Jim Feist

The Texas Rangers are quietly in 2nd place in the AL West with a 42-36 record. yes, they are still 6.5-games back of the Astros, but they are in it for the Wild Card at this point with a long way to go. The Rangers have won two straight games as they begin this series with the Tigers. Jesse Chavez starts his fifth game today with no record. The Rangers are taking a page from the Rays playbook by starting a relief pitcher. Chavez will go one, maybe two innings at most today. Chavez has yet to allow a run in any of his four starts and the Rangers are 3-1 when they have done this experiment. Obviously the ball gets turned over to the bullpen early. The pen has a 12-6 record this year and a 4.36 ERA. The Tigers have now lost four straight and eight of their last nine games. Jordan Zimmermann starts today. Zimmermann got his first start since April with his last start on June 19th. Zimmerman has a lofty 6.03 ERA and allowed three runs over five innings in his return. I will be on the Rangers here today. The Tigers are struggling and Zimmermann has not been an answer. Take Texas.

The Braves and Cubs began a four-game set yesterday and the Cubs took game one, 8-3. The Braves are in 1st place in the NL East with a 46-33 record, 5 1/2 games ahead of 2nd place Philadelphia. Max Fried starts today for the Braves with a 8-3 record in his 15 starts. Fried has a 4.11 ERA and 1.346 WHIP. Fried has been inconsistent of late, allowing five runs in two of his last four starts and 2 and 3 runs in the other two starts. Meanwhile, the Cubs have won two straight and four of the last six. Adbert Alzolay will make his first start of the season today as he's been added to what is now a 6-man rotation. Alzolay has appeared in relief, going four inning and not allowing a hit until a walk and home run knocked him from the game. The Cubs expect big things from Alzolay as I do today. I'm taking Chicago.