Situational Slaughter - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #965 Thursday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Texas Rangers vs Boston Red Sox @ 8:05 ET - Even though they only scored 1 run yesterday, the Red Sox will feel good about themselves after getting the upset win over Jacob deGrom and the Mets. That will lead to some extra confidence at the plate here and I feel Kyle Gibson is over-rated right now. His early season performance has been great but this is still the same Gibson who had a 4.84 ERA in 2019 and went 2-6 with a 5.35 ERA last season in 2020. In other words, there is going to be a regression to the mean very soon for Gibson and I expect it to begin right here. The Rangers right-hander has great numbers this season and did a good job of inducting ground ball contact in his most recent start. However, he also benefitted from a couple of guys caught stealing and he got out of a big bases-loaded jam at the end of his start. A good number of hard hit balls in that start and Boston enters this game having won 16 of 22 games so they will come with bats ready to go right away. The Red Sox will need all the runs they can get because Texas will likely pound Martin Perez. The Boston southpaw struggled as spring training went on and that same pattern has carried right into the regular season. Perez has given up 11 hits plus walked 4 while allowing 6 earned runs in just 7 and 1/3 innings his last two starts combined. Yes that is a WHIP over 2.00 and when you are allowing 2 base runners per inning it is only a matter of time until you get into big trouble. Rangers off tight 4-3 loss last night bounce back at the plate tonight. 10* OVER the total in Texas

Game of the Month - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #929 Wednesday 10* Top Play Washington Nationals Money Line +155 @ Toronto Blue Jays @ 7:07 ET - These teams bullpens are about even though the Blue Jays have the lower ERA. I say that because the WHIP and BAA is about even for these bullpens so far this season. Now about these starting pitchers. On the surface it looks like a mismatch in favor of Steven Matz but I believe strongly that this will prove not to be the case. Erick Fedde has treated me well in recent years. He is one of those guys you do not hear a lot about but actually has solid stuff when he is on and that is the case right now. Fedde has a 3.07 ERA in his last 3 starts and has been piling up strikeouts. He has another key edge over Matz here. The Blue Jays hitters have very little familiarity with Fedde. On the flip side the Nationals hitters have plenty of familiarity with Matz because he is a former Met so he was with a division rival his entire career until this season. Last year he went 0-2 with a 13.94 ERA in 3 games (2 starts) against the Nats! This one has the makings of an underdog upset at a great price and I am stepping out large with this one. The Nationals have had a rough start to this season but the Nats are 4-0 the last 4 times they entered a game off a loss in which they allowed 6 or more runs. They bounce back from yesterday's defeat in a shocker here. The Blue Jays are off back to back wins but are 0-3 this season when they enter a game off back to back victories! 10* WASHINGTON +155

Contrarian Crusher - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #955 Tuesday 10* Top Play OVER the total in St Louis Cardinals vs Philadelphia Phillies @ 7:45 ET - This total is already showing signs of moving to a solid 8.5 across the board from its opener of an 8. On the surface, a respected starter like Martinez and an up and coming starter like Eflin, who has pitched well last year and this season, would seem to indicate a pitchers duel here. In typical contrarian fashion though, I am on the over in this one. The reason you saw a potential pitchers duel have the total move higher is because of some sharp thinking and I concur. For one thing it will be a very mild evening in St Louis with a decent wind blowing out toward left-center. Additionally, the Phillies Zach Eflin has struggled more on the road than at home throughout his career. The Cardinals Carlos Martinez has struggled more in night games than day games in recent seasons. Also, Martinez is 0-4 with a 6.00 ERA this season and he went 0-3 with a 9.90 ERA last season. He has now gone winless in his 9 starts made the last two seasons combined. The reason I am on the over rather than the Phillies is because I do expect Eflin to get hit here. These teams already saw these pitchers this season and now get a 2nd shot at them and Eflin's road struggles on a hitter-friendly evening at Busch Stadium are absolutely a concern here. Look for a surprising slugfest to break out in this one. 10* OVER the total in St Louis

Total of the Month - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #919 Monday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Texas Rangers vs Los Angeles Angels @ 8:05 ET - I expect Mike Trout back in the lineup for the Angels in this one. Either way I like the over a lot here. This total opened at a 9 for a reason but is down to an 8.5 in some spots as of early game day morning and I am going to jump on it. These lineups just faced these same pitchers last week. I know the Angels Shohei Ohtani has a low ERA and has given up few hit hits in his first two starts this season but he also walked 11 in just 8 and 2/3 innings on the bump. Ohtani also is making his first road start and he has struggled much more on the road (6.20 ERA) than at home in his career. The Rangers counter with Jordan Lyles. He is off to a decent start for the Rangers this season but has allowed 5 homers in his 4 starts. Keep in mind this is a guy with a 5.21 ERA in his career and he went 1-6 last season with a 7.02 ERA. I feel strongly that he is being given far too much respect here against a potent Angels lineup and I expect Ohtani's struggles to continue in terms of command of his pitches. Additionally, the only bullpen in the AL with an ERA higher than the Angels and Rangers is the Tigers. In other words, this match-up also features two of the worst bullpens in the league. 10* OVER the total in Texas

Situational Slaughter - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #959 Sunday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Colorado Rockies vs Philadelphia Phillies @ 3:10 ET - Jon Gray has great numbers so far this season but historically has had higher ERA numbers versus left-handed bats and the Phillies position players will likely include 4 of the 8 stepping in on that side of the box for this one at least. Additionally, if the right-handed bats of Realmuto and Hoskins are in the lineup note that the former is one of the best sticks the Phillies have and the latter is a streaky hitter that is currently on fire again. Hoskins has hit 4 homers last 4 games. The Phillies Chase Anderson is also likely to struggle here as he has a 6.66 ERA in his 5 career starts at Coors Field. It will be a warm afternoon in Denver so I expect the ball to be jumping off the bats in this one too. Additionally this game features two of the worst bullpens in baseball, statistically, so far this season. 10* OVER the total in Colorado

Situational Slaughter - Rickenbach MLB 10* OVER the total in Colorado Rockies vs Philadelphia Phillies @ 8:40 ET - I can not believe the Phillies are starting Velasquez here. I realize he is filling in for another struggling hurler, Matt Moore, because of covid-19 protocols. However, don't the Phillies have any other option and want to give a young guy a chance? Velasquez has pitched 4 innings this season so he has recorded 12 outs but he also has walked 8 batters - an average of 2 per inning. This guy has proven time and time again that he is shaky, often pitches himself into jams, and just can not be successful at the MLB level. He is 19-28 since the 2017 season and has an ERA north of 5.00 during this span. As for the Rockies, I know German Marquez has been solid this season but the Phillies are not a good match-up for him. They have a number of hitters whom have enjoyed success against him. Also, Philadelphia enters this game off back to back games in which they scored at least 6 runs. The Rockies have scored at least 5 runs in 4 of their last 6 games. If we get this game to 5-5 we have a guaranteed winners as the posted total is 10.5 and the game would have to end 6-5 at a minimum. I know the Rockies have trended under this season but both these starting pitchers likely to get hit hard, both of these bullpens have ranked poorly so far this season, and both lineups swinging the sticks quite well in recent games. 10* OVER the total in Colorado

Total of the Week - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #903 Thursday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Chicago Cubs vs New York Mets @ 7:40 ET - Last night's game went crazy. Even though it took a number of strange occurrences for the Cubs to have that break-out 7-run 4th inning yesterday, it helped lead the way to a completely unexpected 16-4 win. That is the type of confidence-boosting win, even if fueled by errors and misplays on the part of the opposition, that can fuel a big run for a team at the plate. The Cubs will now step into the batters box with a lot more confidence tonight and the Mets Joey Lucchesi certainly did not impress in his first start of this season. Additionally, the New York southpaw has a 7.20 ERA in his two career starts at Wrigley Field. Speaking of struggles at Wrigley Field, that certainly has been the case for Trevor Williams throughout his career. Even including two surprisingly solid starts at home this season, Williams has a 5.93 ERA in ten career appearances at Wrigley Field. The Mets have mostly trended under this season and the same is true for the Cubs. However, yesterday's game featured each team getting to double digits in hits and the weather for this one will be better than it was for the hitters last night. In fact, the wind is expected to turn around to the southwest for this game and that could help even more. Not a strong wind but still a light breeze blowing out at Wrigley Field is a good thing for overs which is what I absolutely expect here. 10* OVER the total in Chicago Cubs

ACTION with pitchers ALWAYS for ALL my MLB picks. Afternoon Annihilation - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #963 Wednesday 10* Top Play OVER the total in LA Angels vs Texas Rangers @ 4:05 ET - Long-time followers know I like to take overs in match-ups where I feel the road team pitcher is the slightly better pitcher and the home team pitcher is likely to get rocked. Why? Well because most teams tend to swing the bats better at home team. So, oftentimes, unless facing an absolutely dominant pitcher, the home team is going to get their runs. That said, when you have a game where the road team is also likely to get theirs, you have a great situation! The Rangers Mike Foltynewicz is 0-3 with a 5.63 ERA. I know he has good stuff at times but the numbers do not lie and he has struggled in 2 of his 3 starts this season and now makes his first road start of the season. Foltynewicz also struggled badly in spring training. Honestly when you look at his career numbers, 2018 was the only year in which Foltynewicz truly dominated as his other seasons have all seen him compile a 4.31 ERA or higher. As for the Angels Jose Quintana, he has been rocked in both his starts this season, hardly pitched last season, and got hit at a .282 clip in the prior regular season - 2019. The point is that it has been quite some time since Quintana has looked impressive on the mound. Prior to yesterday's loss, the Rangers had averaged 6.3 runs last 4 road games. The Angels are scoring an average of 6 runs at home this season and that is with 9 games as a host already in the books. They will get it done again today. 10* OVER the total in LA Angels

ACTION with pitchers ALWAYS for ALL my MLB picks. Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #952 Wednesday 10* Top Play Philadelphia Phillies Money Line -115 vs San Francisco Giants @ 1:05 ET - Both starting pitchers are off to great starts this season but here is the key. DeSclafani has faced the Rockies and Padres and Marlins. Colorado is struggling badly at the plate early this season. San Diego has one of the lowest slugging percentages in the league so far this season. Miami is perennially a bad team at the plate. That said, now DeScalfani faces a team in a venue where has struggled in the past. It has been a long while since he has pitched in Philly but it has not gone well for him traditionally against the Phillies. Last season DeSclafani had a 7.22 ERA overall! Zach Eflin has pitched well for the Phillies early this season and he has had 3 starts against two teams, Braves and Cards, that are each expected to challenge for their division title this season. From a team perspective, the Giants had not been scoring many runs at all prior to yesterday's outburst. Look for their struggles to resume today. The Phillies had such a strong start to the season in home games and now have lost back to back games to the Giants and former manager Gabe Kapler. I do not see them getting swept by a team that is not projected to go anywhere this season and is a little over-valued right now. The Phillies have a road trip on deck and this game is critical for them. They will not waste this opportunity to get back in the win column before heading west for a road trip. 10* PHILADELPHIA -115

Contrarian Crusher - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #903 Tuesday 10* Top Play OVER 9 runs in Washington Nationals vs St Louis Cardinals @ 7:05 ET - At first glance this total may appear a little on the high side. That is why I am playing the over of course! Long time followers know I love to be a contrarian but a play is never made without good reason behind it. In this case Patrick Corbin has been getting rocked so far this season and Adam Wainwright is known for struggling more on the road than at home. Corbin had issues with command of his pitches in spring training and that has carried right into the regular season. He is walking too many guys. Also, when he has found the plate he has gotten hammered in his first two starts. Corbin has a 21.32 ERA in his first two starts this season. Wainwright is off of a bit of a rocky start at home where he did pile up some strikeouts but also got hit hard. In his only road start this season he allowed 6 earned runs in less than 3 innings of work. Last year he was solid on the road but that was in very limited action as it was a shortened season. The year before Wainwright had a 6.22 ERA in road games. 2018 was a 4.38 ERA and 2017 was a 7.32 ERA in road games. 2016 he had a 6.18 ERA in road games this season. Consistently Wainwright is just not the same pitcher when on the road. I look for the Nats to hammer him early and often but I also look for Corbin's early season struggles to continue. The Cardinals have a .422 slugging percentage in road games which ranks them 4th in NL. The Nationals have a .262 batting average which ranks them 4th in the majors! The Cards have scored 9 or more runs in 3 of last 6 games. Another offensive explosion likely here. The Nats have scored at least 5 runs in 4 of last 6 games. 10* OVER the total in Washington

Contrarian Crusher - MLB Rotation #954 Monday 10* Top Play Philadelphia Phillies Money Line (+101) vs San Francisco Giants @ 7:05 ET - I understand the line here but I still think it is too much value to pass up on. Yes, Kevin Gausman certainly has a better track record than Chase Anderson long-term. Yes I know Bryce Harper had back tightness and sat for a game recently but he game back and went 3 for 3 with a homer yesterday! That was an early day game Sunday and now this is an evening game Monday so he should be good to go. He is one of a number of Phillies who have had good success against Gausman. The Giants right-hander has not enjoyed pitching in Philly. In his career he is 0-3 in his 4 starts against Philadelphia and has compiled a 6.45 ERA plus has been particularly roughed up at Citizens Bank Park. As for Anderson, he is unlikely to pitch deep into this game and has command issues at times but two keys about this. One is that Anderson was very tough to hit in spring training and that has continued into the regular season as well. The second key is that Nola pitched a complete game for the Phillies yesterday so the best arms in the bullpen are rested and ready to go here! The Giants won yesterday but scored just 1 run and their .205 batting average ranks them 29th out of the 30 MLB teams! San Francisco, not including extra inning runs, has averaged just 1.9 runs per game its last 7 road games. Also, the Giants got 5 runs in the top of the 7th of a recent extra inning loss. If you remove that outlier from the equation, San Francisco would be averaging just 1.1 runs per game last 7 road games. This team struggles to hit and the Phillies are a much more confident team and better hitting lineup when at home. The Giants were 3-5 in road games this season before yesterday's win. The Phillies are now 7-2 at home this season. In fact if you had simply played the home team in all of Philadelphia's games this season you would be 12-3. They have struggled on the road but been great as a host. Look for that home team dominance to continue here. 10* PHILADELPHIA Money Line +101

Run Line Rout - MLB Rotation #909 Sunday 10* Top Play New York Mets Run Line -1.5 -115 @ Colorado Rockies @ 3:10 ET - The Mets outhit the Rockies 11-3 in Game One of the double-header yesterday but only won 4-3 and even that was courtesy of 2 runs in the top of the 9th for New York. So the point is they wasted opportunities throughout that game and New York should have scored much more. The Rockies got all their runs in one inning when a leadoff error seemed to rattle deGrom a bit. The rest of the game, other than that one inning, the Rockies were held scoreless and had just 1 hit in those 8 innings. Overall, the Rockies are a miserable 4-11 this season even after winning Game Two of the double-header 7-2. Look for the Mets to get payback here from the loss in the nightcap. Marcus Stroman has thrown very well for New York early this season and he also has had success in recent visits to Coors Field as well. Antonio Senzatela, conversely, has a 7.07 ERA so far this season. Last year he pitched better but it was a shortened season and in the last full season, 2019, he had a 6.71 ERA. Even though Senzatela had a low ERA in spring training this season he did get hit at a .313 clip and that was the same BAA he had in 2019 and, oh by the way, he is getting hit at a .310 clip so far this season. Stroman has been fantastic and the Mets are the much better team overall and the Rockies struggles quickly resume after yesterday's surprising Game Two result. Avoid the big money line price here and grab the Mets at a very low price on the run line in what should be a road rout. 10* NEW YORK METS -1.5 -115

