Xam’s Daily Gems:
Pirates Money Line -158 FanDuel 10 Units
WAKE UP BABE, IT’S PAUL SKENES DAY! We’ve recently been finding value on the Pirates ELECTRIC rookie and we have value once again today! The hard throwing hander is justifiably squarely in the mix for Rookie of The Year in the National League. He’s been nothing short of FANTASTIC this season, pitching to a 2.22 ERA and 0.94 WHIP! He’s actually been better on the road than he has been at home, which just shows his maturity at a young age. Kyle Hendricks for the Cubs, meanwhile, has been nothing short of DREADFUL this season. He has an UGLY 6.33 ERA and 1.45 WHIP on the year. On the road, that jumps to 7.16 and 1.46, respectively, with a .295 batting average against! The Pirates would love nothing more than tripping up the Cubbies as they make a late season push for the Wild Card, and the Pirates LOVE getting up to play for Paul Skenes! If the Pirates can score some runs against a TERRIBLE pitcher, Skenes and the bullpen SHOULD care for the rest!
Guardians Money Line -140 Fanatics 10 Units
The Guardians have lost 3 straight games to the Royals and all of a sudden find themselves TIED with them for the lead atop the AL Central. No one saw this coming. This is as CLOSE to a MUST-WIN as it gets for a team in late August. Getting swept in a 4-game series at home to lose the division lead would be WILDLY disheartening. Tanner Bibee is tapped to be the stopper today, and he’s been putting together a SOLID season for the Guardians. His 3.46 ERA and 1.10 WHIP has dropped to 2.93 and 1.05, respectively, in his last 7 starts! Michael Wacha has put together a solid season for the Royals, but this Play is about which team is more DESPERATE! The Guardians are off tomorrow so expect Guardians manager Stephen Vogt to use ALL of his premium relievers in this matchup. The Guardians are too good to be held down offensively like this, and they will NEED to score against Kansas City’s own powerful offense.
Yankees -1 -170 DraftKings 10 Units
For the Yankees, a team with World Series aspirations, losing a series to the Washington Nationals would be nothing short of EMBARRASSING. They send southpaw Carlos Rodon to the mound to ensure that doesn’t happen. While he’s been inconsistent this season, he’s put together a really nice stretch recently, pitching to a 2.87 ERA and 1.14 WHIP over his last 7 starts. What is concerning is that he’s been much worse pitching on the road than he has at Yankee Stadium this year, and the Nationals do have an underrated lineup. The Nationals turn to their own inconsistent southpaw in MacKenzie Gore. However, while Rodon has picked it up a notch recently, Gore has been TERRIBLE over his last 7 starts. He has a 6.00 ERA and 1.97 WHIP in his last 7 starts! With a day off tomorrow, manager Aaron Boone will be ready to use ALL of his top relief pitchers as needed in this game. If the Yankees can get some offense going, the pitching SHOULD care for the rest!
Brewers First 5 Innings Money Line -165 BetMGM 10 Units
The Brewers have lost 2 straight games and now turn to ace Freddy Peralta to get the ship back on track. He’s really picked it up recently as Milwaukee turns their attention to October. In his last 7 starts, he has a 3.20 ERA and 1.22 WHIP. In his last 2 starts combined, he’s given up just 1 earned run in a stretch covering 11 innings of work. He faces a STRUGGLING San Francisco Giants offense which has mustered just 3.9 runs per game over their last 20 games! Lefty Kyle Harrison goes for the Giants tonight. He’s had his struggles on the road, pitching to a 4.61 ERA, .269 batting average against, and 1.39 WHIP away from Oracle Park. If Peralta pitches like he’s capable of pitching, the Brewers SHOULD be able to take care of business to start this game and win the first 5 innings!
Pirates Team Total Over 2.5 Runs -350 BetMGM 10 Units
The Pirates are averaging over 4 runs per game in their last 20 games and face a pitcher who has struggled MIGHTILY on the road ALL SEASON LONG! They’ve broken out over their last 10 home games as well, AVERAGING 5.3 runs per game in their last 10 home games. They have scored a respectable 13 runs against the Cubs in the first 2 games of this series. The Cubs have also used 7 different relief pitchers in this series, so they may be forced to use guys in situations they normally wouldn’t. The Pirates NEED this game to get back on track, and it starts with their offense doing what they normally do at home!
Yankees Team Total Over 3.5 Runs -245 DraftKings 10 Units
The Yankees have one of the best lineups in baseball this year, yet they somehow no showed against Patrick Corbin and a TERRIBLE Nationals bullpen. Having said that, they’re averaging 4.65 runs per game over their last 20 games AND have arguably the two best hitters in the sport with Aaron Judge and Juan Soto in the middle of the lineup. Hitting MacKenzie Gore and a bad Nationals bullpen SHOULD be a relatively easy assignment. The Yankees KNOW they need this game and that their offense will be the key to getting the job done. If guys like Gleyber Torres, Giancarlo Stanton, and perhaps even Anthony Volpe can contribute, the Yankees SHOULD pour on the runs like they normally do!