his prior start against the Orioles this season and that was at home. Now he faces them at Baltimore where the O's are known to hit better. Baltimore starts Lopez here and he has allowed 9 earned runs on 17 hits and 8 walks in 9 and 1/3 innings in his last two starts overall. Also, seeing the White Sox may not help matters as he has allowed 22 hits including 5 homers in 16 and 1/3 innings spanning his last 3 starts against them. The over is on a 14-5 run in Orioles games and as mentioned above Chicago has been trending over as well last 10 games. Look for plenty of runs in this one as a result. 10* OVER 10.5 runs in Baltimore

Daytime Dominator - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #901 Friday 8* St Louis Cardinals Money Line +155 @ Chicago Cubs @ 2:20 ET - Already struggling and dealing with some injuries, things went from bad to worse last night for the Cubs. Not only did they lose 8-0 to the Phillies, they did not have their two leading hitters (Kris Bryant and Javier Baez) in the lineup. Even if those guys return for this afternoon's game, I do not expect them to be at 100 percent health. Also, the Cubs have now lost 12 of 13 games. Though Kyle Hendricks has been pitching well for Chicago, the Cubs were just 4-4 in his home starts and he had a 4.60 ERA at Wrigley Field this season prior to a successful outing versus the Indians in his most recent home outing. The point is that he has not been lights out at home, the Cubs are injured and slumping, and the underdog Cardinals offer great value here as a result. Though Wade LeBlanc was struggling with the Orioles earlier this season, he has enjoyed a resurgence since coming to St Louis. With the Cardinals, working out of the pen as well as a starter, he has a 2.16 ERA in his 16 and 2/3 innings. St Louis was off yesterday, and did lose on Wednesday, but this was preceded by a solid 6-3 run for the Cardinals. Simply too much value on the underdog here to pass up on and I am recommending a wager here. 8* ST LOUIS +155

Game of the Week - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #957 Thursday 10* Top Play Philadelphia Phillies Money Line +105 @ Chicago Cubs @ 8:05 ET - The Cubs had lost 11 straight games before yesterday's win and one game certainly does not change everything. Also, the Phillies have not lost back to back games in 2 weeks as they have gone 5-0 L5 when off a loss. I know Philadelphia has a bad record in Zach Eflin's road starts but he has been very strong in his last two outings entering this one with just 3 earned runs allowed in 12 innings of work. Also, Eflin has pitched very well at Wrigley Field with just 2 earned runs allowed in 13 and 2/3 innings. I look for a very strong start from him here and I expect the Phillies to pound Adbert Alzolay. Philadelphia had averaged 14 runs a game in the first two games of this series and will bounce back here. Alzolay has seen the Cubs go 0-3 in his last 3 starts while he has compiled a 6.13 ERA plus allowed multiple homers in each start. More of the same expected here. The wind will be blowing in so not many homers expected in this one but look for the Phillies to outhit the Cubs. Big road win expected here. 10* PHILADELPHIA +105

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #963 Thursday 10* OVER the total in Houston Astros vs Oakland A's @ 2:10 ET - The A's .429 slugging percentage in road games this season ranks as one of the best in the majors. The Astros overall .444 slugging percentage on the season also ranks as one of the best in the majors. After yesterday's low-scoring under featured very few hits, I look for the bats to come back to life in this one. Houston's Lance McCullers has great numbers on the season but he did walk 4 in his most recent start and was lucky to get out of numerous jams as he allowed 10 baserunners in that start. The right-hander also walked 4 in his most recent home start. The A's have already seen him twice this season and, likewise, the Astros hitters have already seen Oakland's Frankie Montas twice this year. Montas has allowed 20 hits (including 4 homers) in less than 15 innings in his last 3 starts against Houston. The over is 9-3 in the 12 games between these divisional foes so far this season. The over is 8-4 in McCullers starts this season and 4-2 in Montas road starts this season. Also, the A's righthander has allowed 10 earned runs in less than 11 innings of work spanning his last two starts. 10* OVER the total in Houston

PA Dominator - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #907 Wednesday 10* Top Play Philadelphia Phillies Money Line -135 @ Chicago Cubs @ 8:05 ET - The Phillies beat the Cubs in a wild 15-10 final and that was the 11th straight loss for Chicago. Struggles for the Cubs likely to continue here as they face the Phillies most consistent hurler. Zack Wheeler had a 2.92 ERA last season in his first year with the Phillies. He has been even better this season with a 2.05 ERA and a .200 BAA and he also enters this start in top form. Wheeler has allowed just 8 hits while striking out 17 in 14 and 2/3 scoreless innings spanning his last two starts! The Cubs Alec Mills is off a rare solid start to open up July. Keep in mind he was hit at a .339 clip (mostly as a starter) in June and he also got hit at a .381 clip (all out of the bullpen) in May. I look for him to get hit hard here and for Wheeler to continue to dominate. The result should be a road rout. 10* PHILADELPHIA -135

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #901 Wednesday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Pittsburgh Pirates vs Atlanta Braves @ 12:35 ET - I used this play yesterday and it never had a chance. That will not stop me from coming right back with it today. That was just the 3rd under in the last 13 games between these teams. Also, I know Drew Smyly has been fantastic his last 3 starts but 2 of those were at home. The over is 6-2 in his road starts this season and he has a respectable, but not great, 4.22 ERA on the road this season. Smyly has allowed 7 earned runs in 12 and 2/3 innings spanning his last 2 starts against the Pirates and he allowed 2 homers in EACH start and that includes one this season in Atlanta. The Pirates counter with William Crowe in this one. He has an 8.59 ERA in two starts versus the Braves this season and both went over the total and that includes being matched up with Smyly on May 20th in Atlanta. That one totaled double digits in runs and this one should too. Crowe is 0-4 with a 5.66 ERA in his 5 home starts this season. Look for this one to be the complete opposite of yesterday's low-scoring duel. We'll see a surprising early afternoon slugfest in this one. 10* OVER the total in Pittsburgh

Situational Slaughter - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #957 Tuesday 10* Top Play Philadelphia Phillies Money Line (-) @ Chicago Cubs @ 8:05 ET - The Cubs have now lost 10 straight games. Chicago has scored an average of only 2.5 runs per game in those 10 games. In fact, taking out the one good game at the plate, the Cubs have averaged only 2 runs per game in the other 9 games. Aaron Nola should dominate here. Yes he fell apart late in his most recent start but his prior start was a gem and, overall, he has recorded 23 strikeouts in 10 innings spanning his last 2 starts. The way the Cubs are slumping he should dominate here. As for Chicago starter Jake Arrieta, he would love to come up big against a former team but he has an 8.38 ERA and a 2.28 WHIP his last 3 starts. He has walked 7 while striking out just 6 over his last two starts. The Phillies have won 6 of 10 games and will build off the momentum of yesterday's big win with another big game at the plate in a match-up that certainly has the look and feel of a complete mismatch. 10* PHILADELPHIA

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #951 Tuesday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Pittsburgh Pirates vs Atlanta Braves @ 7:05 ET - I know that Ian Anderson has great numbers for the Braves this season and his road starts have trended under. However, the Pirates have seen him once already this season and do tend to hit better at home and showed that tendency with yesterday's 11-1 win. They should do enough here with the bats for us to get the over because the Atlanta bats should absolutely pound Chad Kuhl. The over is 8-2 in the Pirates right-handers 10 home starts this season and it will be a very hot day in Pittsburgh today so still very warm in the evening too. Kuhl has a 5.16 ERA on the season and has had some command issues in recent starts. I know he has some good numbers at times this season but he looks a little "off" in recent outings and this is not a good match-up for him with the Braves hungry to bounce back off yesterday's shellacking. 10* OVER the total in Pittsburgh

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #915 OVER 8.5 runs in Tampa Bay Rays vs Cleveland Indians @ 7:10 ET - Logan Allen starts for the Indians and is 1-5 with an 8.85 ERA as a starter this season. The over is 6-2 in Rich Hill's 8 home starts this season. Though he has pitched fairly well overall this season, he has allowed 5 homers in his last 3 starts. I know Cleveland is off back to back unders but this followed a streak of 7 straight games without an under and I expect Allen to get pounded and for Hill to continue to have some long-ball troubles in this one. The Rays have averaged scoring 5.8 runs per game last 14 home games. Tampa Bay is off back to back unders but this followed a 4-1 stretch to the over. This is a bit of a contrarian play based on recent results but I like having the over here based on all of the above and with each club off B2B unders but now enjoying a change of scenery to begin this series. 10* OVER 8.5 runs in Tampa Bay

Run Line Rout - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #905 Monday 10* Top Play Atlanta Braves Run Line -1.5 runs -115 @ Pittsburgh Pirates @ 7:05 ET - The Pirates are off a surprising 2-0 win yesterday as they had lost 6 straight games. Even with the win, note that Pittsburgh has not scored more than 2 runs in any of their last 7 games. That said, the Braves Max Fried should have a great start here. Fried has been rounding back into top form and has a 3.00 ERA his last 3 starts with a 0.89 WHIP. Chase De Jong of the Pirates will be his counterpart tonight and he is struggling badly. De Jong is winless with a 5.65 ERA in his 6 starts this season and has taken the loss in each of his last 3 starts. Each of the Pirates last 7 losses have been by a margin of 2 or more runs. Admittedly, the Braves have had a lot of tight one-run wins lately but, based on all of the above, this one has the makings of an absolute road rout. The Braves 3 wins over the Pirates this season have been by an incredible combined score of 33 to 3. Another blowout here. 10* ATLANTA -1.5 -115

Contrarian Crusher - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #977 Sunday 10* Top Play Texas Rangers Money Line +125 @ Seattle Mariners @ 4:10 ET - You look at this line and something looks funny, right? In typical contrarian fashion, I am playing the side most will not want here. Flexen is 6-3 with a 3.97 ERA and Foltynewicz is 2-7 with a 5.17 ERA and the Mariners are at home and laying a rather small price. Looks easy to ride Seattle here does it not? Well the old saying "looks too good to be true" is what I expect to play out here and I am rolling with the Rangers. Foltynewicz is off back to back strong outings and really appears to be turning the corner plus he had a strong start in his most recent outing at Seattle and has allowed 12 in 13 and 2/3 innings spanning his two starts against the Mariners this season. Flexen had a solid start against the Rangers the last time he faced them but this followed 10 hits in 6 and 1/3 innings in prior start against Texas. The fact is that Flexen has been fortunate this season and that good fortune will run out soon. It is not normal to be getting hit at a nearly .300 clip like he is for the season and yet have a below 4.00 ERA. I also like the fact that Flexen struggled badly in his most recent start and was fortunate the damage was not worse in that one at Toronto. The Rangers bullpen, over the last 15 days, also has a lower ERA than Seattle's does and that has helped key an 8-4 run for Texas which I fully expect to add another W here with the road upset for the Rangers. 10* TEXAS +125

Early Dominator - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #971 Sunday 8* OVER the total in Kansas City Royals vs Minnesota Twins @ 2:10 ET - Even after yesterday's game stayed just under the total, the over is 8-2-2 in the 12 games between these teams this season. The Royals Brad Keller will be facing the Twins for the 4th time since early May so they are very familiar with him and they have hit 4 homers in 13 and 1/3 innings against him spanning these 3 starts. Minnesota's Kenta Maeda got rocked by the White Sox in his most recent start and that was on the road where the Twins are 2-7 in his starts and he has a 6.49 ERA. Note that Keller has a 6.67 ERA on the season and the over is 5-3 in his home starts and 6-3 in Maeda's road starts this season. Overall, Minnesota entered yesterday's game on an 8-1 run to the over and I do expect that hot trend to resume here after yesterday's game fell just short of the over. Keller has a 9.00 ERA in his last 3 starts. 8* OVER the total in Kansas City

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #955 Sunday 10* OVER the total in Philadelphia Phillies vs San Diego Padres @ 1:05 ET - The over is 6-2 in Blake Snell's road starts this season. The Padres are 0-8 in Snell's outings away from home this season where the lefty has a 10.36 ERA in his starts. I simply do not trust Vince Velasquez or the Phillies bullpen enough to play against him however. That said, I like the over a lot here! Look for Snell's road misery to continue. He missed his last start in the rotation due to illness and now faces a Phillies team which has won 5 of last 8 games and starting to build some confidence again. As for Velasquez, he is off a great start versus Miami but had been struggling heading into that outing. The Padres have now lost 3 straight but had been red hot, including at the plate, and their big hitters bounce back large in this one. 10* OVER the total in Philadelphia

