*action on pitchers* Scott “The Bulldog” Rickenbach Wednesday MLB Free Pick OVER 9 in Kansas City Royals vs Toronto Blue Jays @ 2:10 ET – Look for Royals to bounce back and finally score some runs here after back to back shutout losses at home to Toronto. As for the Blue Jays, they have now scored an average of 7.4 runs per game last 10 games and been one of the hotter teams around. Both scheduled pitchers for this one are off starts in which they allowed 3 homers! Kikuchi has allowed 16 hits in less than 10 innings over his last two starts. Singer has allowed 10 earned runs in less than 11 innings over his last two starts. The over is 3-0 in Singer’s last 3 starts. Kikuchi has made 4 career starts against the Royals and none have resulted in an under. Regardless of the pitchers I like the over here as Blue Jays so hot at the plate and I feel sure Royals are going to bounce back after rare B2B home shutout losses. Free Pick OVER 9 in Kansas City.
Scott “The Bulldog” Rickenbach Sunday Free Pick OVER 9 in Cincinnati Reds vs Washington Nationals @ 1:40 ET – The Nationals won 10-8 over the Reds yesterday as both these teams continue to give up piles of runs. Only Colorado (and remember their home games in the thin air of Denver!) have allowed more runs this season than Washington and Cincinnati have. Look for another wild one this afternoon in Cincinnati. The Nats Corbin is having an awful season including 0-4 with 8.17 ERA in road games this season. Luis Castillo has been pitching well for the Reds lately but does have a 4.65 ERA in his two home starts this season. He is 0-4 with a 4.94 ERA against the Nationals also in his five career starts against them. Over is 17-7 in Reds home games this season and 17-8 in Nats games this season. Free Pick OVER 9 in Cincinnati.
Scott “The Bulldog” Rickenbach Free Pick OVER 8.5 in Chicago Cubs vs St Louis Cardinals @ 7:15 ET – No matter who pitches today in Game 2 of this double header I feel we have excellent line value with the over. Yesterday both teams swung the bats well and piled up hits. Also, this total has gone from a 9.5 to a 9 to an 8.5 and I do understand that there is a north wind and it will be a bit of a cool evening at Wrigley Field. However, this total moving down is only serving to give us more line value here. The Cubs are on an 11-4 run to the over. The Cardinals are on a 9-4-2 run to the over. Look for both teams to continue swinging the bats well in the 2nd game of this twin-bill. Free Pick OVER 8.5 in Chicago Cubs (Game 2 of 2) Saturday.
Scott “The Bulldog” Rickenbach MLB Friday Free Pick OVER 7 in Tampa Bay Rays vs Chicago White Sox @ 7:10 ET – We are getting line value here because the Rays have McClanahan on the mound for this one. Yes he is a solid pitcher but still this is keeping this total too low as he should be reached for at least a couple runs here and Velasquez likely to get rocked. The Chicago starter has a 7.20 ERA last 3 starts and a 6.75 ERA on the road this season. McClanahan gave up 7 hits in 5 innings when he faced the White Sox last season. Velasquez has been hit hard in each of last two starts versus Rays. The over is 4-0 in Chicago’s 4 games entering this one. TB not known for scoring a lot of runs but this is good match-up for them and there have been only 3 unders in last 9 meetings between these teams. Free Pick OVER 7 in Tampa Bay Rays.
Scott “The Bulldog” Rickenbach MLB Free Pick UNDER 7.5 in Pittsburgh Pirates vs Colorado Rockies @ 12:35 ET – Not too concerned with the starting pitchers here. Play this one with action on the pitchers. This play is more about the fact that the Rockies are scoring an average of only 2.5 runs per game this season on the road. The Pirates have scored only 2 runs per game their last dozen games. Look for another low-scoring battle in this one as a result. Only 8 of the Pirates 24 home games have resulted in an over this season so just 1/3 of them. Free Pick UNDER 7.5 in Pittsburgh