Divisional Dominator - MLB Rotation #960 Saturday 10* Top Play Milwaukee Brewers Money Line (-) vs Pittsburgh Pirates @ 7:10 ET - The Pirates won 6 to 1 yesterday and I love coming back with the Brewers in this bounce back spot. Pittsburgh is still a very poor team. Last year, in the shortened season, they  went 19-41. But note also that it is even worse when you look at how they did in night games, 9-32, and versus left-handed starters, 2-10. Do not be surprised when Brett Anderson induces a lot of ground balls in this one and frustrates the Pirates hitters. Prior to yesterday, Pittsburgh had scored an average of only 2.4 runs per game on the road this season. Milwaukee, prior to yesterday, had won 6 of 8 games. Also, in their last 4 wins they had scored at least 6 runs in all 4 and averaged scoring 7.8 runs per victory! I am looking for a blowout here as, already this season, Trevor Cahill has shown a typical pattern seen from him year after year in recent seasons. He pitches very well at home but gets clobbered on the road. More of the same expected here. 10* MILWAUKEE -130

Big East Beast - MLB Rotation #955 Saturday 8* OVER the total in Philadelphia Phillies vs St Louis Cardinals @ 4:05 ET - This total has dropped from a 9 to an 8.5 and that is offering extra value. The Phillies hammered the Cardinals 9-2 yesterday and that was the 5th time in 6 home games that the Phils have scored at least 4 runs. As for the Cards, prior to yesterday, they had scored at least 4 runs in 4 of 5 road games this season. That said, Matt Moore is not Zack Eflin and I expect St Louis to score plenty here. The reason I noted the above is because if each team gets to 4 runs then we have a winner with this play because the game can't end with anything less than a 5-4 final. Moore has been getting hammered early this season. Also, these two bullpens rank about in the middle of the pack so far this season. As for Cardinals starter Kwang Hyun Kim, he is finally back from struggling with a back injury. He is coming off a horrible spring training where he got hit hard. Last season he had great numbers but notice he was not as strong later in the season. The book is out on how to hit Kim and I expect his spring struggles to carry right into his first start of the season as the Phillies are a different team at home and tend to swing the bats much better here. Look for this one to get over the total by the middle innings. 8* OVER the total in Philadelphia

Situtational Slaughter - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #929 Friday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Cincinnati Reds vs Cleveland Indians @ 7:10 ET - Sometimes the odds makers are a sports bettors best friend. What I mean by that is that when it appears they are offering something too good to be true it usually is. I already had my eyes on this match-up as a potential over play for Friday but when the total was posted it really sealed the deal. How can this total in a National League park be a 9 when the Indians have had 8 unders in their 11 games this season? Exactly! So the odds makers are going to bait a lot of people into the under here in my opinion but I am expecting this to be an easy over. Even though Cleveland has been a dead under team this season they have some momentum now coming off a win which was their 6th win in their last 8 games. Also, the Indians have scored an average of 5 runs per game in those 6 wins. The Reds enter this game on an under streak of 3 unders last 4 games but now they are back home where they are the top team in the majors offensively so far this season. Cincinnati has hit .320 at home this season and averaged scoring 9.5 runs per game! Indians Luke Allen has struggled early in starts and I look for the home-hot Reds to jump on him early and set the tone in this one. Cincy's Jeff Hoffman is off an unimpressive outing at Arizona in his most recent start and now faces a Cleveland lineup that is starting to grow in confidence. 10* OVER the total in Cincinnati

Big East Beast - MLB Rotation #957 Thursday 8* OVER the total in Washington Nationals vs Arizona Diamondbacks @ 7:05 ET - The over is 4-1 in Arizona's last 5 games and they have scored at least 5 runs in all 5 games. Washington is off a 6-0 win at St Louis yesterday and is now back home where they have scored 6 runs in 2 of their 3 games thus far. For me, the key in this one is the pitching match-up. Patrick Corbin is making his 2nd start of the season and he struggled badly in the first one. Also, he is facing his former team for just the 2nd time. The other time Corbin faced the Diamondbacks after he became a member of the Nationals, he allowed 5 earned runs in 5 and 1/3 innings. Sometimes pitchers want so badly to do well when facing former team they actually try to do too much and start having trouble with location of pitches which gets them into trouble. With that factor and his rough start to this season and the fact Arizona is swinging the bats better of late  have a feeling we're going to see come crooked numbers put on the scoreboard in a few innings tonight! The Diamondbacks start Merrill Kelly and he had a rough spring and that has carried right into the regular season as well. He has struggled in both his regular season starts after being more hittable than usual in the spring. 8* OVER the total in Washington

Earliest Cash - MLB Rotation #953 Thursday 8* OVER the total in Atlanta Braves vs Miami Marlins @ 12:20 ET - With yesterday's 6-5 win in extra innings, the Marlins continue their surge and have won 4 straight games. Miami has scored at least 5 runs in 3 straight games and has averaged scoring 8 runs per game its last 3. Now a confident Marlins lineup takes on Ian Anderson. He gave up 2 homers to the Phillies in a 5 and 1/3 innings in most recent start. Anderson has a low ERA against the Marlins but faced them twice last season and was in a lot of trouble in each start. Confident Miami will cash in more of those opportunities today but the Braves are also likely to have a big day at the plate. Atlanta has scored at least 5 runs in 7 of its last 9 games. They gave Trevor Rogers a lot of trouble when they faced him here last season and will do the same today. Don't be surprised if each team gets to 5 runs in this one given the above. 8* OVER the total in Atlanta

Big East Beast - MLB Rotation #909 Wednesday 10* Top Play Philadelphia Phillies @ New York Mets @ 7:10 ET - The Phillies got swept in yesterday's double-header. Tomorrow's game against the Mets is likely to get rained out if you look at the weather reports. It is likely that if the Phillies want to salvage something from this series it needs to be today and this is the right pitching match-up to get it done. Zack Wheeler, not Aaron Nola, was actually the best and most consistent starting pitcher for the Phillies last season. We saw what happened this season when a lineup gets to see you in back to back start as Wheeler completely dominated the Braves in the first meeting but then struggled in the 2nd start. Now David Peterson will have that same issue. His first start this season was against the Phillies and he struggled and now he is giving them a 2nd look. That is not a good situation for Peterson as they are already locked in on his delivery and his offerings. The southpaw gave up 6 earned runs in just 4 innings against the Phillies and now they get a 2nd look at him in his very next start. Wheeler is a former Met and faced them 3 times last season and delivered a quality start - 6+ innings, 3 or less ER - each time. You know he is highly motivated here especially coming off a start where he struggled with his command! Look for Wheeler to look just like he did in his first start this season against the Braves. Two quality teams here that match up evenly in a lot of respects but that is why the starting pitching edge here heavily tilts the odds in favor of a road team win here. Lay the short price. 10* PHILADELPHIA -115

Situational Slaughter - MLB Rotation #981 Tuesday 10* Top Play Philadelphia Phillies Money Line (-) @ New York Mets @ 7:10 ET (Game 2 of DH) - The Mets Marcus Stroman threw some pitches Sunday before the game was called for rain. So after getting all warmed up and ready to make a start and actually making that start, he was quite upset the game was not post-poned earlier so he would have avoided all that. That is why it was decided he would not pitch again until Friday but then, after throwing some in the outfield yesterday, he decided he would pitch today on Tuesday. I don't expect this to go well for him. Look for all these interruptions in his normal schedule to wreak havoc with him and for him to struggle against a Phillies team that has been on a surge early this season. This is Game 2 of the double header but, regardless of how Game 1 goes, look for the pitching edge to key the Phillies victory here. I know Aaron Nola struggled some and was in and out of jams last week against the Mets and now faces them again but here is the fact: he is 8-2 with a 3.26 ERA in his career outings against New York. Stroman did have a good start against Philly last season but in two preceding outings he gave up 17 hits in 10 innings. Look for the Phillies to stay hot and get to him early and often and the shortened game (7 innings since it is a double header) strengthens the importance of the starting pitching and that edge, for the reasons above, goes to the road team in this one. 10* PHILADELPHIA -120

Situational Slaughter - MLB Rotation #909 Monday 10* Top Play OVER the total in St Louis Cardinals vs Washington Nationals @ 7:45 ET - The Cardinals have not hit well early this season but they are at home here against Erick Fedde whom is off a rough start in his first outing of the season. The set up is perfect for the Cardinals bats to have a big day but I do not trust their starter John Gant as he is getting this start only because of injuries in the pitching rotation for St Louis. He allowed 2 base runners per inning in his first start with 4 hits, a hit batter, and 3 walks in just 4 innings of work. That was against a bad Marlins lineup. That does not bode well as now he faces a Nationals team whose .268 batting average ranks them 5th in the majors. I know Washington has not hit for much power yet this season but they only have 6 games in the books and the bigger hits will come. I like the way they are swinging the bats and you can see why, per the above, that I am happy to fade both these starting pitchers. Fedde just 8-12 with a 5.29 ERA in his career. Both bullpens ranking just in the middle of the pack so far this season too. 10* OVER the total in St Louis

ESPN Smash Pass - MLB Rotation #963 Sunday 10* Top Play Philadelphia Phillies Money Line (+) @ Atlanta Braves @ 7:05 ET - This play is all about the value. There is not much difference between the Braves and Phillies. Yet Atlanta is priced as a big favorite here even though Drew Smyly got hit at a nearly .300 clip in spring training and allowed 4 runs (yes, I know only 2 were earned) in season debut against a Nationals team playing their first game of the season so of course the bats were a little off that night. Keep in mind Smyly lasted more than 4 innings only twice in five starts last season. The year before that Smyly went 4-7 with a 6.24 ERA and the year before that he went 7-12 with a 4.88 ERA. This game is simply priced wrong in my opinion. The betting markets are infatuated with the Braves but I am absolutely willing to test an over-rated pitcher with a solid Phillies lineup that has plenty of home run power. Smyly allowed 32 homers in each of his last two full season, 2018 and 2019. Matt Moore had some struggles in his regular season debut for the Phillies but held hitters to a .241 batting average in spring and is a veteran pitcher fully capable of bouncing right back. He did retire 7 straight to begin his first start of the year and that including 4 via strikeout. But he then lost command of his pitches and I expect his strong start to carry much longer in this one. Underdog value off the charts here. 10* PHILADELPHIA

Big East Beast - MLB Rotation #927 Saturday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Baltimore Orioles vs Boston Red Sox @ 7:05 ET - The Orioles will be facing Garrett Richards and they beat Richards and the Red Sox 11 to 3 for their best game of the season when they saw him the first time. As a result, Baltimore will have some extra confidence at the plate for this one and they are looking to bounce back after Thursday's home opener loss as Boston drilled them 7 to 3. While I do expect the O's to bounce back at the plate, I don't expect them to necessarily win this game because they are also likely to give up plenty of runs. I know Bruce Zimmerman had a solid first start against the Red Sox at Fenway Park but this is still a guy pitching in just his 4th MLB game. Also, he is a native of Baltimore and this will be the first appearance of his career in Oriole Park at Camden Yards. He grew up cheering for the Orioles and certainly will be highly energized here but perhaps too much so. Young pitchers in situations just like this one actually have a tendency to overthrow or overdo it and end up struggling as they want so badly to succeed in a setting like this. I have seen it time and time again and he is facing a Red Sox team that has turned it around since they saw him the first time. Boston has won 4 straight games and scored an average of 8 runs per game in these victories. The over is a perfect 5-0 last 5 Red Sox games and I look for that trend to continue here. 10* OVER the total in Baltimore

MLB Network Rout - MLB Rotation #955 Friday 10* Top Play Philadelphia Phillies Money Line +115 @ Atlanta Braves @ 7:20 ET - My biggest concern with this play is actually the weather and was my only hesitation in putting this one out. However, hopefully even if there does end up being some showers, they will be able to get this one in. This one is all about the value. How many times are we going to see the Phillies with Zack Wheeler on the mound as an underdog this season? Not often I am sure. Granted the Braves are a good team and expected to be better than the Phillies this season but Philadelphia did sweep them in the opening season series battle between these divisional foes in Philly. The Braves finally got going with a couple of wins but still sit just 2-4 on the season and the Phillies are 5-1. Charlie Morton gets the start for the Braves and he is a quality arm for sure but the veteran has likely seen his best seasons already while Wheeler really seems to be in his prime. The Phillies have been the hotter team, they have the starting pitching edge in this one, and their bullpen arms have performed well. Factoring all that in as well as the underdog price in this one and it is a must play in my opinion. 10* PHILADELPHIA 

Daytime Dominator - MLB Rotation #909 Thursday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Baltimore Orioles vs Boston Red Sox @ 3:05 ET - I know Baltimore is not hitting very well early this season. However, their confidence is boosted off a 4-3 win in 11 innings over the Yankees yesterday. Also, Baltimore has plenty of confidence facing the Red Sox here as they swept them in Boston to open up the season. Additionally, this is the home opener for the O's and traditionally they do hit better as a team compared to on the road. Adding to the value is that the Red Sox have certainly reversed their early season hitting struggles. Boston is off a 3-game sweep of the Rays in which the Sox scored 26 runs! Entering this game the Red Sox have now recorded 4 straight overs. Look for that trend to continue here. Boston starter Eduardo Rodriguez is making his first start since 2019. His ERA on the road compared to at home in that solid 2019 season was a full 1.5 runs higher and teams hit .284 against him when he was away from home. The Orioles are off to a winning start to the season and managed to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Yankees with last night's momentum-boosting win. As a result, they will hit better at the plate today than many are expecting. Baltimore does have pitching concerns here though. Matt Harvey is giving the Red Sox a quick second look at him as he just faced them last week and after doing okay the first time through the lineup he got into trouble. This time Boston really pounds him right him from the get go in my opinion. The result is plenty of runs for both teams. 10* OVER the total in Baltimore 

Earliest Cash - MLB Rotation #903 Thursday 8* OVER the total in Pittsburgh Pirates vs Chicago Cubs @ 1:35 ET - Neither one of these teams is hitting well at all early this season. I am well aware of the fact that after their first game this season went over the total, the Cubs have recorded 5 straight unders. However, the over has gotten the cash in each of the Pirates last two games and their bullpen has been wrecked as Pittsburgh has allowed 25 runs in their last two games. Also, Anderson and Arrieta just squared off at Wrigley Field last week. Though that game stayed under the total there were a lot of line drive outs as well as double plays. These pitches weren't fooling the hitters as much as you would think and now the hitters get a quick second look at these guys. I do not expect it to go well for either hurler on a warm afternoon at PNC Park. 8* OVER the total in Pittsburgh