Earliest Cash Eve - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #921 Saturday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Cleveland Indians vs Houston Astros @ 7:15 ET - The Indians Eli Morgan is struggling badly and has a 10.32 ERA in his 3 home starts and all went over the total. The Astros Jake Odorizzi is coming off back to back strong outings but faced the Orioles and Tigers. He faces a much tougher test here and Odorizzi was not exactly on fire this season prior to these last two starts. I expect his struggles to resume here as the Indians bounce back from a couple recent sub-par performances at the plate. Odorizzi has seen the over go 5-2-1 in his 8 starts for Houston this season. The Indians have seen the over go 6-1-1 in their last 8 games and they'll get their bats going again here but I expect Morgan's struggles to continue so the Astros likely pound the ball too. Over the last 30 days the Houston production at the plate has been phenomenal with a .297 batting average and .498 slugging percentage. The over is on a 5-1 run in the Astros last 6 games. More of the same expected here. 10* OVER the total in Cleveland

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #930 Saturday 10* Top Play UNDER the total in New York Yankees vs New York Mets @ 1:05 ET - The Yankees Jordan Montgomery may not have flashy overall numbers but he has been rock solid at home where he has a 2.61 ERA and has held opponents to a .212 batting average. Last season he was also much better at home than on the road. The Mets Taijuan Walker has been fantastic in day games this season with a 1.89 ERA and a .190 batting average against. Overall he is having a very strong season and has a 3.26 ERA in his 4 career starts against the Yankees. Montgomery was solid in his lone career start against the Mets. This total has moved up to an 8.5 and only 7 of the Mets last 29 games have totaled 9 or more runs. The Yankees are off back to back high-scoring games but had averaged scoring only 2.5 runs per game in the 4 games immediately prior to those. 10* UNDER the total in New York Yankees

Contrarian Crusher - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #961 Friday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Colorado Rockies vs St Louis Cardinals @ 8:10 ET - This total was as low as an 11.5 when it opened up and now it is a 12.5 as of early morning Friday. The Rockies have stayed under the total in 5 straight games and the Cardinals have had just 1 over their last 7 games. In other words, the old saying of "someone knows something" holds true here. Indeed I expect the sharp money to line up on the over in this one and am expecting a wild game at Coors Field. I know the recent games there have not lived up to the billing of the usual high-scoring slugfests we see there but this one has all the right ingredients. The Cardinals Johan Oviedo has been hit hard in each of his last two starts and went 0-2 in them. He is winless with a 6.91 ERA on the road this season and the over is 4-0 in those outings. The Rockies Chi Chi Gonzalez is off a rare good start at Milwaukee but he allowed 10 earned runs in 11 and 1/3 innings spanning his two outings prior to that one. Both of those were at home and he struggled at Coors Field and I expect more of the same here. Gonzalez faced the Cardinals at St Louis in May and he allowed 7 earned runs in 4 innings! The Cards will be on him early and often again in this one. As for Oviedo, it will be his first ever start at Coors Field and that typically does not go well for pitchers and especially those in poor current form like he is. 10* OVER the total in Colorado

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #952 Friday 10* Top Play Philadelphia Phillies Money Line -120 vs San Diego Padres @ 6:05 ET - The Phillies game versus the Marlins yesterday was rained out but Zach Wheeler was already slated for tonight's start. Matt Moore was going to get yesterday's start and, arguably, the rain out was a good thing as they can now skip him. Wheeler has been nothing short of phenomenal. Also, he has improved with each month. Wheeler is coming off a season that saw him compile a 2.92 ERA in his first year with the Phillies. Then this season his month to month ERAs have been 3.13, 2.08, 1.44 for April, May, June respectively. Now he makes his first start of July and he is at home where he went 4-0 with a 2.38 ERA last season and this season he has a 2.05 ERA at Citizens Bank Park where Wheeler loves to pitch. Chris Paddack starts for the Padres and certainly has some impressive numbers of his own but he enters this start off a very rough outing in which he allowed 5 earned runs in just 2 and 1/3 innings. Though he has been decent on the road this season he went 1-3 with a 6.85 ERA in road starts last season and getting hit hard at home by the struggling Diamondbacks in most recent start is also a concern. San Diego has been hot but the Phillies are a solid home team and have a dominating starter on the mound and are the favorite here for a reason. 10* PHILADELPHIA

Earliest Cash EVE - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #925 Thursday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Cleveland Indians vs Houston Astros @ 7:10 ET - Something funny going on with this one. Total opened up as high as a 9.5 but has dropped to an 8.5 as of game day morning. I know that the wind is expected to be blowing in at Progressive Field for this one but the odds maker had this total right in my opinion and now we're going to take advantage of value on the other side of the line move as I fully expect double digits here. The Astros are off a 3-game sweep at the hands of the Orioles and this was at home. That said, going on the road and getting refocused with a change of scenery in a new venue should be a great thing for Houston. The Astros went 5-2 on most recent road trip and averaged scoring 6 runs per game. The Indians are off a home double-header sweep at the hands of the Tigers yesterday. That double-header was because Tuesday's game got rained out and that pushed JC Mejia's start back from Tuesday to Thursday. Anything that throws off a pitchers routine can be tough on them and this is particularly true of a rookie. Also, Mejia has struggled since moving into the starting role in June. He is winless in his 5 starts and has compiled a 6.27 ERA. He'll be opposed by Framber Valdez of the Astros. I know the Houston southpaw has been pitching well but he does tend to struggle more on the road than at home and the Indians have a .448 slugging percentage in last 12 games at home and had won 9 of 10 at home prior to yesterday's double header sweep. In those 10 home games the Indians averaged 6.2 runs per game. 10* OVER the total in Cleveland

Earliest Cash DAY - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #919 Thursday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Boston Red Sox vs Kansas City Royals @ 1:10 ET - Rainy weather moving into the Boston area but it should be after this one is already in the books and I look for plenty of runs here after yesterday's game was 5-2 in the top of the 6th but then saw only 1 more run scored the rest of the way. The Royals Kris Bubic has a 7.36 ERA on the road this season and a 9.49 ERA in his last 3 starts overall. Bubic had been working out of the bullpen most recently but struggled in 2 of those 3 appearances as well including a rough outing versus the Red Sox. Boston starts Nathan Eovaldi here and he has solid overall numbers this season but just recently faced the Royals and struggled in that outing with 7 hits allowed in only 4 innings on the mound. Kansas City now gets another look at him here and I expect more success for them at the plate in this one. 10* OVER the total in Boston

Daytime Dominator - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #955 Wednesday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Colorado Rockies vs Pittsburgh Pirates @ 3:10 ET - This total opened up at an 11.5 and has dropped down to an 11 as of 5 hours prior to game time. The Pirates have been shutout by the Rockies in back to back games and almost got no-hit in last night's 8-0 loss as they only managed a 9th inning single. However, in typical contrarian fashion, I am on the over here and happy to fade the line move. The over is 8-1 in Chad Kuhl's starts this season including a perfect 6-0 in his road starts. The Pirates right-hander has a 6.04 ERA on the road this season and also was hit very hard in his lone career start at Coors Field. The Rockies Jon Gray is off a great start at Milwaukee but that was preceded by two very rough outings and that included a tough one against Pittsburgh. Something about the Pirates is probably what Gray has to be thinking as he has a 7.94 ERA in his career against them and the over is a perfect 5-0 in those 5 starts as he has complied a 1.94 WHIP too. Despite all the recent unders, this is an afternoon game at hitter-friendly Coors Field and the weather will be warm and I expect the bats to be hot. Don't be surprised if the Rockies again get to 8 runs here but, this time, the Pirates finally join the party after being shutout in the first two games of this series. Keep in mind, Pittsburgh had entered this series averaging a respectable 5.3 runs per game last 9 games. Their sticks get back on track here as they continue to give Gray trouble. 10* OVER the total in Colorado

Contrarian Crusher - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #909 Tuesday 10* Top Play Arizona Diamondbacks Money Line +140 @ St Louis Cardinals @ 8:15 ET - The Diamondbacks have been on a horrific run. I am well aware of this. However, this team has a huge pitching edge in this match-up based on current form and also the Cardinals have not exactly been setting the world on fire. St Louis got the big 7-1 win yesterday but previously had lost 8 of 10 games. Speaking of losing stretches, the Cards Carlos Martinez is 0-5 with a 13.73 ERA in the month of June and opponents hitting .352 against him. The Dbacks Caleb Smith moved into a starters role this month and, in his 5 starts, he has a 2.73 ERA and has held opponents to a .172 BAA. The Cardinals, prior to yesterday, had only 1 big game at the plate last 15 games. In the other 14 games St Louis scored an average of just 1.8 runs per game! The Diamondbacks had averaged 5 runs per game last 7 games prior to yesterday's disappointing loss. Arizona bounces back here plus gets a dominating start from Smith in this one while St Louis sees the struggles of Martinez continue here. 10* ARIZONA +140

NOTE about pitching change. This is still a play for me. Craig Stammen had an ERA north of 5.00 the only two seasons he was used as a starter in his MLB career. Though he has pitched well this season out of the bullpen, he averages only 1 and 1/3 innings per outing and only 2 times in 33 appearances has he pitched more than 2 innings. Though the Padres bullpen has great numbers on the season, they have a 4.42 ERA last 15 days and opponents batting average of .292 last 7 days. Both of those numbers are poor as San Diego's pen has been trending the wrong direction as you can see. So this is still a play for me. ORIGINAL write-up: Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #903 Tuesday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Cincinnati Reds vs San Diego Padres @ 7:10 ET - The over is on a 10-2 run in Padres games and that includes 3-1 when they recently hosted the Reds out west. Now this game is in Cincinnati where it will be steamy and hot on Tuesday and the ball should be flying out of hitter friendly Great American Ball Park. Blake Snell starts for the Padres and the over is 6-2 in his 8 road starts this season and he is winless in them with a 10.36 ERA on the year away from home. The Reds start Tony Santillan and he has some respectable numbers since moving into the rotation but the worst of his 3 starts was at San Diego and the Padres are expected to get to him again here. Early and often plenty of runs in this one based on the pitching match-up and the weather conditions and the recent history between these teams. Reds averaging 5.8 runs per game at home this season and the Padres averaging 5.5 runs per game last dozen games. 10* OVER the total in Cincinnati 

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #951 Monday 10* Top Play OVER 11 runs in Colorado Rockies vs Pittsburgh Pirates @ 5:10 ET - Kyle Freeland gets start for Rockies and has a 10.38 ERA at home this season and a 9.39 ERA in day games (3 pm local time start here). Last season he got hit at a .295 clip in home games. In 2019, Freeland had a 9.25 ERA and was hit at a .337 clip in home games. You can see where I am going with this and the Pirates are off a 7-2 win and have now won 6 of 9 games and scored an average of 7 runs per game in the 6 victories. The Pirates issue today will be their own pitching. Tyler Anderson used to pitch for the Rockies and was drafted by them and certainly does not have fond memories of pitching here. He regularly got crushed at Coors Field and he has struggled in road starts since leaving Colorado after a 2019 season in which he went winless with an 11.76 ERA in five starts. With the Giants in 2020, Anderson went 1-2 with a 6.00 ERA in his six road starts. This season he is 2-4 with a 6.06 ERA in his 6 road starts. Anderson has been crushed in his last two road starts and Freeland has been hammered in his only two home starts this season. More of the same expected here. Prior to a shutout loss staying under the total yesterday, the Rockies were on a 7-2-1 run to the over and should resume that trending here. Colorado has averaged nearly 7 runs per game last 6 home games and the weather will be excellent for an over in Denver today. 10* OVER the total in Colorado

Daytime Dominator - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #925 Sunday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Minnesota Twins vs Cleveland Indians @ 2:10 ET - Yesterday's game was rained out so Sam Hentges gets the start today for the Indians but the Twins decided to hold Kenta Maeda off until Monday. That means Sunday the start goes to Minnesota's originally scheduled starter which was JA Happ. That is good news for over players as the over is 10-3 in his starts this season. Happ is having a very rough time of it this season with a 6.09 ERA on the year and a 7.90 ERA in his last 3 starts. Hentges is off a rare solid road outing as his first two road starts both went over the total. Even after a good start in his last outing, the Indians southpaw still has a 6.94 ERA on the road this season. The over is 6-1 in the last 7 meetings between these teams and I look for a wild one early Sunday afternoon as both these pitchers get roughed up and we could see something similar to an 8-7 final like we saw Friday. 10* OVER the total in Minnesota

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #921 Sunday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Boston Red Sox vs New York Yankees @ 1:10 ET - Hot afternoon at Fenway Park with the wind blowing out. Yet we get a low total because Gerrit Cole is on the mound for the Yankees. As fantastic of a hurler as he is, Cole has allowed 2 homers in each of his last 2 road starts. Also, he is facing a Red Sox team that is now 5-0 against the Yankees this season and has scored an average of 5.4 runs per game in those 5 victories. So I do fully expect Boston to get their fair share of runs but finally, today, the Yankees bats should come back to life. They will take advantage of facing a struggling Eduardo Rodriguez. The Red Sox southpaw has a 7.98 ERA in his last 3 starts. All 3 of those starts went over the total and I fully expect this one to do the same. 10* OVER the total in Boston

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #958 Saturday 10* Top Play UNDER 9 runs in Cincinnati Reds vs Atlanta Braves @ 4:10 ET - We get a big number to work with because Luis Castillo has an ugly record and ugly ERA on the season. The long-term year over year numbers tell the real story with Castillo and the fact is that he is back in solid form this month. Castillo has a 2.19 ERA in June and opponents have only hit .155 against him! Also, in his last two starts against the Braves he has allowed 1 earned run total! As for Ian Anderson against the Reds, he pitched 6 shutout innings against them in his only career start against them. The young right-hander has been fantastic away from home this season. Anderson has a 2.37 ERA in road outings this year. Overall, in 20 career starts at the MLB level, Anderson has a 2.92 ERA and has held opponents to a .206 batting average! We get a total of 9 to work with here and I love the value because I fully expect a pitchers duel based on all of the above. Also, 8 of the last 11 meetings between these teams have resulted in an under. The Braves have not scored more than 3 runs in any of their last 8 games and have scored an average of only 2 runs per game during this stretch. The Reds have been held to just 2 runs in 5 of their last 10 games. 10* UNDER 9 runs in Cincinnati

Daytime Dominator - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #969 Saturday 8* OVER 10.5 runs in Toronto Blue Jays vs Baltimore Orioles @ 3:05 ET - The Orioles rallied to tie yesterday's game with a 4-run 8th and then won it in extra innings. That is a momentum boost for Baltimore and should help to get their bats going. I know Hyun Jin Ryu of the Blue Jays just had a great start against the Orioles in his most recent outing. However, he gave up harder contact than what you can see just by looking at the stats from Ryu's line score. In other words, don't be surprised if he struggles much more in this one with the Orioles also stepping into the plate with more confidence after rallying for last night's win and then after also having already seen Ryu in his most recent start. Also, Ryu has allowed 5 homers in his last 3 home starts and given up 9 earned runs in 11 and 2/3 innings over his last 2 home starts. Keegan Akin also likely to struggle here. The Orioles southpaw is having a rough season and is winless with a 6.87 ERA on the road. This is nothing new as last season Akin went winless with a 7.30 ERA on the road. Overall he is 1-5 in 17 appearances (11 starts) in his MLB career. Overall, Baltimore has been struggling to get good pitching performances. They have had 2 in the last 11 games. In the other 9 games the Orioles have allowed an average of 8.4 runs per game! The over is on a 7-3 run in Baltimore games. 8* OVER the total in Toronto

Total of the Month - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #917 Friday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Toronto Blue Jays vs Baltimore Orioles @ 7:07 ET - Yesterday's game was 6-0 after 1 inning and 9-0 after 3 innings and yet amazingly stayed under the total! The game ended 9-0! Today's total opened up at an 11 and has settled in at a 10.5 and I expect today to make up for yesterday's dramatic shortfall with the total. Sometimes the 9-0 games like that just stay like that or with very little scoring the rest of the way but today's game should see much more balanced scoring with both teams getting in on the action. Toronto should pound the Orioles Matt Harvey as he is having a horrible season and showing no signs of improvement. He went 1-5 with a 9.64 ERA in May and now is 0-3 with an 11.20 ERA in June! The Blue Jays have won 5 straight games and averaged scoring 6 runs per game in the winning streak and should easily get to at least that again today. The difference in this one will be that the Baltimore bats get in on the fun too! The Orioles just faced Alek Manoah and got to him for 5 earned runs in 3 and 1/3 innings! Also, in his only home start this season, Manoah allowed 4 earned runs in 3 and 1/3 innings as well. This one has all the right ingredients for a slugfest! 10* OVER the total in Toronto

Daytime Dominator - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #961 Thursday 10* Top Play OVER 8 runs in Texas Rangers vs Oakland A's @ 2:05 ET - Yesterday there were 13 games in MLB and this game and the Phillies match-up with the Nationals were the only two contests that saw both teams reach double digits in hits. The game in Philadelphia totaled 25 runs. This one totaled just 8 runs. The point is that I feel we have some value here after each team pounded out 10 hits in yesterday's game and yet the match-up fell just short of going over the total. I also like the fact that the total on this one opened up as high as a 9 but has now dropped to an 8. I know that both Chris Bassitt of Oakland and Kolby Allard of Texas have been pitching well this season. However, couple things about that. Bassitt has higher ERAs and higher BAA in both road games and day games this season than home games and night games. Also, the Rangers with experience against him at the plate include 4 guys who are a combined 5 for 11 against him. As for Allard, he is having a strong season but this is still a guy who has a 5.53 ERA in his 127 innings at the MLB level. Does he really merit a game total of 8 against a pretty solid Athletics lineup. In fact, Oakland's hitters with experience against him include 5 players who are a combined 8 for 17 against him. A's games were on an 8-2 run to the over prior to yesterday's under. Also, Rangers had just 2 unders last 10 games prior to yesterday's under. These teams cash more of their opportunities this afternoon than they did last night. 10* OVER 8 in Texas

Earliest Cash Total of the Week - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #909 Wednesday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Baltimore Orioles vs Houston Astros @ 7:05 ET - This total opened up at a 10.5 and has dropped to a 9.5 which has opened up excellent line value on the over in my opinion. Yes the Orioles Thomas Eshelman is facing the team that drafted him and will want to come up big but sometimes pitchers tend to overthrow in situations like this. He has only made 1 start this season and in home start the past two seasons he has a 5.91 ERA. Eshelman, overall, has a 5.02 ERA and has been hit at a .282 clip in his 23 MLB appearances so those are far from dominant numbers. As for the Astros Jose Urquidy, he is 1-2 with a 4.59 ERA in his road starts this season. Last season his ERA was a run higher on the road compared to at home and he has continued that trending this season. In the year before that he was hit at a .273 clip in away games. Urquidy simply tends to be a different pitcher when on the road. Yesterday's game was a pitchers duel but Monday's game totaled 12 runs and was the 5th over in a 6-game stretch for the Orioles and 7th in 8 games for the Astros. After a 3-1 game yesterday, the big hitting resumes today. The Astros bullpen has a 4.57 ERA on the road this season and the Orioles bullpen has an overall 4.74 ERA to rank among the worst in the majors. 10* OVER the total in Baltimore

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #967 Tuesday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Minnesota Twins vs Cincinnati Reds @ 1:10 ET - Yesterday's game did take extra innings to get over the total and I am well aware of that. I also know Byron Buxton left the game with an injury and is likely out again but he has missed a lot of time already and the Twins are otherwise mostly returning to health in their lineup. Wade Miley has been strong for the Reds this season but his strikeout numbers are down in his last couple starts and he faces a tough road test here. The Twins have a .450 slugging percentage against lefties which is one of the best marks in baseball. Minnesota will surprise by hitting Miley well especially being buoyed by the momentum of last night's 7-5 extra innings win. Also, the Twins will need all the runs they can get because I expect Bailey Ober to struggle in this one. Ober is off a solid outing at Seattle but he entered that start getting hit at a .321 clip in his first 3 starts. He is a rookie and averaging just 4 innings per start and the Twins bullpen is not a good one and, for that matter, neither is the Reds. Each team's sub-par pen got some extra work last night too which helps our cause here. 10* OVER the total in Minnesota

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #909 Monday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Baltimore Orioles vs Houston Astros @ 7:05 ET - The Astros are 6-1 to the over last 7 games. The Orioles are 4-1 to the over last 5 games. Houston has won 7 straight games courtesy of a red hot lineup as they have averaged 8 runs per game during this winning streak. Baltimore is not a great hitting team overall but they generally score better at home and that has been the case again this season. The Orioles are averaging 4.7 runs per game at home this season and enter this one on an overall 5-game stretch that has seen them average 5.6 runs per game. Jake Odorizzi starts for Houston and the past 2 seasons combined he has pitched in 11 games (10 starts) and has a 6.00 ERA. Keegan Akin starts for Baltimore in this one. The southpaw has allowed 11 earned runs in less than 10 innings of work spanning his last two starts. The Astros are hitting .287 versus lefties this season and that is tops in the majors! Houston's bullpen has struggled on the road with a 4.50 ERA and a 1.50 WHIP! That WHIP indicates that ERA could easily be higher. The Orioles bullpen has a 4.77 ERA on the season and has struggled badly with save opportunities. 10* OVER the total in Baltimore

Afternoon Annihilation - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #955 Sunday 10* Top Play OVER 12 runs in Colorado Rockies vs Milwaukee Brewers @ 3:10 ET - The over is 7-2-1 in the Rockies last 10 games and the situation here is perfect for another high-scoring slugfest at Coors Field. Colorado has scored an average of 7 runs per game last 5 games and is on a 5-1 run last 6 so, despite blowing last night's game, the Rockies are playing with confidence right now. The Brewers have scored 5 or more runs in 4 of last 6 road games. They should get plenty here against a struggling Chi Chi Gonzalez. He is winless with an 8.80 ERA in his 3 starts in June. Opponents are hitting .299 against him this season and hit .289 against him last season and he compiled a 6.86 ERA in the shortened 2020 season. He is 4-14 with a 5.91 ERA in his last 5 seasons at the MLB level. Also likely to struggle today is Eric Lauer of the Brewers. The Milwaukee southpaw is 0-4 with a 9.35 ERA and a 2.23 WHIP in his 7 career starts against the Rockies and has particularly struggled at Coors Field. Lauer is 0-2 with 11 earned runs allowed in 7 innings in his 2 June starts. More of the same expected here. 10* OVER the total in Colorado

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #919 Saturday 10* Top Play OVER 9 runs in Texas Rangers vs Minnesota Twins @ 4:05 ET - The Rangers start Kolby Allard here. Though he has some solid numbers this season he likely will struggle here. The Twins have a .461 slugging percentage against lefties this year which ranks them #2 in the majors behind the White Sox. Also, the over is on a 7-3 run in Twins games. Minnesota has scored 7 runs in back to back road games. The over is on a 5-0-1 run in Rangers games. Texas should have success at the plate today considering they are facing a struggling Randy Dobnak. The Twins right-hander is 0-3 with a 9.36 ERA in his last 3 starts. The over is cashing at a 75% clip in Dobnak's starts this season. Overall, in his 12 appearances (8 out of the pen) this season, Dobnak has an 8.38 ERA and opponents are crushing him to the tune of a .335 batting average against. Considering all of the above as well as two bullpens that have struggled overall this season, the over trending should absolutely continue. 10* OVER 9 runs in Texas  

Earliest Cash Total of the Week - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #953 Friday 10* Top Play OVER 9 runs in Atlanta Braves vs St Louis Cardinals @ 7:20 ET - Interesting total here in my opinion. This one was in the 9.5 range and it is a National League game and Carlos Martinez coming off a great start and Max Fried has allowed only 1 earned run in 5 of his last 7 starts. Also, the Cardinals have scored only 1.5 runs per game in their last 6 games. That said, of course there is more than meets the eye here and the odds makers are right in setting this one higher than most would expect. Note that Martinez is 1-5 with a 6.21 ERA in road games and 1-4 with a 7.25 ERA in night games this season! He had been rocked in back to back starts prior to the successful outing in his most recent start. As for Fried, he has allowed 6 runs (5 earned) on 12 hits in less than 10 innings of work spanning his last two home starts. Also, the Cardinals team he is facing is one of the top three slugging teams in the National League against left-handed pitching. Fried is 1-3 with a 5.11 ERA in his evening starts this season. His only career start against St Louis resulted in an over and each of the last 3 starts Martinez has made against the Braves has resulted in an over. 10* OVER 9 runs in Atlanta

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #913 Thursday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Toronto Blue Jays vs New York Yankees @ 7:05 ET - Yesterday's game was a pitchers duel so today's total is more than double the total runs scored in Wednesday's 3-2 Yankees win. That said, one may be enticed to look at the under but this match-up truly has the makings of a slugfest. The Yankees Michael King is 0-2 with a 6.35 ERA in his 3 starts since taking over Corey Kluber's spot in the rotation. The Blue Jays are expected to start TJ Zeuch here and he struggled to a 6.75 ERA in his 4 appearances (2 starts) at the MLB level this season. He has had trouble with more walks than strikeouts. Also, Zeuch has allowed 5 homers in his 12 innings with the Blue Jays this season and that is bad news against the slugging Yankees. New York ranks 5th in the majors for homers in road games this season and the Blue Jays 103 homers on the season ranks them #1 overall for the season! The over was on a 7-1 run in Yankees games prior to yesterday's under. The Blue Jays have not had back to back unders in a week. That is just another reason that, after yesterday's pitchers duel, I am fully expecting a slugfest here. 10* OVER the total in Toronto