Big East Beast - MLB Rotation #958 Wednesday 10* Top Play Philadelphia Phillies Money Line -140 vs New York Mets @ 4:05 ET - If you look at the final score yesterday you would never know the Phillies doubled up the Mets in hits. But that is what happened. New York won 8 to 4 to double up the Phils in runs but Philadelphia actually outhit the Mets 10 to 5. With the Phillies off their first loss of the season after 4 straight wins, and the Mets sticks still trying to get into the swing of things after their season-opening series with the Nationals was cancelled, I look for Philly to again outhit NY today. The difference will be that with Aaron Nola on the mound for the Phillies and David Peterson on the mound for the Mets, the home team holds a big pitching edge here. You also will not see Velasquez out of the bullpen either. Vince Velasquez walked 4 in yesterday's game and all 4 scored as he continues to be one of the shakiest pitchers the Phillies have ever had. Nola is 8-2 with a 3.30 ERA against the Mets in his career. Peterson got destroyed in his lone start against the Phillies last season. Nola 3-1 with a 2.50 ERA and 6-2 with a 2.91 ERA and 10-2 with a 2.34 ERA and 9-5 with a 2.98 ERA - those are his stats at home the last 4 seasons. A combined 28-10 record and he is well worth the price here as we can back the Phillies with their ace on the mound and with the team coming off a loss. Lay it. 10* PHILADELPHIA

Big East Beast - MLB Rotation #915 Tuesday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Detroit Tigers vs Minnesota Twins @ 1:10 ET - The Tigers have scored at least 5 runs in 2 of last 3 games after yesterday's 15-6 beatdown at the hands of Minnesota. The Twins have scored at least 5 runs in 3 of their 4 games this season and I would not be surprised at all to see each team get to 5 runs in this one and of course that would guarantee us of at least a 6-5 final. With a total of just 9 runs on this game we really need to just get each team to 4 runs to guarantee we will not have a losing ticket. That's because that would insure at least a 5-4 final here. The fact is that Casey Mize is an up and comer with a great arm but he is still having issues with command of his pitches. That means too many walks and too many mistake pitches that end up getting hit hard. Mize certainly experienced that last season against the Twins as he compiled an 8.49 ERA in 3 appearances against Minny last year. The Twins go with JA Happ here. The veteran southpaw was in covid protocol that delayed his spring and then he had a rough spring with getting absolutely crushed in his last two appearances. I do not expect this to go well for the southpaw as he struggled on the road last season with an ERA near 5.00 which was the 2nd straight season he had issues away from home. The Tigers, with it still being early in the year and with a 2-2 record and scoring 5+ runs in 2 of last 3 games do have some confidence at the plate. So both teams enjoy success here and for the 4th time in 5 games this season, a Minnesota game reaches double digits in runs scored. 10* OVER the total in Detroit

Big East Beast - MLB Rotation #971 Monday 10* Top Play Tampa Bay Rays Money Line (-105) @ Boston Red Sox @ 7:10 ET - The Red Sox have not won a game yet and they also have not swung the bats well which was their lone hope coming into this season. Boston has to hit to win and right now they are 0-3 on the season plus have been outscored 18 to 5 in those 3 games. Now they face Michael Wacha who is off a strong spring and sometimes a change of scenery does a pitcher good. Don't be surprised if the new surroundings lead to some real positives early this season and remember he began last season with a road start at Fenway Park and allowed just 1 earned run in 5 innings of work. Also, the Tampa Bay right-hander is supported by a Rays bullpen that is rested thanks to Sunday's off-day. As for the Rays lineup, they should support Wacha too as they have scored 13 runs in the past two games and will be facing Nick Pivetta. This is a guy whom, in my opinion, tends to not handle pressure well. Now he pitches at Fenway Park for the Red Sox and facing the pressure of Boston already being in an 0-3 hole to start the season. I do not expect this to go well for Pivetta who showed some flashes of brilliance from time to time in Philly but just never could put it all together and struggled in pressure situations. He is 21-30 with a 5.40 ERA in his career and the Rays lineup is the more confident of these two teams right now. Again, TB has the much better bullpen in this match-up as well even though they have had a couple hiccups early this season. 10* TAMPA BAY -105

Daytime Dominator - MLB Rotation #907 Sunday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Chicago Cubs vs Pittsburgh Pirates @ 2:20 ET - Nice weather expected for this afternoon affair at Wrigley Field Sunday afternoon and I am expecting plenty of runs here. Yes the Pirates are projected to be one of the worst teams in baseball this season but the Cubs Zach Davies certainly does not have overpowering stuff. Remember the Pirates did steal game one of this 3-game set by coming up with a big 5-3 win. I am not saying they'll get another win in the rubber match but I am saying I expect them to score better than they did in yesterday's 5-1 loss. The problem for Pittsburgh however will be their own pitching here as Mitch Keller gets the call. He got rocked for 5 hits including 2 homers in less than 3 innings of work in his start at Wrigley Field last season. He had trouble with walks last season and that would be a problem here with free passes at a hitter-friendly park like Wrigley with mild afternoon weather and a southerly breeze expected today. Look for plenty of offense in this one and the total at 8.5 runs is offering solid line value in my opinion. 10* OVER the total in Chicago Cubs

Big East Beast - MLB Rotation #954 Saturday 10* Top Play Philadelphia Phillies Money Line +105 vs Atlanta Braves @ 4:05 ET - Big momentum boosting wins can do a lot for a clubhouse. It is, of course, early in the season, but it does amazing things for a team. An example of this yesterday was with the Rays. They had a dramatic homer with two outs in the top of the 8th to win Thursday's season opener at Miami and then looked dead in the water yesterday after blowing a 2-0 lead late. But they responded with a 4-run top of the 9th including a dramatic 3-run homer to win it. The point is that when a team is feeling it early it can really carry over game to game. The Phillies are in a similar position here. They won their first game Thursday after blowing a 2-0 lead but then getting a walk-off single from Juan Segura in the bottom of the 10th. In terms of the pitching match-up here, Charlie Morton was not the same pitcher last season and I expect some carry over this season. He had a 4.74 ERA and got hit at a .279 clip last year. The Phillies counter with Zack Wheeler who was Philadelphia's most consistent starter last season. He was particularly tough at home where he went 4-0 with a 2.38 ERA for the Phillies. Many will be backing the Braves off a loss here but I like early season momentum plus the pitching edge in this one and we get the home team at a great price too. 10* PHILADELPHIA

Daytime Dominator - MLB Rotation #929 Friday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Boston Red Sox vs Baltimore Orioles @ 2:10 ET - This match-up was originally scheduled for yesterday's Opening Day action. I stayed away from it because I was concerned about the weather. Staying away turned out to be a good decision as, sure enough, the game got cancelled. Now with clear weather (chilly but no precipitation) expected in Boston for Friday afternoon I can get involved with a match-up I like. Both of these hurlers struggled in spring training but Nathan Eovaldi did have one good start and it was the one he just had and it was against these Orioles. In my opinion, the fact Baltimore just saw him really helps them here. Plus they had some chances in that game but got hurt by a couple double plays. The O's will have some success getting to again see Eovaldi on such short notice here. As for the Red Sox sticks, they should pound John Means here. The southpaw has allowed 4 homers in his last two starts against Boston and has compiled a 6.75 ERA in those two outings. These two teams were two of the better hitting teams in the majors last season but neither team is good defensively and the Orioles pen is mediocre while the Red Sox bullpen is definitely a concern heading into this season. As a result, and based on some questionable spring training results for these two hurlers, look for runs early and often and throughout this one at Fenway Park Friday afternoon. 10* OVER the total in Boston

Afternoon Annihilation - MLB Rotation #987 Thursday 8* Tampa Bay Rays Money Line (-) @ Miami Marlins @ 4:10 ET - While I certainly respect Sandy Alcantara of the Marlins, he did get rocked in one of his two starts against the Rays last season. Also, he is a bit of an anomaly as he has pitched better on the road than at home the past two seasons. In fact, Alcantara has gone 4-10 combined the past two seasons at home and with an ERA north of 4.00 each season. As for the Rays Tyler Glasnow, he has been fantastic on the road the past two seasons. In 2019 he was 4-0 with a 0.55 ERA away from home and last season Glasnow was 3-0 with a 3.45 ERA. So we have the better team, still hungry from losing in the World Series to the Dodgers, and we get line value because they are on the road here. Keep in mind, we are getting line value as travelers and this is particularly true when you consider we have a starter who has gone 7-0 on the road against a starter who has gone 4-10 at home. Of course we have the better defense, better bullpen, and better overall team here. The price keeps me going from top play here but I like this spot for a big road win. 8* TAMPA BAY

Situational Slaughter - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #961 Tuesday 10* Top Play Tampa Bay Rays Money Line (+) vs Los Angeles Dodgers @ 8:08 ET - In this post-season the Rays are a perfect 5-0 when they are off a loss by a margin of 2 or more runs. Also, dating back to the regular season, that run extends to a perfect 8-0 when off a defeat by a multiple run margin. After a 4-2 loss in Game 5, and knowing that these teams have alternated wins and losses throughout this World Series, I have no hesitation in backing Blake Snell and the Rays in this one. Snell helped lead them to a win in Game 2 and threw the ball very well with 9 strikeouts in less than 5 innings of work. Also, the Dodgers are going with a bullpen game here. In my opinion, the Rays bullpen has been the much better pen and LA head coach Dave Roberts often changes guys out too quickly. This is particularly true when you consider the Dodgers don't have as much quality bullpen depth as the Rays do in my opinion. Last, but certainly not least, the projected starter for the Dodgers (Tony Gonsolin) has ugly numbers in this post-season and also is unlikely to go more than an inning or two. Look for this series to reach 7 games! 10* TAMPA BAY

Contrarian Crusher - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #960 Sunday 10* Top Play Tampa Bay Rays Money Line (+) vs Los Angeles Dodgers @ 8:08 ET - The key to my long-term success in this industry has been because of being a contrarian. Yes, Clayton Kershaw was dominant in game one and Tyler Glasnow struggled badly with his command. But, Glasnow also struck out 8 in 4 and 1/3 innings while allowing only 3 hits. I know what he is capable of. When you factor that in with the positive energy in the Tampa Bay clubhouse after last night's amazing win when they were down to their last strike, you have a great situation here. The heavily favored Dodgers are starting to feel the pressure. They showed that even with the way the cracked in the bottom of the 9th last night with the game on the line. Two miscues on the same play - a solid line drive hit to right-center - misplayed by both the center fielder and the catcher. The pressure is all on Los Angeles now with this series tied at 2 games apiece. I will gladly take the underdog value again here as the Rays continue to play loose knowing that nothing is expected of them here. They cherish the underdog role and no one believing in them. That makes for a very dangerous dog and last night's upset win could be the catalyst for a huge upset in this series as well. Only time will tell but I am riding with the Rays to win Game 5 and surprise everyone. 10* TAMPA BAY

Situational Slaughter - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #958 Saturday 10* Top Play Tampa Bay Rays Money Line (+) vs Los Angeles Dodgers @ 8:08 ET - So far in this series the Rays are 0-2 when they start a right-hander and 1-0 when they start a southpaw. Saturday Tampa Bay is starting lefty Ryan Yarbrough. The Dodgers are off a huge win by a 4-run margin yesterday. The last 4 times they have been off a game which they won by a margin of 4 or more runs, Los Angeles has gone 1-3. Don't get me wrong as LA is a great team but I continue to feel they are over-priced here. This is particularly true on Saturday as they are a huge favorite even though it is not a guy like Kershaw or Buehler on the mound. Yes, I know Urias is on a roll right now for the Dodgers but this will be just his 2nd start of this post-season. Looking at his 3 prior post-seasons he was great in 2018 but struggled in 2016 and 2019. Also in the regular season Urias had a 4.67 ERA in his outings away from Dodger Stadium. I know the heart and fight of these underdog Rays and I don't think they are done fighting just yet. Look for them to even the series up tonight on Saturday as their bullpen outduels the Dodgers bullpen as this game goes on. I'll gladly grab the huge plus money being offered on this one. 10* TAMPA BAY

Contrarian Crusher - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #956 Friday 10* Top Play Tampa Bay Rays Money Line (+) vs Los Angeles Dodgers @ 8:08 ET - The Dodgers, of course, are a fantastic team. But they are also a public team and, as a result, the odds makers have that adjustment baked into their numbers. What a mean here is that to get a balanced book the have to overprice the Dodgers. The simple fact is Los Angeles has no business opening up as a -160 favorite in this match-up. I am not saying LA won't find a way to win this game, I am just saying the value is clearly with the underdog in this one and I will be betting them again here in Vegas where I live. The fact is that the Rays seem to have the better bullpen in this match-up and they also now have the added edge of being the designated home team for this match-up. Though Walker Buehler has been strong in this post-season, so too has Charlie Morton. Also, Morton is the type of hurler that can keep this Dodgers lineup off balance with his repertoire of pitches. Guys that are simply hard throwers like Tyler Glasnow have shown to have more trouble against the Dodgers but guys who are a little more crafty on the mound, like Blake Snell, prove to be another challenge altogether. Morton is 3-0 with an 0.57 in this post-season and, overall, 5-0 with a 0.70 ERA in his 5 post-season starts with the Rays. Considering that as well as their stellar bullpen and the fact that some key hitters broke slumps in Game 2, there is no way in the world I am not going to back them in a +140 price range here. 10* TAMPA BAY

NOTE: I suggest making this money line play with ACTION on BOTH pitchers. Game of the Year - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #953 Wednesday 10* Top Play Tampa Bay Rays Money Line (+) vs Los Angeles Dodgers @ 8:08 ET - I mention action on both pitchers because the Dodgers are making this a bullpen game. Even though the Rays are expected (and very likely) to go with Blake Snell, if they decided to match the Dodgers and go with a bullpen game too I still like this play! I like the Rays bullpen over the Dodgers bullpen. In any event, lets talk about the expected starters for this game. The Rays Snell has a 2.88 ERA and has held hitters to a .225 batting average against in his 7 career post-season appearances (2019 and 2020). We got burned last night here with the Rays. But I come right back with them here because, unlike Tyler Glasnow (hard-thrower with great stuff but struggles with location and makes too many mistake pitches), Snell is more of a savvy hurler who has more than twice as many career regular season starts and won't make the same mistakes Glasnow did in Game 1. I also was wrong about Clayton Kershaw last night as he came out and dominated. People make mistakes. I made one yesterday. But I feel strongly this play will be "spot on" and love backing the Rays here as the Dodgers are expected to start Tony Gonsolin. He posted a 9.95 ERA in his two appearances against the Braves in the NLCS and likely won't last long here and that will result in two much being asked of this Dodgers bullpen. That is why I don't even care who starts here. Without a strong hurler like Kershaw or Walker Buehler (being saved for Game 3) getting the start for the Dodgers here, I feel that heavily favors the Rays. I like the Tampa Bay bullpen more plus Snell is 99% likely to get this start anyway (again, I am suggesting you bet this with action on both pitchers). The Dodgers have only seen Snell once in his career and he struck out 4 in 2 perfect innings against them. Having not seen much of him, and considering the quality hurler he is, this is a big edge for Snell here. Also, the Rays are on a 6-0 run (including 3-0 in this post-season) when off a loss by a multiple-run margin. They stay perfect here! 10* TAMPA BAY RAYS