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #955 Wednesday 10* Top Play OVER 12 in Colorado Rockies vs San Diego Padres @ 3:10 ET - Hot afternoon with thin air of Coors Field and a pair of struggling starting pitchers. Yes, this total is a big one but truly this game has the makings of an absolute slugfest. The Padres scored the first 4 runs early yesterday but then the Rockies doubled them up the rest of the way for an 8-4 win. That kind of total would only give us a push here but I am expecting to see this one get to the 15 range. The Padres Blake Snell is winless with a 9.23 ERA in his road starts this season and the over is 5-2 in those 7 outings. The San Diego left-hander gave up 5 hits and walked 3 in 4 innings in his prior start here this season but was fortunate to allow only 2 earned runs in that one. He will not be so fortunate here. As for the Rockies Kyle Freeland, he has struggled mightily with a 9.00 ERA so far this season. The Colorado southpaw also has allowed 7 homers in his last 2 starts and that spells trouble against a San Diego team with plenty of pop in their lineup! Freeland allowed 11 hits in 4 and 1/3 innings the last time he hosted the Padres and he was fortunate to allow only 4 earned runs in that one. The over is 4-2 in the last 6 Rockies games overall and those 4 overs averaged 14 runs per game which is the range I expect this one will get into as well. Just too many problems for each of these starting pitchers and the Rockies bullpen ranks as one of the worst in the majors and the Padres bullpen has been excellent but pitching at Coors Field is a different kind of test and San Diego's pen saw that yesterday. 10* OVER 12 in Colorado

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #917 Tuesday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Cleveland Indians vs Baltimore Orioles @ 7:10 ET - The wind will be out of the north at Progressive Field and it will be a cool evening and not so favorable for the hitters. However, sometimes that serves to give us line value and that is the case here. The total has dropped partially because of the weather factor I am sure but all other signs, in my opinion, are pointing to an over in this one. The Indians start Cal Quantrill and he has struggled in the starters role in limited action this season. That includes getting rocked at Baltimore a little over a week ago. Giving the Orioles a quick second look at him is unlikely to help matters for the right-hander. Speaking of struggles, Matt Harvey gets the ball for the O's here. He is 0-2 with a 13.00 ERA in his last three starts. Also, Harvey has a 7.90 ERA in his 6 road starts this season and the over is 5-1 in those 6 outings. I expect more of the same here as he also has been rocked in both his starts against Cleveland in his career. In starts against the Indians, Harvey is 0-2 with a 12.86 ERA. Regardless of the weather tonight, though it may prevent many homers, both these starting pitchers likely to struggle and set the tone for a high-scoring game at Progressive Field. 10* OVER the total in Cleveland

NL West Total of the Month - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #959 Monday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Colorado Rockies vs San Diego Padres @ 8:40 ET - Having the over in the Rockies game yesterday at Cincinnati, I painfully watched as Colorado went an incredible 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position and left a dozen men on base in the game! Now that the Rockies are back home, I look for a lot more clutch hitting today to make up for yesterday's ugly effort at the plate. Temperatures will be near 100 degrees for a high today in Denver and it will be a hitter-friendly night at a hitter-friendly ballpark. Look for both lineups to take advantage. This is a bit of a contrarian play from the standpoint that Dinelson Lamet and Austin Gomber have had some success in recent meetings against the teams they are facing today but contrarian should prove to be the way to go here. Gomber will be facing the Padres for a 3rd time in the span of 5 weeks and this tends to favor the hitters. Also, San Diego enters this game off a huge win at New York against the Mets yesterday in which they got 3 big homers from their key players and will carry confidence and momentum into Coors Field as a result. The issue for the Padres will be that Lamet has been unable to work deep into starts and the Rockies just faced him here last month. Lamet is getting hit at a .270 clip in road starts and a .271 clip in evening games this season and faces a major test on a hot night at hitter-friendly Coors Field. Given Gomber's recent success on the mound I am not surprised this total dropped from an 11.5 to an 11 and it could move even more but it should prove to be fruitful to be a contrarian on this one based on the above. The Rockies .277 batting average at home leads the majors and the Padres bats are feeling it after yesterday's big win over the Mets. 10* OVER the total in Colorado

Earliest Dominator - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #907 Sunday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Cincinnati Reds vs Colorado Rockies @ 1:10 ET - Antonio Senzatela of the Rockies is a bit of an anomaly as he pitches better at hitter-friendly Coors Field than he does when he is on the road. Though he was great against the Reds in Denver last month, do not be surprised when he struggles badly here. The over is a perfect 3-0 in his 3 career starts against Cincinnati and, prior to his success against them last month, Senzatela allowed 12 earned runs in 10 and 1/3 innings against the Reds in his prior two starts against them. Cincinnati is starting Tony Santillan and this is his MLB debut. I know he has been solid in the minors this season but now he takes a step up in class and he had some sub-par statistics in prior seasons in the minors. I expect the Rockies to get to him early and often. The problem for the Rockies is they have allowed double digits in runs in 3 straight games and I expect more troubles for the Colorado pitching staff today as the Cincinnati bats stay hot. The Reds have had just 1 of their last 7 home games stay under the total and, overall, have scored 7 or more runs in 4 of last 6 games. The Rockies had averaged about 5 runs per game last 9 games prior to scoring just 3 yesterday and I expect more success at the plate today as they take advantage of a rookie hurler. So, Colorado's bats will bounce back from yesterday's 3-run effort while the Reds stay hot and Senzatela's long-term road struggles resume. 10* OVER the total in Cincinnati

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #926 Sunday 10* Top Play Philadelphia Phillies Money Line (-) vs New York Yankees @ 1:05 ET - The Phillies are rolling right now and they are a different team when at home and Aaron Nola tends to be a different pitcher at home too. That said, though Nola has struggled some early this season, he is still very comfortable on his home mound and should be comfortable facing the Yankees too. Last season he held them to 1 earned run allowing just 3 hits in 6 innings with no walks and 12 strikeouts! The Phillies lost that game despite his masterful performance but they enter this game winners of 3 straight (all momentum-boosting walk-off wins) and now have victories in 6 of last 8 games. The Yankees, conversely, have lost 12 of last 17 games! I know Domingo German has been impressive this season but many of his road starts were against weak or struggling teams. Earlier this season when he faced some tougher teams on the road he struggled and I just do not see him enjoying success against the Phillies here with the way they are rolling right now. 10* PHILADELPHIA

Earliest Cash (9 inn game) - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #975 Saturday 10* Top Play OVER 9 runs in Philadelphia Phillies vs New York Yankees @ 4 ET - Jameson Taillon starts for the Yankees and the road has been a nightmare for him this season. He is 0-3 with a 9.18 ERA in his 4 road starts and has allowed at least 4 earned runs in all 4 outings. Consistency from Taillon but not in the way the Yankees would want and he allowed 5 earned runs in less than 2 innings of work the last time he started at Philadelphia! The Phillies enter this game riding a wave of positive emotion as they have had back to back walk off wins in their last two games (were off Friday) and this is part of a 5-2 stretch that has seen them average 8 runs per game in the 5 victories. The Yankees enter this game on a 5-0 run to the over and should have no trouble with the offerings of Vince Velasquez. The right-hander was pitching better than expected for an extended stretch but is now coming back down to his norm - a regression to the mean if you will. Velasquez has allowed 9 earned runs in 7 innings in his last 2 starts. The Yankees averaged 7.3 runs per game in their 3 games at Minnesota and should stay hot at the plate here. 10* OVER 9 runs in Philadelphia

Earliest Cash (7 inn game) - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #981 Saturday 8* OVER 6 runs in Washington Nationals vs San Francisco Giants @ 2 ET (Game 1 of DH) - I know that yesterday's game was a 1-0 pitchers duel and that Kevin Gausman has been pitching phenomenally well for the Giants. However, in my opinion, there is a reason he opened up in the -150 range on the money line here. It makes the side look almost "too easy" here given his long-term numbers. That said, upon further review, the odds makers are likely on to something here as the Nationals have a number of hitters in their lineup who have enjoyed success against Gausman. He has a 5.24 ERA in his 9 career games against the Nats. Don't be surprised if Washington's lineup surprises many by coming up with a strong performance here. On the flip side, the Nationals starter is likely to get rocked. Erick Fedde will be making his first starts since May 16th and he was not that impressive in a rehab start in the minors. Also, the Giants have been one of the hottest teams in the league and have a great shot at knocking him around here. Fedde is 1-3 with a 7.56 ERA at home this season with opponents hitting .294 against him. Fluke? I don't think so! Fedde also was winless in 6 games (5 starts) at home last season and got hit at a .277 clip in those appearances. Home has not been good to him and the Giants take advantage and we have a very low total to work with here. 8* OVER 6 runs in Washington (Game 1 of DH)

Contrarian Crusher - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #905 Friday 10* Top Play Atlanta Braves Money Line (-) @ Miami Marlins @ 7:10 ET - Some may be enticed to take the home dog Marlins here with Sandy Alcantara on the mound but, in typical contrarian fashion for me, I am fading the early line move here and going with the small road favorite. The Braves will be "locked in" here after blowing back to back games at Philadelphia with the Phillies walking off each of the last two games in dramatic fashion. This insures the proper focus from the Braves here and I like the fact that Charlie Morton has been pitching better in recent starts as the veteran has returned to better form again. He'll be facing a Marlins team that is off a win but that victory was preceded by losses in 10 of 12 games. The Braves had won 9 of 14 before the two heartbreaking losses at Philly. These teams have records that are not too far apart but I still feel strongly that the Braves are the much better team and, as such, this is fantastic line value with Atlanta as a small favorite. Bounce back spot for the Braves and they get the job done here. 10* ATLANTA

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #901 Friday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Chicago Cubs vs St Louis Cardinals @ 2:20 ET - Warm afternoon at Wrigley Field and a starting pitching match-up that certainly should lead to some solid run-scoring here. The Cardinals Johan Oviedo is off a better start but it was at home where he has been better and it was hosting a Reds team that has struggled at the plate when on the road this season. Now he faces a Cubs team known for being dangerous at the plate in their home park and Oviedo has a 7.11 ERA with a ridiculous 11 walks in his 6 and 1/3 innings on the road this season. Oviedo also struggled on the road last season as he went winless in 4 starts with a 5.95 ERA and he allowed 5 homers in those 4 outings. The Cubs go with Kohl Stewart here and he is getting this start only because of the injury to Adbert Alzolay. That is not a knock on Stewart but just a fact and he got hit at a .290 clip in his 9 appearances last season and he has been hit at a .303 clip in his 2 starts this season. St Louis enters this game on a 3-0 run to the over and the over is 5-1 in the Cardinals last 6 road games. More of the same expected here as the Cubbies are favored here for a reason and note that they have averaged scoring 6 runs per game in their last 7 games. 10* OVER the total in Chicago Cubs

Contrarian Crusher - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #963 Thursday 10* Top Play OVER 9 runs in Boston Red Sox vs Houston Astros @ 7:10 ET - We are getting a great number to work with on this total because of Zack Greinke being on the mound for Houston. Despite his recent successes on the mound, I would not be surprised to see him struggle. There is a mental aspect to pitching that is a critical one and Greinke has been known to have some issues from time to time with that aspect of the game. The last time he pitched at Fenway Park was a few seasons back but he got rocked for 9 earned runs and this was in less than 2 innings of work! Don't be surprised if he has some struggles tonight as the Red Sox, prior to struggling at the plate in the first two games of this series, had won 5 straight and averaged 5.6 runs per game in those victories. Boston's Eduardo Rodriguez has a 7.92 ERA in his last five starts and that included an ugly one against Houston. With the Astros having won 8 of 10 games plus averaging 6.4 runs last 11 games, do not be surprised when the struggles of Rodriguez quickly resume tonight. 10* OVER 9 runs in Boston

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #956 Thursday 8* Philadelphia Phillies Money Line -135 vs Atlanta Braves @ 1:05 ET - The Phillies walk-off homer with two outs in the bottom of the 9th and from a most unlikely source is the kind of win that can give a team plenty of momentum for their next game. This is particularly true when it is an early day game coming off an evening game. With that dramatic win and with the Phillies having a huge pitching edge here, I will lay the price. The Phillies Zack Wheeler just has not been getting run support but that should change today plus he has been pitching like a Cy Young candidate so far this season. Wheeler is 3-1 with a 1.97 ERA in home starts and 3-0 with a 1.19 ERA in day game starts this season. The Braves Ian Anderson is winless with a 5.14 ERA in day game starts this season plus he enters this outing struggling of late. Anderson has allowed 8 earned runs in 8 and 1/3 innings in his last two starts. He deserved better in his most recent start but he still threw almost 100 pitches to get through just 4 and 1/3 innings so that is not a good sign for sure. The Braves have lost 4 of 6 road games and the Phillies have won 4 of last 6 games overall. 8* PHILADELPHIA -135

Afternoon Annihilation - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #901 Wednesday 10* Top Play OVER the total in San Diego Padres vs Chicago Cubs @ 4:10 ET - Yesterday's game barely stayed under the total and now we have seen today's total move from as high as an 8.5 to as low as a 7.5 in morning market movement. I realize Yu Darvish has great numbers this season but he is facing his former team and could be wound up a little too tight here. This happens to pitchers sometimes when they are so hungry to prove themselves against a former employer. Adding to the possibility of some struggles for him here is the fact that he has a 3.92 ERA in day game outings this season and has been hit at a .262 clip and last season he had a 3.27 ERA and was hit at a .267 clip in day games. While those are still respectable numbers they are far off from his numbers in evening games. Speaking of a wide variance in numbers, the Cubs Jake Arrieta is trending the wrong way big time! He started the season with a 2.57 ERA in 5 starts but now has an 8.28 ERA in the 6 starts since! Considering the above factors, this total has been pushed down far too low in my opinion. 10* OVER the total in San Diego 

ACTION on pitchers: Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #921 Wednesday 8* OVER the total in Texas Rangers vs San Francisco Giants @ 2:05 ET - Here in Vegas where I reside, big sportsbooks like Westgate have retained the policy started last season that has all MLB bets as action on the pitchers so this includes run lines and totals in addition to the traditional money line bets. That said, I like the over in this match-up no matter who pitches for the Giants and even if the Rangers Kyle Gibson gets scratched. The fact is that Gibson will be making his 2nd starts since being out with a groin strain but if the Rangers ace got scratched the point is that certainly would not bother us. I am not expecting that of course but what I am expecting is that Gibson will struggle some here. The Giants hit him better than his line score would indicate when they faced him last month at San Francisco. Also, he has been a little more hittable in day games than night games. The over is 3-0 in his last 3 starts and despite all his impressive stats this season, look for Gibson's over trend to continue here. The Giants are starting Zack Littell but southpaw Sammy Long is expected to see a lot of work too. Like I said, especially in a game like this that is essentially a bullpen game for the visitors, I could care or less who starts for San Francisco. With yesterday's game totaling 14 runs, the over is 7-3 last 10 Giants games and the Rangers have had just 1 under last 5 games. More of the same expected here. 8* OVER the total in Texas

Earliest Cash Total - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #957 Tuesday 8* OVER 7 runs in Miami Marlins vs Colorado Rockies @ 7 ET - First off I am well aware of the fact that Pablo Lopez is better at home than on the road as I noted that in yesterday's write-up before he was scratched and moved to today's game. However, this total is set far too low even though the Rockies are also a very bad road team. The expectation is that runs will be at a premium here but this total opened up at a 7.5 and has moved down to a 7 and this is simply too much value to pass up on. Yes, yesterday's game for the Marlins at Boston stayed under the total but it was truly a bad beat for over players like us. Miami left 14 men on base in that game and it had no business resulting in an under. That is helping to lead to some value here because the Rockies have a number of hitters who have enjoyed success, albeit in limited at bats, against Lopez. As for Colorado starter Antonio Senzatela, he is unusual for a Rockies pitcher in that he actually has trended toward better numbers at home at hitter-friendly Coors Field than on the road EACH of the last 3 seasons! 2019 - 7.29 ERA on the road. 2020 - 4.62 ERA away from home. 2021 - 7.15 ERA as a traveler. More struggles expected here as the Marlins make up for stranding 14 on base yesterday! 8* OVER 7 runs in Miami

Early Dominator - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #954 Tuesday 8* Philadelphia Phillies Money Line (-) vs Atlanta Braves @ 7:05 ET - As long-time followers know, I play a lot of dogs in money line sports and I rarely get into the -150 range but this play offers too much value to pass up on in my opinion. The Phillies have won 3 of 4 games, just like the Braves have, but the difference is that Philadelphia has been knocking the cover off the ball. The Phils have scored an average of 11.3 runs per game in those 3 victories. Also, Aaron Nola is seeking revenge for a loss at Atlanta the last time he faced them. Now he is at home where he has a 2.35 ERA this season. Nola is a different pitcher when he is on his home mound and I expect a fantastic start from here while the Braves Drew Smyly struggles. The Atlanta southpaw has allowed 10 earned runs in less than 10 innings of work in his last two starts. Also, he has been homer prone giving up far too many long balls. The way the Phillies have been swinging the bats Smyly is likely to be in trouble in no time and I fully expect Nola to dominate this one. 8* PHILADELPHIA

NOTE about starting PITCHERS: I am still personally betting this play on the OVER here in Vegas even though the Marlins are now going with Zach Thompson as the starting pitcher. Thompson has replaced Pablo Lopez whom is being given an extra day or rest and will be starting at home tomorrow where he is more comfortable anyway as noted below. So Thompson is now the starter here and he is making his MLB debut. No disrespect to Thompson but he is still living off th success he had in 2018 at the minor league level. Other than that one season - split between single A and double A ball - Thompson had struggled quite often in previous seasons and he has consistently struggled now since advancing to the AAA level.  At the highest level of the minors he had a 5.50 ERA in 2019 and then after losing 2020 to covid, he has a 6.60 ERA so far this season in AAA ball.  Also, he has mostly been used out of the bullpen since earlier in his career so he is unlikely to work deep here and the Marlins bullpen will be exposed. The reality is I could care or less who Miami starts here as this play has more to do with the Boston sticks crushing the ball on a hot evening at Fenway Park. ORIGINAL write-up: Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #905 Monday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Boston Red Sox vs Miami Marlins @ 5:10 ET - The Red Sox game went over the total yesterday against the Yankees in the Bronx but it was a fortunate winner for over players as it took extra innings to get there. However, I will not let that cloud my judgement in terms of analyzing this game because there were plenty of opportunities early in the game against the Yankees that were not cashed in. The fact is that it could have been a much easier over and it is an easy over that I am now anticipating in this make-up game that relates to a rain-out last month. The Marlins are in town for one game as a result and there are a couple of keys here that should help lead to plenty of runs in this one. One is that Boston's Nick Pivetta is a former Phillie so he faced Miami often in divisional action. That said, the Marlins do have hitters with familiarity against him. Also, Pivetta is off a strong start at Houston but he had allowed 4 earned runs in each of his two preceding outings. As for Marlins starting pitcher Pablo Lopez, he is known for success at home but he has struggled on the road throughout his career. 2018 - 4.84 ERA. 2019 - 7.36 ERA. 2020 - 4.91 ERA. 2021 - 5.04 ERA. Those are the statistics for Lopez away from home. He simply has not been the same pitcher when away from Miami and that career-long trend has continued this season. The Marlins game yesterday stayed under the total but this followed 4 straight overs. Also, the over is 5-1 in Pivetta's 6 home starts this season. More of the same here. 10* OVER the total in Boston

ESPN Smash Pass - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #977 Sunday 10* Top Play OVER the total in New York Yankees vs Boston Red Sox @ 7:05 ET - Boston's Garrett Richards is 0-4 with a 7.43 ERA in his career outings at Yankee Stadium. I know that the Yankees Domingo German has been pitching very well but Boston scored 7 runs in yesterday's win. The Red Sox have scored 5 or more runs in 3 straight games. The Yankees have not scored well of late but that should change in a big way here as Richards' struggles in the Bronx continue to plague him with another rough outing tonight. 10* OVER the total in New York Yankees

Afternoon Annihilation - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #908 Saturday 10* Top Play UNDER the total in Milwaukee Brewers vs Arizona Diamondbacks @ 4:10 ET - The Brewers Brandon Woodruff has been phenomenal this season. He is 4-2 with a 1.27 ERA and opponents are hitting only .138 against him this season. He is taking on an Arizona team that has been in a long-term losing slump. That certainly does not set up the Diamondbacks very well for much success at the plate. 8 of Woodruff's 11 starts this season have resulted in an under. Merrill Kelly is off a tough start but this followed 6 straight starts of great success. He gave up 13 earned runs over 6 starts and has struck out 45 in 43 and 1/3 innings his last 7 starts. Kelly pitched better than his earned runs allowed would lead you to believe in his most recent start. Also, the Brewers are averaging only 3.7 runs per game this season at home and hitting only .207 at home this season which is the worst mark in the National League. 4 of the 6 road games for Kelly have resulted in an Arizona under and I look for another one this afternoon. 10* UNDER the total in Milwaukee

Earliest Dominator - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #952 Friday 10* Top Play Philadelphia Phillies Money Line -110 vs Washington Nationals @ 7:05 ET - The Phillies had a rainout Wednesday and were off yesterday but I look for their lineup to build momentum from Tuesday's massive 17 to 3 win over the Reds. When every thing clicks for a team that had been slumping, a game like that can do wonders for a team. The Phillies catch a Nationals team that has lost 7 of 10 games and averaged only 1.1 runs per game in the 7 defeats. Also, Washington's Max Scherzer does have great career numbers against the Phillies but they have gotten to him for 7 earned runs in 12 innings in his last two starts against them. As for Philadelphia's Zack Wheeler, his current form is nothing short of phenomenal. Wheeler has a 1.69 ERA last 3 starts and has allowed only 12 hits while striking out 36 over 21 and 1/3 innings! Also, he has allowed only 4 earned runs in 18 and 1/3 innings in his last 3 starts against the Nationals. The Nats are 10-15 on the road this season while the Phils are 15-10 at home this season. That said, I see fantastic line value here based on the pitching match-up and team match-up and a pick'em price on the home team. 10* PHILADLPHIA -110

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #901 Thursday 10* Top Play OVER 9.5 runs in Atlanta Braves vs Washington Nationals @ 12:20 ET - Battle of southpaws here with not much success projected for either one. That is because both are struggling plus note that Washington is #1 in the NL for batting average versus lefties and Atlanta is #2 in the NL for slugging percentage versus lefties. In other words, reason to expect plenty of success for both teams at the plate here. Patrick Corbin has a 6.23 ERA on the season and got rocked for 5 runs in about 5 innings in his most recent start at Atlanta. Tucker Davidson is making just his 3rd MLB start and the Braves shuffled their rotation because of series with Dodgers coming up. In other words this is essentially a spot start for Davidson and I expect the inexperienced lefty to struggle with a Nats team hitting well against southpaws. The Nats have scored 6.3 runs per game so far in this series and the Braves have averaged 6.3 runs per game last 9 games. 10* OVER the total in Atlanta

Daytime Dominator - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #953 Wednesday 10* Top Play OVER 7 runs in Chicago Cubs vs San Diego Padres @ 2:20 ET - Yesterday's game was 4-3 through 5 innings and then stayed that way so it never went over the total. I look for today's afternoon game to make up for that. Dinelson Lamet has never pitched at Wrigley Field but the Cubs have some hitters with experience against him and that experience has been positive. Lamet has a 5.40 ERA in his two road appearances this season and he has not been able to work deep into games yet this season. Adberto Alzolay starts for the Cubs here. He did not allow a homer in most recent start but that was against a Reds team that struggles at the plate on the road. In 5 starts that preceded that, Alzolay allowed 7 homers! I know this looks like it might be a pitchers duel on the surface but the Padres were on a 9-1 run to the over prior to the first two games of this series each staying under the total. San Diego scored an average of 7.3 runs in those 10 games. The Cubs have a top ten slugging percentage in home games this season. Also, Chicago has scored at least 4 runs in 6 of last 8 games and it will not take much to get this one over the low total. 10* OVER 7 runs in Chicago Cubs

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #911 Tuesday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Cleveland Indians vs Chicago White Sox @ 6:10 ET - I know this is a bit of a contrarian play but I feel we have excellent line value with this low total. Looks like the sharps are seeing the same thing as this, on the surface, would look like a pitchers duel plus there has been a lot of under trending involving these teams, and yet the total has gone from a 7 to a 7.5 in some books already. The under has cashed in 10 of the White Sox last 13 games. However, the over is 6-2 in Indians last 8 home games. Also, the weather is going to be very pleasant in Cleveland this evening and what I really like is the pitching match-up here. Yes, Cease and Bieber both have low ERAs this season and strong long-term reputations, particularly Bieber. However, prior to a strong start - albeit again Detroit - Bieber had allowed 31 hits in 22 and 2/3 innings spanning his 4 prior starts. As for Cease, he had been a little off in each of his 3 prior starts before shutting down a bad Orioles team in his most recent start. Cease had allowed 13 hits plus hit 2 batters and walked 9 for 24 base runners in just 15 innings of work. Don't be surprised when both Cease and Bieber have some struggles in this one and, with how low the posted total is here we should see a solid winner here. 10* OVER the total in Cleveland 