Contrarian Crusher - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #951 Tuesday 10* Top Play Tampa Bay Rays Money Line (+) vs Los Angeles Dodgers @ 8:09 ET - The Rays are offering tremendous underdog line value in Game 1 of this series. Of course Clayton Kershaw still carries a certain reputation with him but he has been dealing with some back issues and gave up 4 earned runs in his most recent start. The Dodgers also used a lot of energy in coming all the way back from a 3-1 deficit against the Braves. Give them credit for sure but the fact they lost 3 of 4 before rallying the troops and the fact they scored only 3.5 runs per game in the final two games of the series has me liking the big dog Rays in this one. Tampa Bay has won 9 of 14 games in the post-season and were the only team in the regular season (other than the Dodgers) to have less than 23 losses. The Rays had 20 and the Dodgers had 17. For sure the two best teams made it to the World Series but Tampa Bay is not being given much respect with this line. Tyler Glasnow is a hard-throwing righty and though the Dodgers had some success against him that was back in 2018 and those 3 bullpen appearances were the only time they have seen him. He is a much different pitcher now. With Kershaw still not seeming to be his normal self, I feel there is great value in fading him here. 10* TAMPA BAY 

*ACTION on PITCHERS for BOTH teams* Contrarian Crusher - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #909 Sunday 10* Top Play Atlanta Braves Money Line (+) @ Los Angeles Dodgers @ 8:15 ET - Similar to the other series, look for the team that rallied to come all the way back to lose in Game 7. The Astros rallied from a 3-0 deficit to force a Game 7 in the ALCS but then lost to the Rays. In this one. the Dodgers have rallied from a 3-1 deficit to force a Game 7 here in the NLCS and, similarly, I look for them to now lose to the Braves. Note that Atlanta is a perfect 5-0 the last 5 times they have entered a game off back to back losses. This is great underdog line value here considering that the Braves also were 8-1 in the post-season prior to these back to back losses. I like their lineup and they will bounce back here no matter who the Dodgers throw at them. That is undecided at the moment but what is expected is that the Braves will start Ian Anderson. The young right-hander has held opponents to a .113 batting average in his 3 post-season starts. In the regular season, Anderson held opponents to a .172 batting average in his 6 starts. The guy is very tough to hit and that continues here. Anderson has 63 strikeouts in his 48 innings of combined regular season and post-season work. My gut tells me the Braves bats bounce back here and Anderson pitches extremely well and deep into this game and that mean only the best Braves arms will be used once the rookie hurler exits the game. Grab the underdog value here! 10* ATLANTA

Contrarian Crusher - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #908 Saturday 10* Top Play Tampa Bay Rays Money Line (-) vs Houston Astros @ 8:37 ET - I will add today's keys below the following excerpts from what I wrote in a recent analysis on this match-up: Yes the markets will give support to the Astros here because they were down 3-0 in this series and then rallied to bounce back to win 3 straight games. However, the Astros got into the playoffs despite being 2 games under .500 in the regular season. That including a horrible 14 games under .500 in games away from Minute Maid Park this season. Not only that, Tampa Bay was 20 games above .500 on the year and they are now taking it to an Astros team that went 4-13 in the regular season when facing teams with a winning record. The Rays are seeking revenge from getting knocked out of the playoffs by Houston last year and, despite blowing a 3-0 series lead, they can still accomplish that objective with a win tonight. Also, Tampa Bay went 34-12 their last 46 games of the regular season. Only once during that 46-game stretch did the Rays lose 3 straight games. They responded with a resounding 11-1 win to end that streak. This one won't be that easy but I like Morton over McCullers in Game 7 just like we saw in Game 2. McCullers pitched well overall in that game but he continues to struggle with too many homers allowed in this post-season. Also, in the regular season, he struggled badly in games away from Minute Maid Park. The Rays close out the series here with a big Game 7 win at a very fair money line price! 10* TAMPA BAY

Total of the Week - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #901 Friday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Tampa Bay Rays vs Houston Astros @ 6:07 ET - All 5 games in this series have totaled 7 or less runs. In typical contrarian fashion, that has me on the over in Game 6! The fact is I love this pitching match-up for an over. Yes, it was also Framber Valdez vs Blake Snell in Game 1 and that was a 2-1 game. However, that score doesn't say anything about the way that start played out for each of these hurlers. There were many scoring opportunities ruined by multiple double plays and runners caught stealing. There also were plenty of hard hit outs and now stronger contact is likely in this match-up because these hitters just faced these pitchers on Sunday. Also, the bullpen work has been solid in this series but the hitters have seen more and more of the same arms now too and they've started to do a little damage against relievers too. That said, I expect plenty of runs early, often, and throughout this contest as the set-up is truly ideal for a breakout game for both lineups in this one! 10* OVER the total in Tampa Bay

Contrarian Crusher - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #977 Thursday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Atlanta Braves vs Los Angeles Dodgers @ 8:08 ET - This total opened up at a 9.5 and quickly moved to a 9. In typical contrarian fashion, I am fading the move and going with the over here. The Dodgers turned the screws on the Braves by hammering the Atlanta bullpen in the bottom of the 9th of Game 2. I know LA still ultimately fell short by a run in that game but that was a key difference maker. The Dodgers carried that momentum right into Game 3 when they exploded in the first inning for a record-setting 11-run frame. The Dodgers aren't going to slow down here against Bryse Wilson (5.91 ERA and .306 BAA in his MLB career). In fact, Wilson is unlikely to pitch deep into this game as the Braves are treating this is a bullpen game. Yes that is the same bullpen that has been involved with allowing a ton of runs to the Dodgers the last two games. In other words, this is not a good set up for the Braves pitching staff. However, with Clayton Kershaw dealing with back spasms as well as the fact that the Braves will be facing a southpaw starting pitcher for a 2nd straight game, I would not be surprised to see Atlanta match the Dodgers run for run early on this one. Maybe the Dodgers pull away late but I am not laying the big price on the money line or the run line and feel that expecting double digits in runs scored in this one is absolutely the value play in Game 4 of the NLCS. 10* OVER the total in Atlanta

Game of the Month - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #971 Wednesday 10* Top Play Tampa Bay Rays Money Line (-) vs Houston Astros @ 8:40 ET - I will add today's keys below the following excerpts from what I wrote in yesterday's analysis on this match-up: Yes the markets will give support to the Astros here because they are down 2-0 in this series and need to bounce back and are the designated home team in this one. However, the Astros got into the playoffs despite being 2 games under .500 in the regular season. That including a horrible 14 games under .500 in games away from Minute Maid Park this season. Not only that, Tampa Bay was 20 games above .500 on the year and they are now taking it to an Astros team that went 4-13 in the regular season when facing teams with a winning record. Look for the Rays to take a 3-0 series lead tonight. Indeed Tampa Bay did take a 3-0 series lead with the win last night and I know the Astros desperately want to avoid getting swept out of the playoffs. However, Houston is facing the top team in the AL and all those stats above still ring true plus now the Rays have a big pitching edge in this one. Hard-throwing strikeout machine Tyler Glasnow will be very tough on the Astros hitters in this one. While TB has the strong arm of Glasnow going, Houston has to turn to the tired arm of Zack Greinke in this must win spot. Glasnow went 11-2 with a 2.90 ERA the past two seasons combined and has allowed just 9 hits in 13 and 1/3 post-season innings this year. Greinke is winless in 9 post-season starts spanning the last 3 years he has pitched in playoff action and he has compiled a 5.32 ERA in those 9 outings. Greinke went 0-3 with a 4.59 ERA in games away from Houston this season and also went 1-3 with a 6.08 ERA in his September starts. The Rays close out the sweep here! 10* TAMPA BAY 

ADDITION to write-up: Even though Tony Gonsolin is now the starter for the Dodgers I still like this play. The only time the Braves faced him he held them to 1 run in 4 innings last year. I realize this is his first post-season appearance but Atlanta's lack of familiarity with him is a plus. I'll give you another plus too: Gonsolin has a 2.60 ERA and has held opponents to a .186 BAA in his 20 appearances (14 starts) at the MLB level. He is capable of giving the Dodgers plenty of solid work in this start and so we stick with our bet. Here is the write-up ORIGINAL: Total Dominator - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #970 Tuesday 10* Top Play UNDER the total in Los Angeles Dodgers vs Atlanta Braves @ 6:05 ET - Globe Life Park is a pitcher friendly park. Yesterday's game was 1-1 before the Braves exploded for 4 runs in the top of the 9th. Value for the under in this one Tuesday as both starting pitchers should again dominate. Ian Anderson gets the start for the Braves and was fantastic over his last 6 regular starts - 1.95 ERA! Plus Anderson has dominated the post-season with striking out 17 in 11 and 2/3 scoreless innings spanning his two starts in the playoffs. Clayton Kershaw starts for the Dodgers here and also should dominate. He has struck out 19 in 14 innings in this post-season while allowing a total of only 3 runs. Also, Kershaw has a 0.43 ERA in his career playoff outings against the Braves. Considering the low-scoring ALCS and NLCS action thus far as well as this starting pitching match-up, the venue, and the two high-quality bullpens, this one looks like another game in which runs will be at a premium. 10* UNDER the total in the Los Angeles Dodgers game

FOX Dominator - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #966 Monday 8* Los Angeles Dodgers Money Line (-) vs Atlanta Braves @ 8:08 ET - Max Fried had a fantastic regular season but the Braves lefty is coming off a rough post-season start and has now allowed 8 earned runs in his last 15 innings worked in playoff action. Opponents hit .278 against him last post-season and are hitting .273 against him in this year's post-season. Certainly I respect Fried and respect the Braves as a quality team. But the Dodgers have been the best team in baseball all season long and have a solid hurler on the mound in Walker Buehler for this one. The LA right-hander has made 8 starts in post-season action in his career and he has a 2.84 ERA and has held opponents to a .168 BAA in those outings. Those are impressive career post-season numbers and Buehler has allowed just 4 earned runs over his last FOUR starts! Conversely Fried allowed 4 runs in just his last start alone and that one lasted just 4 innings. I am laying the very fair price (currently -135 range) with the designated home team in this one. 8* LOS ANGELES DODGERS

Daytime Dominator - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #963 Monday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Tampa Bay Rays vs Houston Astros @ 4:07 ET - Yesterday's 2-1 final is helping to give us some line value here. The teams had plenty of scoring chances yesterday but just couldn't cash in. The teams combined to go just 3 for 16 with runners in scoring position and left 19 men on base. That is why no matter whom the pitchers are today, I am betting the over in this game. The lineups made enough "noise" yesterday that they have some confidence heading into today's game and, this time, they should cash in those opportunities. As for the projected pitching matchup today is is Lance McCullers and Charlie Morton. McCullers went 0-3 with a 7.33 ERA away from home in 2020 regular season action and then got crushed in the ALDS match-up with Oakland as he allowed 8 hits (including 3 homers) in just 4 innings of work. Don't be surprised if the Rays do some damage here. However, Tampa Bay starter Morton had a 4.74 ERA in his 9 starts in the regular season this year and the Astros will do some damage against him here too. That said, with a total of just 8 runs, this one gets my highest rating. 10* OVER the total in Tampa Bay 

TBS Dominator - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #962 Sunday 8* Tampa Bay Rays Money Line (-) vs Houston Astros @ 7:37 ET - The Rays Blake Snell is coming off a rough outing versus the Yankees but, even including that one, he has a 2.81 ERA in his 5 post-season appearances (3 starts) and has held opponents to a .193 batting average. That includes 3 games against the Astros in last year's post-season in which he compiled a 1.69 ERA. I know Framber Valdez has pitched well for the Astros this season including in the playoffs. However, this is still a guy whom went 4-7 with a 5.86 ERA last season. He is not on the same level as Snell in my opinion and I also like the fact that the Rays went 20-11 away from Tampa Bay in the regular season this year while the Astros went 9-23 away from Houston. This game being played at Petco Park in San Diego. I'll reduce my rating to an 8* with consideration to the fact that the Rays are in the -140 range here but I like the money favorite plenty in this one. 8* TAMPA BAY 

Contrarian Crusher - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #934 Friday 10* Top Play Tampa Bay Rays Money Line (+) vs New York Yankees @ 7:10 ET - I am going contrarian here and going with the undervalued underdog. Tyler Glasnow gets the start and last year's playoff experience really helping him here. He went 0-2 last season in the post-season but he is 2-0 so far this season in the playoffs. I know he is on short rest for this one but, keep in mind, his arm fresher than usual since it was such a short regular season. He piled up the strikeouts in his win over the Yankees in Game 2 of this series and he can do that again here in Game 5. As for Yankees starter Gerrit Cole, he has allowed 6 homers in his last 4 post-season starts (2 this year and his final 2 last year). As dominant as he can be, Cole also capable of serving up "mistake pitches" that get crushed and end up in the seats or in the outfield gaps. I expect the Rays to surprise Cole and the Yankees and the world (per se) as they get the upset win here over the over-valued Yankees and advance to the ALCS. Give me the underdog in this one and, keep in mind, though a neutral field having the home edge of last at bats is certainly an added value here should this game be a close one late. 10* TAMPA BAY 

Earliest Cash - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #921 Thursday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Miami Marlins vs Atlanta Braves @ 2:08 ET - I know Sixto Sanchez is off a great start versus the Cubs in the prior post-season round. But he faces a much more confident and potent lineup in this round of the playoffs. Also, the Cubs hadn't seen him this season whereas the Braves will be seeing Sanchez for the 3rd time already this season. Repetition tends to help the hitters and when they saw him for the 2nd time Atlanta got to him for 4 earned runs on 4 walks and 4 hits in just 3 innings! More of the same expected here. The good news for Marlins fans, however, is the fact that Kyle Wright makes this start for the Braves. Not only is this the first time Wright has pitched since September 25th, he struggled badly against Miami this season. Wright allowed 8 earned runs on 8 walks and 9 hits in 7 innings of work! Just like Sanchez, Wright is likely to struggle here. After yesterday's 2-0 pitchers duel, this one is slated to play out much more like the 9-5 slugfest that opened up this series. 10* OVER the total in Miami

Game of the Week - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #913 Wednesday 10* Top Play Tampa Bay Rays Money Line (+) vs New York Yankees @ 7:10 ET - With last night's 7-5 win, the Rays are right back in this series as it is knotted at 1 game apiece. I look for Tampa Bay to get another win here as they ride the momentum of yesterday's victory and have a pitching edge in this one. Tampa Bay has the fresh arm of Charlie Morton on the mound. He hasn't pitched in 12 days. He has great breaking stuff and can keep hitters off balance and rack up strikeouts. All those variables against a Yankees lineup that is powerful but also known for striking out too much is the perfect combo for TB starter Morton in my opinion. New York's Masahiro Tanaka, on the other hand, is likely to struggle here. He struggled a bit down the stretch run in the regular season as he allowed 9 runs (5 earned) on 14 hits and 4 walks in 9 and 1/3 innings spanning his last two starts away from home. Of course this start will also be away from home as these are neutral site games and this one is being played at Petco Park in San Diego. Also, Tanaka struggled in his first appearance of this post-season as the Indians got to him for 6 earned runs in his start against Cleveland in the Wild Card series last week. I respect the Yankees for sure but they continue to get a little too much respect from the betting markets. Lets not forget that this is a Yankees team that went 11-18 away from home in the regular season while the Rays went 20-11 in road games this season. In Game 3 at Petco Park in San Diego, I will again take the undervalued team in this one and am happy to have them as a dog tonight. 10* TAMPA BAY