Total of the Month - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #969 Monday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Houston Astros vs Boston Red Sox @ 4:10 ET - Astros are the #1 hitting team in the majors for batting average this season. Who is #2 thus far? Yes, you guessed it, the Red Sox. That said, we do have two strong hitting teams matched up here and considering both starting pitchers are likely to struggle I am expecting a slugfest in this one. The Red Sox Eduardo Rodriguez is 1-3 with a 6.48 ERA in the month of May. I know that the Astros Jose Urquidy has better numbers on the season but he is coming off a trip to the injured list and will be making his first start in nearly 3 weeks. The over is 4-1 in Boston's last 5 road games and the Red Sox averaged 6.4 runs per game in those contests. The over is 9-2 in Houston's last 11 games. The Astros averaged 5.2 runs per game in those 11 contests. I am looking for a 6-5 type game here and also like the fact that the over is 3-1 in Urquidy's home starts this season as well as the fact that Rodriguez has a 6.75 ERA in his 4 career starts versus the Astros. More of the same here. 10* OVER the total in Houston

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #901 Sunday 10* Top Play Milwaukee Brewers Money Line +105 @ Washington Nationals @ 1:05 ET - While I certainly respect the Nationals Max Scherzer, the Brewers Brandon Woodruff has been phenomenal this season. Also, Milwaukee has been the better team this season and also enters this match-up as the hotter team too. After yesterday's double-header sweep, the Brewers have now 6 of 8 games while the Nationals have lost 4 of 5 games. Woodruff has a 1.41 ERA in his 10 starts this season. Scherzer has a solid ERA as well but did allow 2 homers in his most recent start and that was also at home. He also allowed 2 homers to the Brewers the last time he faced them. As for Woodruff, the Milwaukee right-hander has a 1.59 ERA and unreal 0.53 WHIP in his 3 career starts against Washington. Speaking of unreal numbers, Woodruff has a 0.57 WHIP in his 5 road starts this season. Again, with all due respect to Scherzer, this is still too much value to pass up on here as we get the hotter team with one of the hottest pitchers in baseball at a plus money price in this one. 10* MILWAUKEE

Total of the Week - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #967 Saturday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Oakland Athletics vs Los Angeles Angels @ 4:07 ET - The A's and Angels both had been trending over of late. The first two games of this series stayed under the total but Oakland had been on an 8-3 run to the over and the Angels had been on a 9-2 run to the over. That said, and based on this pitching match-up, I look for a high-scoring game Saturday. We have seen this total drop from an 8.5 to an 8 so this is even more value on the over. Alex Cobb is off a solid start but he has an 8.71 ERA in his 3 road starts this season. Frankie Montas was in strong form with strikeouts in his most recent start but he got hurt by the long ball. Will he have good stuff again here and avoid the long ball this time around? I highly doubt that as Montas has a 6.17 ERA in his 7 home starts this season. Based on home/road dichotomy for these two starters plus situational value this one has caught my attention in a big way Saturday. 10* OVER the total in Oakland

Daytime Dominator - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #967 Thursday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Tampa Bay Rays vs Kansas City Royals @ 3:10 ET - I know the first two games of this series have both been 2-1 finals. I also know the Royals are not known for having a potent offense either! However, something about this match-up has me feeling strongly about an over and we have a total of only 7.5 runs to work with which is a great value. I know Brady Singer has decent numbers for the Royals but the Tampa Bay offense, this series notwithstanding, has been red hot for an extended stretch. Also, Singer is in just his 2nd season and he is squaring off with Shane McClanahan whom is a rookie making just his 6th career MLB start. That said, I feel too much respect is being given to these starting pitchers and that we have excellent line value with the lwo posted total here. Singer was having trouble with command of his pitches in his most recent start and the Rays had scored an average of 9 runs per game during their 11-game winning streak that preceded the 1-1 split so far in this series. As you can see, the Tampa Bay offense was ridiculously hot and they will make Singer pay if he is again having command issues here. As for McClanahan, I know the rookie has fantastic stuff but he is still new to the highest level of baseball and he does have a 5.79 ERA in his two home starts this season. Perhaps putting a little too much pressure on himself when pitching at home but the young southpaw has been hit at a nearly .300 clip at home but has allowed 3 homers in those 2 starts here. 10* OVER the total in Tampa Bay

Daytime Dominator - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #917 Wednesday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Los Angeles Angels vs Texas Rangers @ 4:07 ET - The Angels won 11-5 yesterday and the over is now 8-2 their last 10 games. The over is now 4-0 the Rangers last 4 road games and these averaged 12.3 runs per game! Based on this pitching match-up too, more of the same expected here. The Rangers start Dane Dunning and he is winless with a 6.06 ERA in his 4 road starts this season. The over went 3-1 in those 4 road starts and he also struggled at home against the Angels when he faced them in Texas in late April. The Angels start Griffin Canning here and he has allowed 10 runs (7 earned) in just 7 innings spanning his last two starts against Texas. Canning enters this outing off a rough start versus Minnesota and he has a 5.87 ERA at home this season and the over is 5-2 his 7 starts this year. With the way the Angels have been hitting overall, even with Mike Trout out of the lineup, and the way the Rangers have been involved in high-scoring games consistently on the road, look for a wild afternoon slugfest here. 10* OVER the total in Los Angeles Angels

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #953 Tuesday 10* Top Play Philadelphia Phillies Money Line +120 @ Miami Marlins @ 6:40 ET - I look for the Phillies to get back on track against Sandy Alcantara. They just saw him and I know he had success against them but last season when he faced the Phillies a 2nd time it was also here in Miami and they got to him in that 2nd match-up. That was still a Marlins win but it was a crazy 7-6 final. Look for the Phillies to get to him here plus get a strong start from Vince Velasquez who has been pleasant surprise. I know he had some numbness in his finger and that effected his turn in the rotation but he is good to go here and has great numbers this season. Also, the Marlins have not seen him this season whereas the Phillies just saw Alcantara last week. I feel this is an edge to the Phillies. This is another reason the Marlins are priced so low here. The odds makers know what they are doing. The Phillies have been struggling and Miami has been hot so for this game to be priced this way surely raised some eyebrows. In typical contrarian fashion, I am on the other side of this and grabbing the team no one else will want here. Velasquez has a 1.47 ERA this month and has held hitters to a .141 batting average here in May. The Phillies get the mild upset here! 10* PHILADELPHIA

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #909 Monday 10* Top Play OVER 8.5 runs in Detroit Tigers vs Cleveland Indians @ 7:10 ET - The Tigers Spencer Turnbull is off a no-hitter. Many guys, ironically, due to tend to struggle right after delivering an incredible start like that. Also, Turnbull has a horrible history versus the Indians with an 0-6 record and 5.18 ERA in nine games against Cleveland in his career. The Tribe has hit .325 against him with a .482 slugging percentage as well against Turnbull. That said, I am looking for plenty of runs here because Sam Hentges is very likely to struggle. After a successful first start this season Hentges then got rocked in his 2nd start. Overall, in 6 appearances (2 starts) this season, Hentges has been hit at a .343 clip and has a 2.09 WHIP! The over is 7-2 in Cleveland's last 9 games. Even though off a low-scoring loss yesterday, the Tigers have scored an average of 5 runs per game their last 17 contests. The Indians do not score as well but have been trending over and this is a good match-up for them which means we should see each team get to at least 5 runs in this one! 10* OVER 8.5 runs in Detroit

Contrarian Crusher - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #957 Sunday 10* Top Play OVER 11.5 runs in Colorado Rockies vs Arizona Diamondbacks @ 3:10 ET - This is a contrarian play based on the fact that we are going over a big number even though Taylor Widener has a 2.82 ERA and Jon Gray has a 3.48 ERA. Big key here is the weather at hitter friendly Coors Field. A day game here with mild temperatures and the wind blowing out means that the ball is going to carry very very well in this one! Also, the Diamondbacks Widener is making his first start in a month and coming back from a groin strain injury. The Rockies Gray is coming off a rough outing against the Padres in which he allowed 7 runs (5 earned) on 10 hits in less than 6 innings of work. Also, this will be the 3rd time Gray has faced Arizona and they got to him for 10 hits in 6 innings in the 2nd go around so the 3rd time is certainly unlikely to go very well for the Colorado right-hander. As for Widener, he has never pitched at Coors Field and that includes his 12 appearances as a reliever last season. Young hurlers making first ever appearances at Denver's hitter-friendly venue are known for encountering struggles. More of the same here. Just 1 under in the Rockies last 6 home games and yesterday's game totaled 13 runs. I expect at least that many again today. 10* OVER 11.5 runs in Colorado

Total of the Week - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #927 Saturday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Philadelphia Phillies vs Boston Red Sox @ 7:15 ET - The Phillies start Spencer Howard here and he is a solid young prospect with some MLB experience already. However, he is only getting this chance because Chase Anderson struggled in the rotation. Howard is expected to be on a pitch limit of about 60 pitches and that will end up asking too much of a Phillies bullpen that got rocked in yesterday's 11 to 3 loss to these same Red Sox. Howard has a 6.28 ERA and has a .303 BAA in his 9 MLB appearances - 6 starts. The over is 3-0 in Boston's last 3 games and they have scored an average of 9 runs per game in those 3 games. Red Sox starter Nathan Eovaldi could struggle here. In fact, the odds favor that as Eovaldi has allowed 4 or more earned runs in 4 of his last 5 starts. With this total dropping from a 9 to an 8.5 this morning, I like the over even more. This is a good match-up for the Phillies to get their bats going again at home but they also will not be able to slow down Boston. 10* OVER 8.5 runs in Philadelphia

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #953 Friday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Cincinnati Reds vs Milwaukee Brewers @ 7:10 ET - The Reds got blasted 19-4 yesterday by the Giants and will be looking to bounce back. However, though Cincinnati is a solid hitting team when at home, they will need better pitching to get back into the win column and I expect both hurlers to struggle in this one. The Reds are starting Jeff Hoffman and he is 0-2 with a 7.54 ERA in his last 4 starts. The Brewers Adrian Houser has good numbers but could not find the plate in his last start and walked 5 in just 3 innings of work. When he does find the plate against the Reds at hitter-friendly Great American Ball Park he could be in trouble too. That is because many of Cincinnati's players that have experience against him have hit him hard! There are 5 Reds that are a combined 17 of 38 against him for a .447 batting average with 6 homers among the hits! Look for both teams to score plenty here as the Brewers have averaged 7 runs per game in their last two games against a right-handed starter and the Reds had success against Houser both times they faced him last season. They resume their solid home hitting here! 10* OVER the total in Cincinnati

Afternoon Annihilation - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #916 Thursday 10* Top Play Oakland A's +105 vs Houston Astros @ 3:35 ET - After getting drilled 8 to 1 yesterday and being frustrated by Zack Greinke, I look for the A's to bounce back huge here. They will take advantage of facing Luis Garcia. I know the Astros right-hander is off a good start versus the Rangers but his velocity was quite diminished in that outing. I feel this spot sets up well for a disappointing result for him. The A's bounce back from an ugly loss and pound Garcia's slower offerings. As for Oakland starter, Cole Irvin, not only does he lead the Athletics rotation with a 3.02 ERA on the season, the southpaw also has a stellar 1.89 ERA in his last 6 starts. The point is that Irvin has been particularly "on point" over the past month! The A's are 9-3 the last dozen times when off a loss and I look for that strong trend to continue here. Houston is only 11-11 versus left-handed starters this season. Home team in a blowout here. 10* OAKLAND +105

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #901 Thursday 8* OVER the total in Cincinnati Reds vs San Francisco Giants @ 12:35 ET - Reds off a shutout loss yesterday and I am well aware of the fact that each of the last two games stayed under the total. However, keep in mind that this followed a 7-1-1 run to the over in Cincinnati's games. Also, the Reds have been one of the best teams at home this season in terms of run production and I fully expect them to bounce back off yesterday's shutout loss. Cincinnati will take advantage of facing a struggling former Red, Johnny Cueto. The Giants right-hander has allowed 7 earned runs in 7 and 1/3 innings since he returned from injury this season. Tyler Mahle has been strong for the Reds but the right-hander does have a 4.32 ERA in his 3 home starts and also has a 6.00 ERA in his 3 day game starts. Mahle is now 3-7 with a 5.36 ERA in day game outings the last 3 seasons combined! The Giants have averaged scoring 5 runs per game last 5 games and the Reds are averaging scoring 6 runs per game at home this season. 8* OVER the total in Cincinnati