Contrarian Crusher - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #906 Tuesday 10* Top Play Tampa Bay Rays Money Line (-) vs New York Yankees @ 8:10 ET - I am calling this a contrarian play because the Yankees, as always, will continue to get plenty of support from the betting markets. The Rays, however, are in bounce back mode here after yesterday's loss finished in ugly fashion. It was a tight game all the way until the top of the 9th when the Yankees blew it open and the Rays will look to make amends for that here and they have the pitching match-up that will allow them to do just that. Tyler Glasnow had a respectable 3.77 ERA in his 3 starts against the Yankees this season and averaged about 3 strikeouts for every 2 innings pitched against New York! Overall he enters this start on a run that has seen him fan 8 or more batters in 9 of his last 12 starts. Getting a lot of strikeouts of their sluggers is a key to slowing down the Yankees and I expect Glasnow to do just that. He rates a big edge, in my opinion, over Deivi Garcia as he is just 21 years old and his ERA over 6 starts this season was nearly a 5.00 and I expect the young hurler to struggle against the Rays in this one. Tampa Bay was the better overall team in the regular season and I don't see them falling down 2-0 in this series considering a significant pitching edge in Game 2 also. That said, I'll gladly lay the short price with the designated home team (last bat advantage( in this one. 10* TAMPA BAY RAYS

Daytime Dominator - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #908 Tuesday 8* Oakland A's Money Line (-) vs Houston Astros @ 4:37 ET - After getting drilled yesterday I look for the A's to respond Tuesday. Oakland's Sean Manaea has a 2.65 ERA over his last 6 outings so he is in good current form. He also was great in his outing against the Astros this season. Likewise, Houston's Framber Valdez was great in his outing against the A's this season. However, the key difference here is that Valdez allowed 14 earned runs in the 19 innings spanning his last 3 road starts of the regular season. I would not be surprised to see him struggle away from home in this one. As for Manaea, he is looking to make up for a rough start in his lone post-season appearance last year and I expect him to do just that. This is a "payback game" for Manaea and for the A's and they are available at a great price. It is not a true "home game" of course but getting last at-bat always a nice edge too. 8* OAKLAND

TBS Dominator - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #902 Monday 10* Top Play Tampa Bay Rays Money Line (+) vs New York Yankees @ 8:07 ET @ Petco Park in San Diego, CA - Waiting has paid off here as the betting masses love backing teams like the Yankees while teams like the Rays get less respect. Keep in mind, the Yankees went just 11-18 in road games this season. Of course this is essentially a road game for both teams since it is at a neutral site. However, Tampa Bay is the designated home team for Game One of this series. Also, the Rays were the much better team when traveling this season as they went 20-11 on the road. I am well aware of the fact that Gerrit Cole has been pitching very well for the Yankees of late and he has particularly been in the zone when working with battery-mate Kyle Higashioka behnd the plate. However, there is simply not enough respect being given to a very good Rays team that has a solid hurler on the mound in this one too. Blake Snell gets the start for Tampa Bay here and he went 1-0 with a 3.38 ERA in his two starts against New York this season. As for Cole, he went 0-1 with a 4.96 ERA in his two starts against the Rays this season. Also, TB rates the bullpen edge over the Yanks too in my opinion. Just overall the better team and, in what will likely be a tight game, I love the home dog value here with the Rays on the money line. 10* TAMPA BAY

ESPN Dominator - *THIS PLAY IS ACTION. NO MATTER WHO IS THE STARTING PITCHER FOR EITHER TEAM * - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #977 Friday 10* Top Play St Louis Cardinals Money Line (+) @ San Diego Padres @ 7:08 ET - The Cardinals had an inexcusable loss yesterday as they were up 4-0 and 6-2 and yet still found a way to lose. They'll make up for it here. With the Padres pitching staff still without Lamet and Clevinger for this series, they are really running low on arms for this bullpen game Friday. Yes the Padres are just thrilled to be here of course as it looked like St Louis was going to earn the series sweep with a win yesterday before San Diego went "home run crazy" in the game. However, to get to this point San Diego has used a lot of bullpen in the first two games and now Game 3 was already a designated "bullpen game" for the Padres coming into this series. That said, the Cards hold a big edge on the mound in this bounce back spot in Game 3. Cardinals have starting pitcher Jack Flaherty slated to go in this one and though he was not as strong this season as he was the prior season, he is still a strikeout pitcher with great stuff. He is fully capable of dominating the Padres in this game and he has had great success against San Diego (including at Petco Park) in his young career. Coming off a loss in which they allowed double digits in runs, and with a big edge in starting pitching for this one, I like the Cardinals as a small dog here. Payback time and the Cardinals will advance. 10* ST LOUIS

FRIDAY game. This game got moved to FRIDAY but I am still going with the same play REGARDLESS of the pitching match-up though it is expected to be the same one. Afternoon Annihilation - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #982 Thursday 6* Chicago Cubs Money Line (-) vs Miami Marlins @ 2:08 ET - NOTE: Normally in regular season action where there are daily cards of 15 games on most days of course I do not lay big juice like this. But this is the post-season now and the cards are much smaller and the situation here is ideal. Even with that though do note that my rating is only 6* even though most picks I release are only my highest rated 10* selections. Of course the 6* rating is because the money line on this game is in the -180 range. That means is the equivalent of laying no more than a -110 price on a 10* top play pick. Now that we have that out of the way, lets get to the analytics for this one. The Marlins Sixto Sanchez is a rookie who just turned 22 in late July. He pitched well this season UNTIL his last two starts and that is a key here as his form has not been good recently and it also could have shaken the confidence of Sanchez. He has allowed 9 earned runs in 7 innings spanning his last two starts. Also, over his last 3 starts combined, Sanchez has more walks than strikeouts! Look for him to struggle here with the playoff pressure and taking on a Cubs team looking to bounce back from a 5-1 loss yesterday. Chicago counters with Yu Darvish. Since the 2nd half of last season he has a 2.40 ERA with 211 strikeouts (and only 21 walks!) over his last 157 and 2/3 innings of work. That is long-term consistency and, unlike Sanchez, the 34 year old right-hander has playoff experience too. That goes a long way in this one and the Cubs even up this series to force a deciding Game 3 on Friday. Lay the price! 6* CHICAGO CUBS

Earliest Cash - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #957 Thursday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Atlanta Braves vs Cincinnati Reds @ 12:08 ET - I know these teams combined for just 1 run yesterday but watch today's game play out much differently. For one thing, the fact yesterday's game went 13 innings didn't do any favors for each team's bullpen. But the key factor here is that there is reason to believe each of these pitchers could struggle some in their post-season debuts. Luis Castillo starts for the Reds and he gave up 3 homers in 5 innings in his only day game outing this season. Castillo, as good as he has been, is now 8-14 in day games the past 3 seasons! The early start time for this one certainly not doing him any favors. Also, Castillo enters this start off a road outing in which he allowed 4 earned runs in 4 innings. As for the Braves Ian Anderson, he just turned 22 in May and it seems the book is now out on how to hit him! In all seriousness, after great early season success he got hit hard in each of his last two outings to wrap up the season and allowed 3 runs in each start. It is hidden from his ERA a little bit because the 3 in his final outing were unearned. But that does not change the black and white facts which are: Anderson allowed 11 hits plus walked 4 in 10 and 1/3 innings spanning his last 2 starts. The Reds will bounce back at the plate off the shutout loss and I expect the youngster to feel a bit of playoff pressure in this one as the rookie has logged only 32 and 1 / 3 innings in his MLB career, all this season. The bats will wake up today after yesterday's slumber. I understand the low total of 7.5 but have plenty of reason to believe it is too low as you can see per the above. 10* OVER the total in Atlanta

Daytime Dominator - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #943 Wednesday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Tampa Bay Rays vs Toronto Blue Jays @ 4:07 ET - Sometimes strange things happen. Who would have thought the Yankees, who did not slug the ball well away from home all season, would go and score 12 runs at Cleveland on a night when Indians ace Shane Bieber was pitching? Or who would have thought the only series in this Wild Card round that was pitting two teams who saw a lot of each other during the regular season would see both teams struggle at the plate? But that was the case yesterday with the Rays and Jays as neither team hit well and the game sputtered to a 3-1 final. The key takeaway in all this? Stay the course. There will always be exceptions but staying steady with the same beliefs that got you there is what will continue to bring in winners. That is why I am going with the over in Game 2 of this series after a low-scoring Game 1. I know Hyun Jin Ryu had a great regular season but the Rays are familiar with him and ranked 3rd in the AL against lefties this season as they had a .455 slugging percentage when facing southpaws. Tampa Bay will be seeing Ryu for the 3rd time this season and he did have a 5.23 ERA in his day game outings this season plus struggled a bit against the Rays this year as well. TB counters with Tyler Glasnow. He was not nearly as dominant this year as last year plus he had a 4.85 ERA in home games and a 9.00 ERA in day games. Toronto can give him some trouble here and the Blue Jays and Rays could get into a bit of a back and forth game here which has me liking this one to go over the low total. 10* OVER the total in Tampa Bay

**I don't care about the pitching match-up here. No matter who pitches I like the over.** Afternoon Annihilation - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #941 Wednesday 8* OVER the total in Minnesota Twins vs Houston Astros @ 1:08 ET - Lost with this pick yesterday as the teams combined to go 2 for 16 with runners in scoring position (RISP). You can't hit like that with RISP and expect to win many games and, fittingly, neither team deserved to win yesterday's game and the Astros won it on unearned runs in the top of the 9th. I don't care about the pitching match-up here. No matter who pitches I like the over. The wind is expected to be blowing out toward right field or right-center at a decent clip for this one. Also, Jose Berrios is expected to start for the Twins and he struggled some this season. He was not nearly as dominant as he usually is. He also has struggled in his only two playoff appearances and he has a 6.43 ERA in his five career starts against the Astros. Houston is expected to start either Lance McCullers or Jose Urquidy. Either way, I like the over in this match-up even if the Astros use someone else or a bullpen opener as I expect the Twins to respond at the plate at home after yesterday's dismal effort at the plate. With the home team hitting better than yesterday and the inconsistencies of Berrios (5.31 ERA in day games this season) continuing, this one flies over the total. 8* OVER the total in Minnesota 

Afternoon Annihilation - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #937 Tuesday 10* Top Play Chicago White Sox Money Line (-) @ Oakland A's @ 3 ET - So the A's finished the season with a better record, plus have home field edge here, plus the White Sox finished the season slumping, and yet Oakland is an underdog in this one. Looks easy, right? You know what the reality is when something looks too easy, right? That's right, nothing is that easy! I like the White Sox plenty in this match-up. First off, the A's are throwing a southpaw, Jesus Luzardo, in this one. He was a bit "up and down" in the regular season and finished with a 4.12 ERA in his dozen games (9 starts). The big concern for Luzardo here is that the White Sox hit .285 (#1 among playoff teams) and had a .523 slugging percentage (#1 among all MLB teams) in the regular season against lefties. Chicago loves facing left-handed pitching and they will give Luzardo a lot of trouble in this one. As for White Sox starter Lucas Giolito, look for plenty of success in this one. He is facing an A's team that hit just .229 at home this season and that ranks among the worst marks in the majors. Also, Giolito thrived on the road and in day games each of the past two seasons. 2020 - 2.79 ERA on the road and 3.00 ERA in day games. 2019 - 9-3 with a 2.83 ERA on the road and 7-3 with a 2.16 ERA in day games. There is a reason the road team is the favorite in this one. Lay it! 10* CHICAGO WHITE SOX

Earliest Cash - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #933 Tuesday 8* OVER the total in Minnesota Twins vs Houston Astros @ 2 ET - Zack Greinke has the playoff experience but it hasn't gone well the last two times he has been in the post-season. Greinke, in 2017 and 2019 combined, has gone winless in his 7 starts while compiling a 5.35 ERA. Speaking of struggles, Greinke compiled a 5.73 ERA over his final 7 starts of this regular season. That said, he is not in good current form entering this road start against a Twins lineup that certainly has some sluggers that can make you pay for mistake pitches. As for Kenta Maeda, I know he had great numbers in this regular season but starting in the post-season is a different animal. This is especially true when you're facing an Astros lineup loaded with playoff experience. The only time Maeda was used as a starter in the post-season was 2016 and he went winless in 3 starts while compiling a 6.75 ERA. More of the same expected here and this one flies over the low total. 8* OVER the total in Minnesota

Divisional Dominator - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #911 Sunday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Toronto Blue Jays vs Baltimore Orioles @ 3:07 ET - Sahlen Field in Buffalo, NY is a very hitter friendly park. It will be a mild afternoon in upstate New York with the winds out of the southwest. All signs point to the bats ruling the day here. The Orioles want to get one more look at Keegan Akin and, honestly, the Blue Jays probably do as well! Toronto gets a second shot at him in their own park and Akin has allowed 8 runs (6 earned) on 11 hits in 4 and 2/3 innings spanning his last two road starts. The southpaw will get rocked by a Blue Jays team that is riding waves of positive emotion as they prepare for their first post-season appearance since 2016. As a result of the playoffs being on deck, Blue Jays starter Tanner Roark will work deep into this game even if he is getting roughed up as Toronto wants to preserve as many arms as possible for the start of the playoffs. That said, I like my chances of plenty of runs here as the struggling Roark should get rocked. He has a 7.01 ERA in his 10 starts this season and opponents are hitting .311 against him. More of the same here. 10* OVER the total in Toronto

Total of the Week - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #961 Saturday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Kansas City Royals vs Detroit Tigers @ 7:05 ET - The wind will be blowing out toward left-center field at a good clip on Saturday evening at Kauffman Stadium. This is a match-up featuring two teams that are staying home for the playoffs so the hitters certainly will be relaxed at the plate. That said, I like this pitching match-up to result in an easy over. The Tigers Matthew Boyd is facing the Royals for the 3rd time this season but the first time at Kansas City. Though his most recent start against KC was solid, that was sandwiched around 2 poor outings. That comes as no surprise as it has been a very rough season for Boyd and I expect the Royals to pound him in their 3rd look at him this season plus now facing him at home. As for the Kansas City starter, it is rookie Carlos Hernandez. He has not pitched more than 3 and 2/3 innings in any of his outings. His most recent one lasted that long and he only allowed 1 earned run but 4 hits and 3 walks so he was fortunate to say the least. Look for him to get crushed by the Tigers here but note that the Detroit team ERA is among the worst in the majors this season so this one turns into a high-scoring slugfest with the ball carrying very well at Kauffman Stadium tonight. 10* OVER the total in Kansas City