Contrarian Crusher - Rickenbach MLB 10* Top Play OVER 7.5 runs in San Diego Padres vs Colorado Rockies @ 4:10 ET - Off a 2-1 game last night and with this game, of course, at Petco Park rather than Coors Field, the first thought here is under. However, in typical contrarian fashion I am on the over in this one. Chi Chi Gonzalez is off a solid start but allowed 11 earned runs in less than 9 innings spanning his two prior starts. Joe Musgrove is also off a solid start but he allowed 10 runs (9 earned) in 10 innings spanning his two prior starts. Also, yesterday's under was the first for the Rockies in their last 6 games. As for the Padres, prior to yesterday's low-scoring win, they were on an 8-2 run to the over. Look for a return to high-scoring ways here given the pitching match-up and we do not even need much to push this one over the total. I'll take it. 10* OVER the total in San Diego

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #965 Wednesday 8* OVER 8.5 runs in Minnesota Twins vs Chicago White Sox @ 1:10 ET - Chicago's Lucas Giolito has allowed 18 earned runs in 24 innings spanning his last 5 starts. Minnesota's Matt Shoemaker is 2-4 with a 6.62 ERA this season. The over is 4-0 in the last 4 road games for the White Sox. The over is on an 8-2 run in Twins games. 4 of the 5 meetings between these teams this season have gone over the total. More of the same expected here. 8* OVER 8.5 runs in Minnesota

Contrarian Crusher - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #901 Tuesday 10* Top Play OVER 8 runs in Cincinnati Reds vs San Francisco Giants @ 6:40 ET - Won with this match-up yesterday and coming right back with the over again today. The Reds Luis Castillo is simply not right this season and now has a 7.71 ERA on the year. This is not the right match-up for him to bounce back as the Giants just saw him last month and had success plus they also enter this game with wins in 7 of their last 10 so they have extra confidence at the plate right now. San Francisco has averaged scoring 5.5 runs per game in last 8 road games. The Giants will have former Red Anthony DeSclafani on the mound for this one. Facing his former team, do not be surprised if he struggles as he tries to do too much here. So often hurler tend to overthrow when getting their first shot at a former employer and I expect that to be the case with DeSclafani here. Even off a disappointing loss yesterday, Cincinnati has been a great home team this season and they have a .498 slugging percentage as a host and have scored 6.7 runs per game at Great American Ball Park this season. The O/U is 7-1-1 in the Reds last 9 games. The Giants bullpen has a 5.18 ERA in road games this season and the Cincy bullpen has a 6.12 ERA in home games this season. With this total also dropping from an 8.5 to an 8, I feel we have excellent value here. 10* OVER the total in Cincinnati

Contrarian Crusher - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #953 Monday 10* Top Play New York Mets Money Line (+140) @ Atlanta Braves @ 7:10 ET - The first line to come out on this game was in the -125 range and now the money line has quickly shot up to the -150 range. Free money on the Braves, right? In typical contrarian fashion I am fading the line move here and grabbing the line value on the other side. I fully understand the line as the Braves Max Fried has looked solid since returning from injury. However, Taijuan Walker has been fantastic this season with a 2.20 ERA and holding opponents to a paltry .170 batting average! I am not saying the Mets are better than the Braves overall but I like to take dogs when there is reason to fade a favorite. That is the case here as Walker has been better overall this season in comparison with Fried. Also, the Braves have a losing record at home this season plus are an ugly 7-13 this season when facing a team with a winning record! I am aware that the Mets have some injury issues but Atlanta's Ronald Acuna Jr is dealing with an ankle injury and he is arguably the most important hitter in the Braves lineup. Atlanta has not seen Walker start against them since the 2017 season while the Mets saw Friend not just once but twice last season. In my mind there is simply no justification for Atlanta to have been adjusted up into the -150 range here as the bookmakers do not give away "free money" but that is the way the bettors have acted in the way they jumped all over Atlanta here after the odds makers said the right price was closer to -120 than -150. As usual, I am siding with the odds makers on this money line! Give me the dog! 10* NEW YORK METS +140

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #951 Monday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Cincinnati Reds vs San Francisco Giants @ 6:40 ET - The Giants Logan Webb is 0-3 with a 7.58 ERA in his 4 road starts this season. The San Francisco bullpen has a 5.02 ERA in road games this season. The Reds are averaging 7 runs per game at home this season so this will be a major challenge for Giants pitchers. However, Cincinnati has some pitching concerns of their own here. Reds starter Sonny Gray was "off" and "wild" in his most recent start. Lacking command could hurt Gray here and he got rocked for 5 earned runs in less than 4 innings of work in his only evening start this season. The Reds bullpen has a 6.21 ERA in home games this season. San Francisco has averaged 5.4 runs per game last 7 road games. We get a low total in this game to work with and I like the value because Gray was not sharp in most recent outing and you can see the pens and the Giants starter all fall into the "likely to get hit" category in this one as well. 10* OVER the total in Cincinnati

Daytime Dominator - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #909 Sunday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Arizona Diamondbacks vs Washington Nationals @ 4:10 ET - Yesterday's game was the 3rd time the teams have combined for 15 runs or more in 6 meetings between these teams this season. That said, the high-scoring ways are likely to continue here with this pitching match-up. I know Fedde has some success against the Diamondbacks earlier this season but now they get a 2nd shot at him and when they faced him previous to this season they got to him for 5 earned runs in 6 innings. Fedde has allowed 3 homers in his last two starts versus Arizona and he also enters this outing with an ugly 7.20 ERA his last two starts overall. Now he faces a Diamondbacks lineup that tends to hit better when at home. Arizona certainly will need all the runs it can get here because I expect Dbacks pitcher Luke Weaver to struggle. He has 7.04 ERA and ugly 2.09 WHIP in his two career starts against the Nationals. Weaver also faced Erick Fedde and the Nationals in a match-up last month. With these lineups getting another look at the pitchers and with the long-term numbers against them and the recent history in this series, I would not be surprised to see another slugfest here. That said, the drop on this total from a 9.5 to a 9 means we are getting even more value here. I'll take it! 10* OVER the total in Arizona

Daytime Dominator - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #965 Saturday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Boston Red Sox vs Los Angeles Angels @ 4:10 ET - The Red Sox Martin Perez has not recorded a victory in any of his 10 starts at Fenway Park since arriving in Boston. Perez has a 5.21 ERA from 2017 to 2019. Then he came to Boston and went 0-4 with a 5.46 ERA in 6 starts at Fenway Park last season and he is winless with a 5.50 ERA in 4 starts here this season! As for the Angels Dylan Bundy, he was great in limited action last season. But are we now seeing a return to his previously poor form? Bundy went 15-30 with a 5.11 ERA in his final two seasons combined at Baltimore. Then he enjoyed some success with the Angels last year's shortened season but now this season he is 0-4 with a 5.03 ERA in his 7 starts! Both these teams have trended under recently but long-time followers know I am a contrarian and I feel strongly that lack of confidence for both these starting pitchers coupled with a pair of solid lineups will lead to plenty of runs in this one. Also, the Red Sox bullpen has ranked only in the middle of the pack this season while the Angels (5.32 ERA) have ranked as one of the worst in the majors thus far. More of the same here. 10* OVER the total in Boston

ACTION on pitchers. Contrarian Crusher - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #931 Friday 10* Top Play Philadelphia Phillies Money Line +140 @ Toronto Blue Jays @ 7:35 ET - At first glance it looks easy to grab the home team here. In typical contrarian fashion, I am grabbing the road dog in this one but it is certainly not without reason. For starters, getting +140 with the Phillies in this situation is great value simply based on the value of team on team match-ups. But lets talk about the starting pitching here. Vince Velasquez has always been one of those guys that is hard to trust but has good stuff when he is locked in. In other words, he is a streaky pitcher and on rare occasions you can then ride those streaks. That is what I am looking to do here. He enters this start with a 3.20 ERA in his 4 starts since taking over Matt Moore's spot in the rotation. Also, the Blue Jays have 8 hitters with experience against them and two have fared well but the other 6 are a combined 1 for 29 against him! That certainly does not bode well for Toronto in terms of being able to sustain rallies in this one. Also, the Phillies are likely to have a huge day at the plate in this one. Steven Matz has been hit hard of late and has a 9.22 ERA in his last 3 starts. Also, the Phillies have 4 players with between 13 and 29 at bats against Matz that are all hitting between .316 and .533 against him. This is unlikely to be a good match-up for the Jays southpaw whom, as a former Met, the Phillies know very very well. 10* PHILADELPHIA +140

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #973 Thursday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Atlanta Braves vs Toronto Blue Jays @ 12:20 ET - Yesterday's game was dominated the pitchers but I expect that to change today in a big way. The Braves Charlie Morton is having trouble with his breaking stuff and that has really wrecked his current form. Morton did not even get out of the 1st inning versus the Phillies in his most recent start. Prior to that, he had allowed 9 earned runs in 10 and 2/3 innings over his two most recent outings. Against the Blue Jays, Morton has allowed 10 earned runs in 9 and 1/3 innings spanning his last two starts. Toronto will have Ross Stripling on the mound for this one. He has allowed 6 earned runs on 12 hits in a 8 and 1/3 innings spanning his last two starts against the Braves. Also, Stripling enters this start with a WHIP near 2.00 and a 6.61 ERA in his four starts this season. Poor current form for him and the Braves will take advantage with a big day at the plate here. We get line value here with the total dropping from a 9 to an 8.5 and I will step in and take advantage. 10* OVER the total in Atlanta

Afternoon Annihilation - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #923 Tuesday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Cleveland Indians vs Chicago Cubs @ 1:10 ET - Kyle Davies is off a strong start but it came against a bad Pirates team plus he only struck out 1 in that outing. In other words, the Indians bats will be putting the ball in play here against Davies and he lasted no more than 4 innings in any of his 4 starts that preceded the start versus Pittsburgh. He has a 6.28 ERA on the season and this total dropped from a 9 to an 8 which is offering us significant line value here. Sam Hentges is making his first ever MLB start and though he has "only" a 5.00 ERA so far this season, the Indians lefty has been fortunate the damage has not been worse! Hentges has allowed 4 homers in just 9 innings of work and, overall, opponents are hitting .350 against him. I know yesterday's game was a tight 3-2 final but, keep this in mind, the Indians entered that game having scored at least 4 runs in 6 of last 7 games and, in fact, averaged 6.3 runs per game in those 6 games. The Cubs entered yesterday's game having won 7 of 10 games and scoring an average of 5.8 runs per game in those 10 games. This total, particularly after the downward move, should prove to be far too low. 10* OVER the total in Cleveland

Total Annihilation - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #953 Tuesday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Washington Nationals vs Philadelphia Phillies @ 7:05 ET - The Nationals Erick Fedde is 0-3 with a 6.50 ERA in his last 3 starts against the Phillies and those were all last season and he allowed 5 homers in those 3 starts. The Phillies Chase Anderson is winless with a horrific 16.40 ERA in his 3 career starts in Washington DC. He also enters this start with a 9.39 ERA on the road this season. Fedde enters this start with an 8.48 ERA at home this season. It is the ideal set up for a slugfest as the Phillies bullpen has struggled this season. Although the Nationals bullpen has been better than the Phillies this season they have still taken the loss in 4 of last 5 decisions while also blowing their only save opportunity over the past 7 days. I know recent trending for these teams has been to the under but that changes in a big way in this one and truly it is merely helping to keep this total lower than it should be. 10* OVER the total in Washington

Total of the Week - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #907 Monday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Baltimore Orioles vs Boston Red Sox @ 7:05 ET - Yesterday's game stayed under the total but these teams entered that one with the over on a 5-1 run in last 6 meetings. Those 5 overs averaged 15 runs per game and another wild one should be on tap here. The Red Sox start Martin Perez and he has been roughed up in 2 of his last 3 starts against Baltimore. In those 2 ugly starts Perez allowed 11 runs (10 earned) in just 9 innings of work. The Orioles start Jorge Lopez here. Not only does he have a 9.00 ERA in his 3 home starts this season, he also got rocked for 7 earned runs in 4 innings in the one start out of those three that was against these Red Sox. In other words, do not be surprised if both of these starting pitchers encounter some trouble here after yesterday's rather low-scoring game was a bit of an aberration in my opinion. Boston entered yesterday's game on a 5-2 run to the over and scoring an average of 7.5 runs per game last 8 games. With this total opening at a 9.5 and then dropping to a 9 we have additional value here and I will not pass this up! 10* OVER the total in Baltimore

ESPN Dominator - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #961 Sunday 10* Top Play Philadelphia Phillies Money Line -110 @ Atlanta Braves @ 7:05 ET - The Phillies lost a heartbreaker last night as they blew a 3-1 lead in bottom of the 9th and a 4-3 lead in bottom of 11th and then, worst of all, blew a 7-4 lead in bottom of the 12th to lose 8-7. However, here is what we know. Acuna might not play today because he took a fastball off his hand in last night's game. If he does this could impact his swing either physically or mentally or both. Acuna is one of the few Braves who actually has been hitting well early this season so his loss would be significant. The Phillies, on the other hand, have gotten their lineup much healthier recently and they also entered last night's game on a solid winning streak. They will bounce back behind their ace tonight. Aaron Nola is a proven ace. I know Huascar Ynoa has been pitching well for the Braves this season but this is still a guy who entered this season with a 7.30 ERA in his 11 MLB appearances (5 starts). Lets just say these teams were equal which, from a health standpoint, I feel they are not right now. But, even if we say the teams are equal I still would take Nola over Ynoa every single time and we get great line value to back him here at about a pick'em price. 10* PHILADELPHIA -110

Contrarian Crusher - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #911 Saturday 10* OVER the total in Atlanta Braves vs Philadelphia Phillies @ 7:20 ET - I know that Ian Anderson has solid numbers for the Braves this season but this will be the 3rd time already that the Phillies are seeing him this year. Philadelphia got to him for 4 earned runs in 5 and 1/3 innings in most recent chance against him. Also, the Phillies lineup is getting healthier again with both Bryce Harper and Jean Segura returning yesterday. Additionally, Philly is red hot with 5 straight wins and the Phillies have scored an average of 6 runs per game last 6 games. Vince Velasquez gets the start for Philadelphia here. I do not trust this guy. I know he has had a couple of decent starts recently but he'll struggle here. He is 1-6 with a 5.02 ERA against the Braves and has allowed 6 earned runs in 7 and 1/3 innings spanning his last two starts at Atlanta. With yesterday's 12-2 Phillies win, the Braves O/U is 11-3-1 in their 15 home games this season. Look for that high-scoring trend to continue here. 10* OVER the total in Atlanta

Contrarian Crusher - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #957 Friday 10* Top Play Philadelphia Phillies Money Line +140 @ Atlanta Braves @ 7:20 ET - The knee-jerk reaction here is to grab the Braves on their home field considering the Phillies poor road record so far this season. However, Philadelphia has actually alternated wins and losses in last 6 road games and lost their most recent road game so look for them to get right back into the win column here. There is simply too much line value being offered to Zach Eflin and the Phillies in this one. The Braves are heating up but so too are the Phillies. Also, Atlanta's Charlie Morton has given up 4 earned runs or more in 3 of his last 4 starts. Conversely, Philadelphia's Eflin has given up 2 earned runs or less in 4 of his 6 starts this season. Also, the Phillies could get both Bryce Harper and Jean Segura back for this one. Additionally the bullpen is in great shape because Zack Wheeler gave the Phils a complete game yesterday. Closer Hector Neris has been rested since his long save against the Brewers Monday while Coonrod and Alvarado picked up the saves Tuesday and Wednesday. Again, no bullpen was needed yesterday in Wheeler's shutout win over the Brewers and so the Phillies relief corps is in great shape for this one and the lineup could get a boost too as noted above. The Braves are a solid team for sure but the Phillies are right there with them and I like Wheeler over Morton here plus the situational value leading to big underdog value too good to pass up on in my opinion. 10* PHILADELPHIA

Afternoon Annihilation - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #952 Friday 8* Chicago Cubs Money Line -140 vs Pittsburgh Pirates @ 2:20 ET - Zach Davies may not have the greatest numbers but this is more about a play against Trevor Cahill plus taking the much better team on their home field. The Cubs enter this game having won 5 of 7. The Pirates enter this game having lost 6 of 7. Over the past 7 days, Chicago's .490 slugging percentage ranks #1 in the majors while the Pirates paltry .272 slugging percentage ranks dead last in the National League. Pittsburgh's Cahill has been known for many seasons throughout his career to struggle much more on the road than at home. In fact, he enters this start with a 9-26 long-term run in road decisions and consistently has much higher ERA numbers on the road than at home. That is why, in a rarity for me, I am willing to lay a little bit of a price here but I feel Davies will get revenge for an earlier season poor performance against the Pirates and that the Cubs will give him plenty of run support on a chilly afternoon at Wrigley Field. 8* CHICAGO CUBS

Daytime Dominator - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #905 Thursday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Washington Nationals vs Atlanta Braves @ 4:05 ET - Yesterday's game barely stayed under the total. Look for today's game to make up for it. Yes, Jon Lester has good career numbers against the Braves and did have a strong first start to begin this season with the Nationals. However, couple comments on that. His only start this season came against the Marlins and that is not a team I am impressed by in terms of their lineup. Also, though Lester has had success against Atlanta, it has been awhile since he faced them. Though that most recent outing was a successful one against the Braves, it followed him allowing a combined 5 homers in his other 2 most recent outings versus Atlanta. Despite his strong career numbers, most of that success against the Braves is from many years ago and I feel strongly he is not the same pitcher he once was. Like Atlanta's lineup, Washington's lineup should also have a big game at the plate today. The Nationals will take advantage of facing a struggling Drew Smyly. Yesterday notwithstanding, the Nats have hit very well against southpaws this season and the lefty Smyly has some ugly stats of late. Smyly had a respectable start against Washington earlier this season but since then he went 0-2 with a 10.38 ERA over three starts. He allowed 8 homers in those 3 outings and I expect more struggles today. 10* OVER the total in Washington

ACTION for the pitchers! Game of the Week - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #958 Wednesday 10* Philadelphia Phillies Money Line +120 vs Milwaukee Brewers @ 7:05 ET - Chase Anderson is starting to settle in a bit as a Phillies starter. He also is a former Brewer. You know he is going to be up for this start as this is his first shot at his former team since he was jettisoned from Milwaukee a couple years ago. We are getting great line value here because Freddy Peralta has great numbers for the Brewers so far this season. However, his only two road starts were at Chicago against the Cubs and that is a team that struggled badly to score runs at home early this season. Why is this so significant here? It is because Peralta is known for struggling on the road and so I am not putting too much weight into two starts at Wrigley Field when the Cubs were not hitting well. Also, they did get to him for 5 hits in 4 innings in his 2nd start there. Now take a look at Peralta's career road stats: 2020 - 5.28 ERA, 2019 - 7.04 ERA, 2018 - 5.36 ERA! As for Anderson, he has not worked too deep into games but his only truly bad start was at Colorado and Coors Field is the most hitter-friendly park in majors. As for his other 4 starts, Anderson has a 3.50 ERA. As a home dog here, the Phillies offer solid line value as they are 11-6 at home this season. Too much value, in my opinion, to pass up on given all of the above. 10* PHILADELPHIA +120

MLB is a play even though Phil Maton now expected to start for the Indians. Maton is just an opener. Sam Hentges still expected to get the bulk of the work. Contrarian Crusher - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #921 Tuesday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Kansas City Royals vs Cleveland Indians @ 8:10 ET - I know these are generally two of the weaker offenses in the majors but the Royals have hit pretty well at home this season and the Indians have won 6 of 8 games and have averaged scoring 6.2 runs per game in those wins. Cleveland should have no trouble with a struggling Mike Minor. The Kansas City left-hander has allowed 5 homers in his last 3 starts and that includes outings against the Tigers and Pirates which certainly are not exactly teams known to have powerhouse lineups. I know Minor has some history against the Indians but his current form is off. As for Cleveland's starting pitcher, Sam Hentges is making his first ever MLB start. He has given up 3 homers in his 3 appearances this season and, overall, has been hit quite hard. More of the same expected here as the Royals have scored an average of 6.2 runs per game last 5 games. This total opened up at a 9.5 and has dropped to an 8.5 and I like the added value here after the line move. 10* OVER the total in Kansas City

Total of the Week - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #961 Monday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Minnesota Twins vs Texas Rangers @ 7:40 ET - Rangers games have stayed under in 5 of last 6 games. However, with yesterday's 5-3 win, Texas has scored a total of 13 runs last two games. I like the odds of a high-scoring match-up here even though I am not a big fan of the Rangers lineup. The fact is that the Twins lineup showed signs yesterday that they are ready for a surge. Minnesota scored 13 runs Sunday and the over is now 5-0 last 5 Twins games. With Kenta Maeda and Dane Dunning on the mound for this one, we should see plenty of fireworks from each lineup. Maeda has given up 3 homers in each of his last two starts. Those starts were on the road and normally he is a much better pitcher when at home. However, he did give up 7 hits in less than 5 innings of work in his lone home start this season. As for Dunning, he has allowed 9 earned runs in less than 8 innings of work combined in his last two outings. These lineups do not have much experience against these hurlers and that is the one drawback here. However, with the way these two starters are going and the fact that both lineups have helped produce a couple recent big wins, the over looks like a solid play in this one. 10* OVER the total in Minnesota

NL Total of the Week - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #905 Sunday 10* OVER the total in Cincinnati Reds vs Chicago Cubs @ 1:10 ET - Yesterday the 3-2 Reds win over the Cubs was one of the very few games that did not go over the total on Saturday. Not surprisingly, a total here that opened up at a 9 has been bet down to an 8.5 as of early Sunday morning and I love the additional value we are getting here. Of course the odds makers opened up this total at a 9 with good reason and now we get some additional value with the 1/2 run drop on the number at the books. The fact is that the Reds have been one of the top hitting teams when at home this season and they should pound Trevor Williams. He has shown a pattern in recent seasons that has continued right into this season as well. Williams can be solid in evening starts and particularly when at home but his road starts and his day game starts have left plenty to be desired. I look for Williams to get pounded here. As for Tyler Mahle, I am well aware that he has solid numbers. But the Cubs have hitters that have enjoyed success against him. Also, even though he was able to escape his most recent start relatively unscathed, Mahle did have multiple guys on base in 3 of the 5 innings and was somewhat fortunate to escape without much damage being done. He will not be so fortunate this time around and the ball should carry well in a mild afternoon game at Great American Ballpark. 10* OVER the total in Cincinnati  

PA Dominator - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #956 Saturday 10* Philadelphia Phillies Money Line (-) vs New York Mets @ 6:05 ET - The Mets have been horrible on the road this season. The same is true for the Phillies and both teams are struggling at the plate. But the key here is that Philadelphia is strong at home and that continued with yesterday's 2-1 win. It was tight and not pretty but it was a win nonetheless and the host is now 6-1 in 7 games between these rivals this season. Now Zack Wheeler faces his former team again and he is off a fantastic start. I know Taijuan Walker is also off a strong start for the Mets but he struggled badly in his lone road start this season. Fluke? Maybe not! Walker got hit at a .302 clip in road games last season! Phillies 9-4 at home and Mets 3-7 on the road. Wheeler, along with Eflin and Nola, is one of the top 3 starting pitchers for the Phillies and arguably was their top guy last season. That said, getting him at a low price here at home is a bargain. The price is right because Walker has good numbers. It is not a trap line. But the key here is that Walker sometimes struggles on the road and I am banking on that being the case again here. By the way, Wheeler is a perfect 5-0 his 9 starts at home with the Phillies. More of the same here. 10* PHILADELPHIA

NL Game of the Week - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #904 Friday 10* Philadelphia Phillies Money Line (+) vs New York Mets @ 7:05 ET - This one is all about the value. Starting pitching gets so overplayed in the betting markets and that can lead to value for sharp cappers. That does not mean we win all the sharp plays of course but where there is value it is wise not to pass up on the opportunity. The Phillies have not hit that well this season but they have hit better at home than on the road and the Mets have not hit well at all no matter where they have played! Also, New York is 3-6 on the road this season while Philadelphia is 8-4 at home. So why are the Mets priced in the -150 range here? Marcus Stroman! Yes he has good numbers this season but so too does Jacob deGrom but what has that gotten him? Exactly! The Mets simply can't hit right now and adding to the misnomer of Stroman being worth the price here, he just allowed 6 earned runs in less than 4 innings against the Nationals. I know all the hits were singles but the runs still count the same! Now he faces the Phillies for the 3rd time already this season and in the last meeting, in his 2nd time through the order, he allowed the leadoff guy to get on base in each of his final 3 innings on the mound. Stroman was fortunate to escape that one unscathed. Chase Anderson, like Stroman, is off a rough start but that was at hitter-friendly Coors Field in Colorado. Anderson has faced the Mets twice this season and held them to just 5 hits in a combined 9 innings! This is simply too much home dog value to pass up on given all of the above. 10* PHILADEPHIA +135