Divisional Dominator - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #963 Thursday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Boston Red Sox vs Baltimore Orioles @ 7:30 ET - No playoff pressure here for these teams and that means relaxed hitters at the plate on what will be a mild evening with a southerly breeze at Fenway Park. That means the ball will carry very well. Boston's Martin Perez will be facing the Orioles for the 3rd time this season and, though he was successful against them at Baltimore, he struggled when he faced them in Boston. In fact, Perez is 0-3 with a 4.28 ERA at home this season. The Orioles got to him for 5 runs (4 earned) in 5 innings when they faced him earlier this season at Fenway Park and they can do it again here. They'll need all the runs they can get because the Red Sox beat them 9-1 yesterday and should have another big game at the plate as they face the Orioles Alex Cobb. The Baltimore right-hander is 0-5 with a 5.18 ERA in his night starts this season and 1-2 with a 5.79 ERA in his road starts this season. The Red Sox are seeing him for the 3rd time this season and are on a 3-game winning streak in which they have scored an average of 9 runs per game. More of the same expected here. 10* OVER the total in Boston

Divisional Dominator - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #903 Wednesday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Washington Nationals vs Philadelphia Phillies @ 6:05 ET - I know the Phillies Zach Eflin is off a strong start but he hasn't had back to back strong starts all season. In fact that was preceded by a stretch in which he allowed at least 3 earned runs in 6 of 7 outings. That included his only start of the season against the Nationals and he gave up 4 earned runs in that outing. Washington has a solid lineup and they are relishing the role of spoiler against the division rival Phillies. They swept yesterday's double-header on a walk-off 2-run homer in the bottom of the 8th of Game 2 after beating Aaron Nola 5-1 in Game 1. The only good news for Phillies fans is that Philadelphia should score plenty of runs in this one. They got going at the plate with 7 runs in Game 2 yesterday and now face Erick Fedde. He is 0-2 with an 8.18 ERA in his two starts against the Phillies this season. Like Eflin, Fedde is off a strong start. Like Eflin, Fedde had struggled prior to that start as he had entered the outing against the Marlins with a 7.32 ERA in his 4 preceding starts. This one will be all about the lineups as they each have a huge day at the plate on a mild evening in DC. 10* OVER the total in Washington

Divisional Dominator - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #955 Tuesday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Toronto Blue Jays vs New York Yankees @ 6:37 ET - Yes I know Gerrit Cole is on the mound and has been great for the Yankees in his last 3 starts. However, the Yankees could get double digits in runs all by themselves in this game. Toronto beat New York  11-5 yesterday so it is payback time today but I am certainly not laying the huge money line price on the Yankees and even the run line price is lofty too. Instead I'll take the over and lay hardly any juice in this one as New York should pile up the runs here. The Yankees are 10-2 in their last dozen games and scored an average of 8.5 runs per game in those ten victories. 6 of the Yanks last 7 games have totaled 11 or more runs and I am expecting a similar result today. Roark has a 6.41 ERA this season. If he exits early we might see the originally planned starter for today, Chase Anderson, and he has a 7.45 ERA this season. Overall the Blue Jays pitching staff is not impressive and the Yankees sticks are in bounce back mode after consecutive losses have followed a 10-game winning streak in which, for the most part, the Bronx Bombers were knocking the cover off the ball. The Blue Jays are hitting .274 at home this season and that ranks them among the best in the majors. They should scratch some off Cole whom also might get an early exit if the Yankees get up big as they preserve his arm for the post-season. As a result, all signs pointing to a slugfest in this one. 10* OVER the total in Toronto

Earliest Cash - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #951 Tuesday 8* Philadelphia Phillies Run Line -1.5 runs +105 @ Washington Nationals @ 3:05 ET (Game #1 of Double Header) - The Phillies Aaron Nola walked 5 in his most recent start and that is a career worst for him and yet he is the staff ace. The Nationals Austin Voth is coming off his strongest start of the season in his most recent outing and yet this is still a guy who is winless on the season with a 7.17 ERA. You can see where I am going with this. Nola is 5-3 with a 2.92 ERA and off a bad performance while Voth has struggled badly this season but is off a strong performance. That means value with the Phillies here on the run line. Of course I am not going to lay the nearly -200 price on the money line here but on the run line there is even some plus money out there on the Phillies because this is just a 7 inning game. In theory that would make it tougher for the Phillies to get a big lead since they only get 7 innings of hitting instead of 9 innings. However, this shortened game actually works in favor of the Phillies since their bullpen is so bad. Don't be surprised if Nola pitches a complete game and the Phillies pound Voth and the other Nationals pitchers who enter this one and it turns into a road rout. 8* Philadelphia Run Line -1.5 runs (Game ONE of double header)

Divisional Dominator - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #911 Monday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Pittsburgh Pirates vs Chicago Cubs @ 7:05 ET - Jon Lester is coming of a start that featured a good linescore versus the Indians but he was not impressive. He was fortunate in that outing. I like to fade pitchers off a start like that and especially when they are NOT overpowering pitchers. That is is certainly the case with Lester and now he is on the road and I trust the Pirates sticks more at home than on the road. The issue for the Pirates here will be their own starter as JT Brubaker gets the start and has struggled badly at home this season. Brubaker has made 5 starts in Pittsburgh and he has compiled a 7.08 ERA as teams have hit nearly .300 against him at PNC Park. With the Cubs off a shutout loss at home last night at the hands of the Twins, I am expecting a huge response from Chicago at the plate in this one. They'll need it because I look for Lester to get hit hard. Even off a fortunate outing in his last start, Lester has a 6.82 ERA in the 7 starts he has made since mid-August. More of the same here. The Cubs .439 slugging percentage in road games ranks them 8th in the majors. Prior to a 2-1 home loss yesterday, the Pirates had scored 4 or more runs in 10 of their past 15 home games. They bounce right back against Lester in this one. 10* OVER the total in Pittsburgh

Total Dominator - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #959 Sunday 10* Top Play OVER the total in New York Mets vs Atlanta Braves @ 1:10 ET - These are two very potent lineups and two starting pitchers likely to struggle and two bullpens that have each had their share of ups and downs to say the least. It will be a cool afternoon with the wind blowing in from right field but all the above factors trap that one in my opinion. I also like the fact that this total opened up at a 10 and has moved down to a 9.5 as we now get some line value. The odds makers set the total at double digits for a reason. Braves Wright is 1-4 with a 7.20 ERA this season. Mets Porcello is 1-5 with a 6.06 ERA this season. Enough said! 10* OVER the total in New York Mets

Total Dominator - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #903 Saturday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Philadelphia Phillies vs Toronto Blue Jays @ 6:05 ET - The coldest team in MLB right now is the Blue Jays whom have lost 5 straight games. Play on Phillies here? No, not even with "monopoly money". Lol. The fact is Phillies fans wish Vince Velasquez would never pitch another game in a Philadelphia uniform. He has had so many chances to prove himself through the years since the Phillies got him in a trade with the Astros. However, the only thing he has been consistent with is his struggles. He just can't put it together on the mound but I do like the Phillies bats - riding a double-header sweep yesterday - to stay hot here. Yes, I know that Hyun-Jin Ryu has good career numbers against the Phillies and is having a strong season. However, riding the momentum of yesterday's win and the fact that Ryu won't pitch that deep into this game, the Phillies will do some damage at the plate here. However, with Velasquez (winless and 6.46 ERA this season) and the worst bullpen in baseball, the Phillies have no chance of holding the Blue Jays down in this one. Considering the above as well as the fact that this total has dropped from an opener of 9 down to as low as an 8 as of early Saturday morning, I like the value in what should be a back and forth game with more runs than many expect. 10* OVER the total in Philadelphia

Total of the Month - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #959 Friday 10* Top Play OVER the total in New York Mets vs Atlanta Braves @ 7:10 ET - I am aware of Max Fried being a candidate for the Cy Young award this season. I am also aware of the weather forecast featuring a north wind blowing in and a little taste of fall in the air this evening in New York. However, the Mets lineup is red-hot and the Braves have been one of the top hitting teams in baseball this season, and I expect this game to fly over the low total. Keep in mind, there has been a pitching change announced Thursday for this Friday match-up and it will be Steven Matz getting the start. Not only is he 0-4 with an 8.63 ERA this season, he is making his first start since mid-August as he has been bothered by shoulder bursitis in his left arm. This is a battle of southpaws and, speaking of injuries, Fried is also coming back from one as he has had muscle spasms lead to an issue in his back. Fried will be making his first start in nearly two weeks. He has allowed 5 earned runs on 10 hits and 5 walks in his last two starts so he has been far from dominant in recent outings. Fried is facing a Mets team that is familiar with him and has a number of hitters whom have enjoyed success against him. As for Matz, he is now 18-32 with a 4.69 ERA since the 2017 season began. You can see why I have no hesitation in fading him here. Opponents are hitting .364 against Matz in night games this season and he has an 11.64 ERA under the lights. The 29-year old southpaw faces an Atlanta team which has a .479 slugging percentage ranking #2 in the majors this year.  The Braves have won 11 of 18 games and have scored an average of 7.1 runs during this solid stretch. The Mets are off a momentum-boosting series against the Phillies and have won 8 of 14 games and scored an average of 6.6 runs per game their last 15 games. More of the same here. 10* OVER the total in New York Mets 

Divisional Dominator - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #910 Thursday 10* Top Play Philadelphia Phillies Money Line (-) vs New York Mets @ 7:05 ET - This line has gone from an opener in the -140 range to as low as -115. I like the Phillies here as they have staff ace Aaron Nola on the mound and look to bounce back from letting a big lead slip away in yesterday's 5-4 loss to the Mets. Note that Nola has a 1.65 ERA in his last 4 starts. Also, this season at home he has a 1.57 ERA and has held opponents to a .133 batting average. I know Seth Lugo has been pitching well for Mets but the Phillies have 6 hitters who are hitting .278 or better against him. Also, Lugo has not pitched as well on the road as he has at home. He is 0-3 with a 3.77 ERA and a .293 BAA in 7 road games (2 starts) this season. More of the same on tap here and the Phillies improve to 7-3 the last 10 times they were off a loss in which they allowed 5 or more runs. Philly, prior to yesterday's loss, was on an 11-2 run in home games including 4-0 against the Mets. Phillies at home and with Nola on the mound are in the perfect spot to bounce right back and we get a great price here. Lay it! 10* PHILADELPHIA

Total of the Week - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #975 Wednesday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Chicago Cubs vs Cleveland Indians @ 8:15 ET - Yesterday's game didn't get over the total until late but each team did finish the game with scoring at least 5 runs and with totaling 11 hits apiece. When both lineups are going and you have a low total like we do today I won't hesitate to take advantage. Yes, I know cooler weather moving into the Chicago area this time of year and the wind is expected to be blowing in for this contest. However, that is also serving to keep this total lower than it should be in my opinion. Jon Lester starts for the Cubs and is off a strong start. However, he has not had solid back to back starts since early August. In fact, prior to his good start last week, Lester had allowed 5 or more earned runs in 4 of his last 5 starts. That rough stretch was preceded by a quality start against the Indians. However, the fact that Cleveland is now facing him a 2nd time plus the fact he had been struggling prior to strong start at Milwaukee sets this one up well for Cleveland to do some damage at the plate. They'll need it because I do expect Aaron Civale to get touched up too! Civale gave up 4 earned runs in 6 innings in his most recent start and that was at home. In his most recent road start he allowed 5 earned runs in 6 innings. Civale is facing a Cubs lineup that is growing with confidence as Chicago has won 4 of 5 games and scored an average of 7.5 runs per game in those 4 victories. The Indians are mired in a 7-game losing streak but runs are coming in bunches in recent games as yesterday's loss here at Wrigley Field was the 3rd straight Cleveland game to total more than 10 runs. More of the same expected here! 10* OVER the total in the Chicago Cubs game

Situational Slaughter - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #923 Tuesday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Colorado Rockies vs Oakland A's @ 8:40 ET - The Rockies are hitting .284 against left-handed pitching this season. That ranks them 4th in the majors and they should pound Sean Manaea here. The A's southpaw has made one career start at Coors Field and he allowed 9 hits in just 5 innings of work. However, the Oakland bats should also be rolling tonight. Yesterday the Athletics played a double header at Seattle and scored 14 runs in 14 innings! Now they take on a struggling Antonio Senzatela of the Rockies. The Colorado right-hander has been hit hard in 3 of his last 4 outings. In those 3 starts Senzatela has given up 12 earned runs on 20 hits in 15 and 2/3 innings of work. Keep in mind, opponents hit .313 against him last year and he compiled a 6.71 ERA on the season. Now Senzatela appears to be regressing toward the same struggles that plagued him last season. Facing the hot A's lineup is unlikely to help matters. Oakland has scored an average of 6.5 runs in their last 6 games and 4 of those games were just 7 inning games! In fact if you adjust that factor out of it then it would mean the A's are averaging about 8 runs per 9 innings over their last 6 games. The last two games played at Coors Field have been low-scoring but this was immediately preceded by a stretch in which 11 of the 15 games played here totaled at least a dozen runs and most of those got into the mid-teens which is what I am forecasting here. 10* OVER the total in Colorado

Afternoon Annihilation - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #971 Monday 10* Top Play Philadelphia Phillies Money Line (+) @ Miami Marlins @ 4:10 ET - Even with yesterday's double-header sweep, the Marlins are still just 6-11 at home this season. Miami did leapfrog the Phillies in the standings courtesy of yesterday's sweep. That said, I look for Philadelphia to return the favor with a win here. Simply too much value here to pass up in terms of grabbing an underdog in a great spot against a team that, yesterday notwithstanding, is truly not very good. Before the sweep yesterday the Marlins had lost 20 of 34 games. The Phillies had won 14 of their last 20 games prior to getting swept yesterday. Also, Velasquez gets the start here and struck out 9 in just 5 innings in his most recent start. He is a very talented pitcher capable of getting hot (and growing in confidence) at any moment and this could be another one of those strong stretches beginning for Velasquez. As for the Marlins Lopez, he is off back to back horrific outings and has allowed 12 earned runs in less than 6 innings of work spanning those two starts. More of the same here and the Phillies get a huge lead in this one and never look back. 10* PHILADELPHIA 

Ultra Early Rout - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #901 Sunday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Washington Nationals vs Atlanta Braves @ 12:35 ET - While I certainly respect the Nats Max Scherzer I also very much respect the potent Braves lineup. Also, the weather will be ideal for an over in DC today. Additionally, the Braves Kyle Wright is likely to get crushed here. In 9 MLB starts in his career, he has only gotten through 5 innings twice! Wright has an ugly 8.80 ERA this season. Scherzer is off a great start versus the Rays but, prior to that, he had just 1 good start in his last 4. Those other 3 outings saw him allow a total of 12 earned runs in 17 and 2/3 innings. I feel the powerful Braves sticks, who had been on fire prior to yesterday, are going to get to Scherzer early and often. The last time he faced them he gave up 3 earned runs on 7 hits in just 5 innings of work. With Atlanta having a strong showing at the plate and Wright continuing to get hammered, this one will surprise a lot of people as it gets into double digits in runs scored even though Scherzer is on the mound for the Nats. 10* OVER the total in Washington

Situational Slaughter - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #955 Saturday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Miami Marlins vs Philadelphia Phillies @ 6:10 ET - The Phillies won Game 1 yesterday by a count of 11-0 and then Game 2 was a 5-3 Marlins win that saw the teams combine for 21 hits. Not only that, those were 7 innings games folks! Look for the slugfest to continue today because there are question marks about both starters in this match-up and the Philadelphia bullpen continues to struggle badly. That means runs early, often and throughout this one. The Phillies start Spencer Howard and the rookie has a 5.66 ERA in his 5 starts as he is still searching for consistency. Speaking of consistency, it will take awhile for the Marlins Jose Urena to get back into a groove too. He just made his first start of 2020. Keep in mind, last season Urena went 4-10 with a 5.21 ERA and opponents hit nearly .300 against him. He was particularly bad at home where he went 1-7 with a 6.69 ERA in his 10 games (7 starts) and opponents hit .335 against him in Miami. Now he faces a Phillies team that has been hot at the plate in recent weeks and the power surge continues here. 10* OVER the total in Miami

Total of the Week - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #901 Friday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Washington Nationals vs Atlanta Braves @ 6:05 ET - These teams combined for 13 runs in yesterday's game and I expect more of the same in today's match-up. Yes, Josh Tomlin had a strong start versus the Nationals last week but now he faces them at Washington. Note that on the road in 2018 he had a 6.29 ERA and got hit at a .311 clip. Then, last season he had a 4.28 ERA on the road with a .280 BAA. This season so far he struggled badly in his only road start. In fact that was part of a stretch in which Tomlin, just before the good outing against the Nats, allowed 12 runs (11 earned) on 21 hits in 12 and 2/3 innings! The Nationals start Erick Fedde here and he is 7-10 with a 5.37 ERA and has been hit at a .289 clip in his MLB career. Fedde just faced the Braves last week and the results were disastrous and facing them again right away, with how hot the Atlanta lineup has been, is absolutely an invitation for disaster.  The Braves have won 8 of 12 games and have scored an average of 8.8 runs per game during this hot stretch! The Nationals have scored an average of 6.7 runs per game their last half dozen games. 10* OVER the total in Washington 

Situational Slaughter - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #961 Thursday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Tampa Bay Rays vs Boston Red Sox @ 6:40 ET - The Rays start Josh Fleming. He is coming off a tough start at home versus the Marlins. That doesn't bode well for now facing a Red Sox team that, despite having a rough season, still does have a dangerous lineup. Fleming allowed 4 earned runs on 7 hits in 5 innings of work. He has given up 3 homers in 10 innings spanning his two home starts in this, his rookie, season. The Red Sox start Mike Kickham. He is 31 years old but has very little MLB experience but Boston is so desperate for pitching. Kickham is 1-3 with a 10.19 ERA in his 16 career MLB appearances. The Rays entered Tuesday's game having scored an average of 5 runs per game their 8 most recent games and I look for Tampa Bay to take advantage of facing Kickham and a poor Red Sox bullpen as they bounce back from a 5-3 loss. As for the Boston lineup, they have averaged nearly 7 runs per game their last 4 games and that is even though two of those games were 7-inning games (double-header with Phillies Tuesday). The Rays bullpen also hasn't lived up to its billing lately so look for runs from both teams early, often, and throughout this contest. 10* OVER the total in Tampa Bay 

Situational Slaughter - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #905 Wednesday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Toronto Blue Jays vs New York Yankees @ 6:35 ET - This game being played at Sahlen Field in Buffalo and the wind will be blowing out toward right or right-center at a decent clip as a weather front moves through the area starting late in the afternoon and into the evening hours. I like this set-up for some long ball damage in this one! Yes the Yankees have been slumping but they can break out against Tanner Roark here. Yesterday the Yankees left 10 men on base and went 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position. I expect them to make up for that here. Roark has allowed 5 homers in the 14 and 1/3 innings spanning his last 3 starts. Opponents are hitting .317 against Roark this season. Also, in his home starts he has a 7.00 ERA and in night games he has a 6.61 ERA. He'll be opposed by Deivi Garcia on the mound for the Yankees. I know the 21-year old rookie is known for his curveball but he is making just his 3rd big league start and allowed 4 runs in less than 5 innings in his start last week. Also, Toronto was averaging 7.7 runs per game prior to yesterday's low-scoring win. That said, I look for the powerful Blue Jays bats to come right back to life and take advantage of facing a rookie hurler still learning the ropes on a hitter-friendly night in upstate New York tonight. 10* OVER the total in Toronto

Situational Slaughter - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #965 Tuesday 10* Top Play OVER the total in New York Mets vs Baltimore Orioles @ 7:10 ET - The Mets just faced the Phillies two best pitchers - Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler - but scored 22 runs in the 2 games! New York is feeling it right now at the plate and now will take advantage of a big stepdown in class for this one. The Orioles send John Means to mound. The Baltimore southpaw is 0-3 with an 8.10 ERA in his 6 starts this season and just faced the Mets last week which certainly won't help him here! Starting for New York it will be Michael Wacha on the mound. He is 1-2 with a 7.20 ERA on the season and has been rocked at a .322 clip in his 5 starts. Last season Wacha was hit at a .290 clip and struggled to a 4.76 ERA for the Cardinals so this is not a complete shock that he has been very hittable this season. Also, Baltimore enters this game with some confidence at the plate as they have won 5 of 7 games and scored an average of 5.5 runs per game their last 8 games. Considering all the above, this is a rather low total posted on this game and I won't hesitate in going to my highest level with the rating on this play. 10* OVER the total in New York Mets

Afternoon Annihilation - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #907 Monday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Seattle Mariners vs Texas Rangers @ 4:10 ET - The Mariners Marco Gonzales has great numbers this season but he has been inconsistent and generally gets hit hard when off a good start. He has not been able to string together good outings very often at all and is off a good start. In other words, that is a good sign for our purposes here. Another good sign is that the Rangers hit him hard when they faced him last month. Texas got to Gonzales for 4 earned runs in 5 innings. After yesterday's 4-3 loss for the Rangers, look for them to bounce back at the plate as they again get to Gonzales early and often. Texas will need all the runs they can get because I expect Kolby Allard to get rocked. He has been hit hard in each of his last two road starts and one of those was here at Seattle as well. Additionally, Allard has been hit hard in day games this season. In other words, this is not an ideal match-up for either pitcher and I am going to take advantage of the low total (8 / 8.5) posted on this game and go with a top play in this one. 10* OVER the total in Seattle

Daytime Dominator - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #903 Monday 8* Philadelphia Phillies Money Line (-) @ New York Mets @ 1:10 ET - Short and sweet with this one. The Phillies had been one of the hottest teams in MLB before losing back to back games the past two days to the Mets including an embarrassing 14-1 loss yesterday. That is the kind of defeat that insures full focus from this Philadelphia team the very next day and they have Wheeler on the mound. The former Met already had a great start against his prior team earlier this season and now makes his first appearance against them in New York. Of course he'll be fully focused for this one and he is having a fantastic season. The Mets start Peterson whom is off a strong outing out of the bullpen but he was sent to the pen for a reason. Now he is back in the rotation just in time to get rocked by an angry (and dangerous) Phillies lineup. This one is a road rout behind yet another superb outing from Wheeler. 8* PHILADELPHIA

Total of the Week - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #963 Sunday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Pittsburgh Pirates vs Cincinnati Reds @ 1:35 ET - There were 5 homers hit in yesterday's game between these teams but 4 of the 5 were solo bombs. The game stayed just under the total as it ended up with 8 runs. Look for today's game to make up for it. For one thing this is a day game and the ball should carry at least as it did in last night's homer-filled contest. For another thing, the pitching match-up is conducive to an over. The Pirates Chad Kuhl allowed 2 homers in 5 innings against the Reds last month. Also, Kuhl is coming off a start in which he allowed 4 runs (3 earned) in just 4 innings. Kuhl has allowed 6 homers in his last 5 starts and the Reds sluggers are feeling it after going yard 4 times in yesterday's game. The Pirates also should enjoy success at the plate in this one. Pittsburgh is facing Cincinnati's Teejay Antone. He has mostly worked out of the pen this season. Antone is unlikely to pitch deep into this game and that means plenty of Reds bullpen likely to be involved in this one and it has not been a good start to the season for them overall. As for Antone, he allowed 2 homers in his most recent appearance (a start) and gave up 3 earned runs in 4 innings. In his only other start this season he walked 4 in 4 and 1/3 innings. More struggles for Antone (as well as the Reds pen) in this one and it should fly over the total as the Cincy sluggers have a big game again too. 10* OVER the total in Pittsburgh

Divisional Dominator - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #913 Saturday 10* Top Play Philadelphia Phillies Money Line (+) @ New York Mets @ 7:10 ET - I understand this line but that doesn't mean I agree with it! Seeing the Mets as a favorite here is not a surprise considering home field and the pitching match-up. But the fact everyone is lining up on New York here and pounding the Mets money line is not justifiable in my opinion. Now we have the chance to take a team that has won 10 of its last 11 games and we're getting them in the +150 range. I'll take that any day of the week that ends in a Y. You get my point! Spencer Howard is a rookie and he struggled against the Mets when he faced them but he is making improvements with each start he makes. He is off a solid outing against the Nationals in his most recent start and I liked the way he threw. Yes the velocity on his fastball dipped a little by the end of his start compared to the beginning of the outing but how is that different from Seth Lugo whom is very over-rated in this spot. He is making just his 3rd start of this season and in the most recent outing he tired as the start went on as he pitched into the fourth inning for the first time in two years! Lugo had been working out of the bullpen this season. Not only that, he has faced the Phillies twice out of the pen this season and they have notched 5 hits in 1 and 1/3 innings! In other words more hits than outs for Lugo against Philly this season. The betting markets are not properly evaluating this game in my opinion and I'll take a Phillies team that has won 10 of 11 and 5 straight as a big dog in this one. Note that the Mets have lost 6 of their last 8 games! 10* PHILADELPHIA

Divisional Dominator - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #957 Friday 10* Top Play Philadelphia Phillies Money Line (+) @ New York Mets @ 7:10 ET - The Phillies have won 9 of their past 10 games. Philadelphia ranks among the hottest teams in baseball right now and here is an opportunity to take them as an underdog against a Mets team that is off a huge comeback win over the rival Yankees yesterday in a Subway Series match-up. Additionally, New York sends a struggling Rick Porcello to the mound. The Mets right-hander has been hit at a .321 clip by opponents this season and only has two quality starts in his seven outings. Porcello has a 6.00 ERA on the year. Now, of course I am fully aware of the fact that the Phillies Jake Arrieta is off a every ugly outing where nothing went right. However, that is part of the appeal here actually because Arrieta had been pitching much better than he showed in that ugly outing versus the Braves on Sunday night. In fact, he entered that start with a 4.32 ERA in 5 preceding starts. It was the shortest start of his MLB career and he is a veteran hurler and a gamer. In other words, you can expect a very strong effort from him here. Prior to getting rocked by the Braves, Arrieta had made two divisional start this season. He allowed just 1 earned run on only 6 hits in 11 innings of work! He knows how important divisional games are and Arrieta bounces back here and the Phillies improve to 10-1 in their last 11 games! 10* PHILADELPHIA

Daytime Dominator - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #905 Thursday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Philadelphia Phillies vs Washington Nationals @ 4:05 ET - Zach Eflin has good stuff but he is known for struggling against left-handed hitters and this season has been no exception in that regard. I like taking the Nationals bats to bounce back after last night's shutout loss and they go from facing Nola and Wheeler to a step down in level of pitcher in Eflin. Don't get me wrong, he is a solid pitcher but moreso when the match-ups favor him and this is not one of those cases as he has a history of some struggles against a number of Washington hitters. The good news for Eflin is he should get plenty of run support here. Even though the Phillies only scored 3 runs yesterday they faced one of the best hurlers in the game in the form of Max Scherzer. That said, facing Anibal Sanchez will quickly rejuvenate the Phillies sticks. Philadelphia enters this game having won 8 of 9 games and they have scored an average of 5.9 runs per game their last 10 games. More of the same expected here and this one turns into a high-scoring slugfest in ideal afternoon weather conditions at Citizens Bank Park. Sanchez is 1-4 with a 6.90 ERA this season and has been hit at a .326 clip in his 6 starts this year. More of the same this afternoon. 10* OVER the total in Philadelphia

Divisional Dominator - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #957 Wednesday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Pittsburgh Pirates vs Chicago Cubs @ 7:05 ET - The Cubs Kyle Hendricks is winless with a 5.60 ERA in his last 3 starts. He allowed 10 hits in 6 innings in his most recent start. Historically Hendricks has been better at home than on the road and that trend has continued this season. He compiled a 5.02 ERA on the road last season and has a 6.61 ERA away from home so far this season. The Chicago right-hander is facing a Pirates team that has scored 5 or more runs in each of their last 4 games and that trend continues here. The Pirates will need all the runs they can get here because the Cubs are expected to crush the ball too. Chicago will take advantage of facing Joe Musgrove. The Cubs have a .464 slugging percentage in road games this season (#2 out of 30 MLB teams!) and Musgrove will be making his first start since August 4th. He is winless with a 6.75 ERA in his 3 starts this season and plus dealing with triceps inflammation. That is why he has been out for 4 weeks. Plus Musgrove was worse at home (5.09 ERA) than on the road last season. That trend continues here and this game should see plenty of runs early, often, and throughout. 10* OVER the total in Pittsburgh

Divisional Dominator - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #905 Tuesday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Pittsburgh Pirates vs Chicago Cubs @ 7:05 ET - The Cubs Jon Lester allowed just 1 earned run in 5 innings in his most recent start but he gave up 8 hits. Lester was hit at a .294 clip by opponents last season and has now allowed 14 earned runs on 26 hits in 14 and 2/3 innings spanning his last 3 starts. The Chicago left-hander is facing a Pirates team that has scored 5 or more runs in each of their last 3 games and that trend continues here. The Pirates will need all the runs they can get here because the Cubs are expected to crush the ball too. Chicago will take advantage of facing Chad Kuhl. The Cubs have a .467 slugging percentage in road games this season and Kuhl has 7 walks against just 2 strikeouts in his last 2 starts and he has been fortunate the damage was minimized. Kuhl has allowed 10 hits in 6 and 2/3 innings the last two times he has faced the Cubs. That trend continues here and this game should see plenty of runs early, often, and throughout. 10* OVER the total in Pittsburgh

Divisional Dominator - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #955 Monday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Cincinnati Reds vs St Louis Cardinals @ 6:40 ET - The Cardinals erupted for 7 runs in their win yesterday. The Reds got drilled 10-1 yesterday but should bounce back at the plate here. Why? Dakota Hudson is on the mound for St Louis. He has good numbers this season but 3 of his 4 starts have been at home. Why does that matter? Historically Hudson has dominated at home but struggled on the road and I look for that to continue here. The Cardinals right-hander had a 4.13 ERA and got hit at a .271 clip on the road last season and he had a 5.54 ERA in his 12 away appearances the year before that. Now he faces a Reds team that had won 4 of 5 games prior to getting blasted yesterday. Cincinnati scored 6 runs in all 4 of those wins and 3 of those were just 7 inning games! As for St Louis, they have a number of hitters whom have enjoyed success against Anthony DeSclafani and this is a great spot to fade him. DeSclafani hasn't pitched in 10 days as he was away on paternity leave. Also, that start came against the Cards so they are getting a quick "second look" at him now. DeScalfani allowed 8 baserunners in his 4 innings in that start against St Louis and he was lucky the damage wasn't worse. This time it will be! Keep in mind in his only home start this season (the one preceding his road start at St Louis) DeSclafani allowed 9 earned runs in just 2 innings of work. He gave up 3 homers at Great American Ball Park in that one. More of the same expected here. 10* OVER the total in Cincinnati

IMPORTANT NOTE: I still like this play and EVERY MLB PLAY that I put out despite the pitching change. The BIGGEST books here in Vegas where I live (Westgate and Southpoint) BOTH went to action only on ALL baseball wagers - SIDES, TOTALS, Run Lines, ALL of it! This is likely the wave of the future. Each year that goes by starting pitching becomes LESS and LESS important. Bullpens are becoming MORE important and also what has always mattered still matters too...that is the current state of a team and its hitters. That leads to momentum for hitters and their team overall. In any event I'll get off my soapbox here but I personally wager thousands of dollars daily here at the Westgate next to where I live and EVERY baseball wager is action and I would not have it any other way - win, lose, or draw. So there you have it folks. My play is on the PHILLIES as they look to win their SIXTH in a row. The updated pitcher for the Braves is expected to be Tommy Milone. I could care or less. If it was Mickey Mouse for the Braves and Daffy Duck for the Phillies here I am riding the home team and the hotter team with all the momentum and with the lineup that has been producing better at bats. Best of luck always and please keep this in mind for all future MLB wagers from me as well. Thank you, Scott - ORIGINAL write-up - Game of the Week - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #930 Sunday 10* Top Play Philadelphia Phillies Money Line (-) vs Atlanta Braves @ 7:05 ET - The Phillies have now won 5 straight games and are closing the gap on the Braves. Philadelphia can move to within 1 game of first-place Atlanta with another win tonight and I am betting (literally) that they will do just that. The Braves are only 6-10 in road games this season. The Phillies have a winning record at home and are currently one of the hottest teams in the majors. They start Jake Arrieta this evening and he rates a big edge over Huascar Ynoa in my opinion. Arrieta has been a better pitcher at home ever since he came to the Phillies. 3.64 ERA and .238 BAA at home in 2018. Last year was a sub-par season for him overall but he still went 5-3 at home and held hitters to a .256 BAA at Citizens Bank Park which was much better than his production on the road. This season Arrieta has a 3.38 ERA in his two home starts and he is a "gamer" who likes "big game opportunity" like this one provides. Sunday night game and a key battle against the division leaders. He'll be ready. As for Ynoa, he is a 22-year old whom has a 7.94 ERA in his 6 MLB appearances (2 starts). Also, Ynoa won't be helped by the fact that he is facing the Phillies for the 3rd time this season. The more a lineup sees a young hurler like that whom is still "finding his way" the worse it tends to be for the pitcher. Look for the home team to stay hot in this one and take advantage of the line value. Yes the Braves are a strong team but the pitching edge, home field edge, and momentum edge all belong to the Phillies in this one. 10* PHILADELPHIA

Game of the Month Total - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #969 Saturday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Milwaukee Brewers vs Pittsburgh Pirates @ 7:10 ET - The Brewers start Brett Anderson in this one. The lefty had a 4.67 ERA in home games last season (with Oakland) and has a 4.26 ERA at home so far this season. Last year he got hit at a .292 clip when pitching as the host and this season so far he has been hit at a .286 clip at Miller Park. 6 of the 7 meetings between these teams have totaled at least 9 runs. Pittsburgh, prior to yesterday's 9-1 loss, had scored at least 5 runs in 5 of 6 meetings with the Brewers this season. The fact is, as bad as the Bucs season has been thus far, they have had some success against Milwaukee pitching. Look for more of the same here but also look for Pittsburgh starter JT Brubaker to get crushed. The rookie right-hander will be facing the same team twice for the first time this season. When teams get a second look at a hurler that does make a big difference and the Brewers just saw him on Sunday. Brubaker has a 7.20 ERA in his last 3 starts and this could be the start where the wheels come off for him! Milwaukee got their sticks going yesterday and can carry that momentum right into today's game. Look for the high-scoring trend in Pirates / Brewers match-ups to continue on Saturday evening at Miller Park. 10* OVER the total in Milwaukee

Contrarian Crusher - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #913 Friday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Boston Red Sox vs Washington Nationals @ 7:30 ET - The Nationals Max Scherzer is, of course, a big name pitcher so that is helping to keep this total lower than it should be. Scherzer has actually struggled of late as he has allowed 4 homers in his last two starts and this has helped lead the way to him being charged with 9 earned runs in 11 and 2/3 innings. Also, Scherzer is 4-5 with a 5.90 ERA in his 11 career starts against Boston. The Red Sox start Martin Perez in this one and he is having a decent start to the season based on his ERA but that is helping to give us value here because he has been on the cusp of major trouble in a number of his starts. In other words it is likely he is eventually going to get pounded and I would not be surprised to see the wheels come off for Perez in this home start. He has struggled more at Fenway Park than on the road this season and, keep in mind, Perez had a 5.12 ERA last season and a 6.22 ERA the year before. The bad times are imminent for Perez as he won't be so lucky to escape big damage this evening. Looks like favorable weather conditions expected in Boston for this one tonight too. With the Red Sox also having a shaky bullpen and having lost more arms in recent trades, I see this game flying over the total. 10* OVER the total in Boston

Contrarian Crusher - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #903 Wednesday 10* Top Play Philadelphia Phillies Money Line (-) @ Washington Nationals @ 6:05 ET - The Phillies have been a streaky team this season and enter this game seeking a 3rd straight win. I'll take my chances with Aaron Nola over Patrick Corbin offering great value in this spot. Keep in mind, the Nationals have lost back to back games and are 6-12 at home this season as they continue to suffer with world championship letdown after winning it all last year. The Nats Corbin had great success against the Phillies last season but he is not the same pitcher right now. The Washington left-hander has been hit at a .302 clip in his 4 August starts and I look for him to get hit big early and often in this one. I also love backing Nola after a very rare bad start. He had been pitching like a Cy Young candidate prior to this. Before his last start was an ugly one, Nola had gone 2-0 in his 3 most recent starts and allowed just 2 earned runs on only 8 hits while striking out 30 over 21 innings! Look for him to resume that type of form here and the Phillies have improved their biggest weakness (bullpen) too with that recent trade activity. 10* PHILADELPHIA

Situational Slaughter - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #959 Tuesday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Detroit Tigers vs Chicago Cubs @ 7:10 ET - 2016 - 4.47 ERA. 2017 - 4-12 record 5.72 ERA. 2018 - 1-4 record 5.88 ERA. 2019 - 4.11 ERA. 2020 - 8.00 ERA. What stats are these? They are the numbers from Tyler Chatwood's night game outings. He has had some big seasons in day games but tends to struggle in night starts and now Chatwood is making this start after being out with a mid-back strain since early August. That said, this is unlikely to go well for him. The Cubs hammered the Tigers 9-3 yesterday and Detroit has now allowed an average of 7 runs per game their last 13 games. Though not a great team offensively, the Tigers have averaged 4 runs per game in their last 7 home games. With this total at a 9.5 and Chatwood likely to give up some and Spencer Turnbull likely to get hit hard, this one should easily get to double digits. Turnbull has faded recently. He started strong this season but now has allowed 6 earned runs in 6 and 2/3 innings (while walking 8!) in his last two outings (both short ones as you can see). Turnbull entered this season with a 3-19 MLB record and ERA up near 5.00 and now faces a Cubs team that is hitting .266 in home games this season which ranks them 5th out of the 30 MLB teams. Look for runs early, often, and throughout this contest. 10* OVER the total in Detroit

Contrarian Crusher - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #903 Monday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Washington Nationals vs Miami Marlins @ 6:05 ET - Waiting has paid off here this morning as we're now seeing some 9 starting to show up on this one. This total opened up at a 9.5 which may seem high at first glance but a closer look shows you why the odds makers set it this way. Now we'll take advantage of the false perception of the betting markets that has driven this total lower. The Marlins Pablo Lopez shows a 2.42 ERA on the season but the Nationals have a number of hitters whom have enjoyed success against him. Additionally, Lopez has allowed 14 hits in 12 innings spanning his last two starts and those were both at home. In his most recent road start he allowed 5 hits plus walked 4 for a total of 9 baserunners in just 5 innings. Now Lopez must deal with a Nats team that is starting to turn the corner (particularly at the plate). Though only 7-6 in their last 13 games, Washington has scored an average of 6.4 runs per game during this stretch! The issue for the Nationals today will be on the mound as Austin Voth gets the start. He has allowed 8 earned runs on 15 hits and 5 walks in the 8 innings spanning his last two starts. Though not knocking the cover off the ball the Marlins have averaged 4.4 runs per game their last 11 games and Voth is not in good current form. Miami will take advantage. The result should be a back and forth high-scoring affair with a lot more scoring than many are expecting here. 10* OVER the total in Washington

Total of the Week - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #969 Sunday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Oakland A's vs Los Angeles Angels @ 4:10 ET - Friday's game had 8 runs through 6 innings and stayed under the total. Saturday's game had 7 runs through 5 innings and stayed under the total. Sunday's game? It goes over the total. The odds makers opened this game up with a total of 9 for a reason but it has dropped to an 8.5 as the betting markets think it is a mistake that this total is posted this way. That's because Dylan Bundy and Frankie Montas were so strong early this season and the thinking is that they will bounce back here. I beg to differ. One of the keys here is that Bundy has shown a history of struggling once he gets down. That said, after that great start to the season he then struggled and allowed 4 runs to the Giants in just 4 innings plus he walked 4 as he had issues with command of his pitches. When you enter a season having gone 15-30 with an ERA north of 5.00 the prior two seasons combined it doesn't take much to dent your confidence. Now Bundy faces and A's team that will be seeing him for the 3rd time already in a span of a month. That often doesn't go well for the pitcher as the more a lineup sees him, the more they start to get better swings at his pitches. This is particularly true if said pitcher is struggling with the location of his pitches. I expect a few of Bundy's mistakes end up in the outfield seats on a mild afternoon with a light breeze blowing out. As for Montas, he got absolutely crushed in his most recent start (which was also a day game by the way) as he allowed 9 earned runs in less than 2 innings of work. This will be the 2nd time he is facing the Angels this season and in the prior start he definitely "scuffled" a bit as he walked 3 plus hit a batter and overall allowed 7 baserunners in just 4 innings. That will eventually lead to trouble, just like it did for him against the Diamondbacks earlier this week. Both starting pitchers could be a helluva lot better than they just were and yet this one still will go over the low total. I like both lineups. I know the Angels have underachieved early this season but they still have some big-time pop in their lineup and the A's are generally solid at the plate in home games (particularly day games). 10* OVER the total in Oakland

Total Dominator - Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #901 Saturday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Pittsburgh Pirates vs Milwaukee Brewers @ 4:05 ET - Of course I am well aware of the fact that the Pirates have been the worst team in MLB so far this season. I am also well aware of the fact that the Brewers have struggled at the plate thus far on the season. However, this total was set at 9.5 with good reason and I think the set up is ideal for a big game at the plate for both teams. The Pirates have a much needed boost of confidence after yesterday's 7-2 win saw them pound out 14 hits. The Brewers had a tough time at the plate yesterday but will take advantage of facing Pittsburgh's Derek Holland here. He is winless with a 7.36 ERA in his 4 games this season and has been particularly bad in his 3 starts. Holland got progressively worse with each start he made and the Brewers get to him early and often in this one. The Pirates will likely strike out often against Josh Lindblom but the Milwaukee right-hander still has a knack for giving up big hits and Pittsburgh is "feeling it" at the plate after yesterday's big win. Lindblom has a 7.07 ERA so far this month and has had trouble with allowing too many homers. On the season the journeyman right-hander has given up too many walks too as he has had trouble with command of his pitches. Look for more of the same here. 10* OVER the total in Pittsburgh

Contrarian Crusher - Scott 'The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #961 Friday 10* Top Play Philadelphia Phillies Money Line (-) @ Atlanta Braves @ 7:10 ET - Two words. Aaron Nola. Yes, I know that the Braves Max Fried has good numbers this season too. However, he recently faced the Phillies on August 9th and, though the stat line looks good, Fried had to survive a couple of jams to get through his 5 scoreless innings. Look for the Phillies potent lineup to break through against him this time. As for the Braves, they couldn't get anything going against Nola in his 8 innings. He was never really threatened and only allowed 1 solo homer in that start. He has been absolutely dominant early this season and his ability to work deep into games negates the impact of a sub-par Phillies bullpen. Yes, when the pen is called upon in the middle innings it is a problem but when only needed at the end of a game for an inning or two they can get the job done. Nola has been a workhorse and piling up strikeouts and allowing very few hits. More of the same here. The Braves are 8-3 at home this season and the Phillies are 1-4 on the road. So that means the odds makers are clueless, right? You guys know how I feel about that. The odds makers are sharp and this game is priced this way for a reason. Nola and the Phillies get it done after a frustrating double header result in Buffalo (faced Toronto) yesterday. 10* PHILADELPHIA

Afternoon Annihilation – Scott “The Bulldog” Rickenbach MLB Rotation #905 Thursday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Colorado Rockies vs Houston Astros @ 3:10 ET – This line has moved overnight from an 11.5 down to an 11 and that is giving us even more line value in what is an excellent situation here. The Astros and Rockies combined for 19 runs yesterday. A lot of it came off the bullpens as the teams combined for 30 hits. When you factor in the bullpen struggles with the fact that both starting pitchers should struggle today and both lineups scored well yesterday and it is an afternoon game at a very hitter-friendly ballpark…you have all the ingredients for a slug-fest here. The Astros Cristian Javier has great numbers on the young season but he is a 23-year old rookie making his first ever start at Coors Field and he already has a 6.00 ERA this season. As for the Rockies German Marquez, I know he is a quality pitcher with good stuff but the Astros have a number of hitters that have fared well against him and the key is that he is a much better pitcher on the road than at home. He has a low ERA this season at home but that has been in just 2 starts and opponents have hit .288 against him at Coors Field. In other words, the earned runs are soon to follow! Last season Marquez was hit at a .317 clip at home and compiled a 6.26 ERA. Look for runs early, often, and throughout what should be a wild day game affair. 10* OVER the total in Colorado

Divisional Dominator - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #909 Tuesday 10* Top Play OVER the total in Baltimore Orioles vs Toronto Blue Jays @ 7:35 ET - The Orioles start Wade LeBlanc in this one. He went 6-7 with a 5.71 ERA last season and that included getting rocked when he faced the Blue Jays as a member of the Mariners. So far his time in a Baltimore uniform hasn't gone any better. He has a 7.13 ERA in his first four starts as an Oriole this season. Look for Toronto to get to him early and often in this one. The issue for the Jays will be the fact that hard-throwing rookie Nate Pearson is enduring some growing pains. After going 5 scoreless in his debut, Pearson allowed 3 earned runs in 5 innings in his next start and had some issues with command of his pitches in that one. That then really became an issue for Pearson in his next start as he was absolutely rocked by the Marlins and walked 4 while striking out just 1 in that one. The Orioles scored just 2 runs in last night's game but entered that one averaging 6.9 runs per game over their preceding 10 games. Baltimore has allowed 6.9 runs per game in their past 7 games. The Blue Jays last 5 games have totaled an average of 13.4 runs per game. More of the same on tap in this one. 10* OVER the total in Baltimore