Michael Alexander

Rating: 2 Units

The San Francisco Giants always have a great chance to win games when Logan Webb is on the mound. The Giants ace is capable of going seven to eight innings. He limited the Rockies to one run in eight innings last time out. Webb usually silences Arizona, holding the rivals to six runs in 21 innings this season. Merrill Kelly can be shaky. He just gave up seven runs to the Mets and has surrendered 16 runs in his last four outings spanning 22.2 innings. Arizona has only won in four of Kelly’s last ten outings. The Giants have beaten the Diamondbacks in three of their last four meetings. 

Rating: 2 Units

Kirby has stumbled a bit over his last five starts with an elevated ERA and 0-2 in that span. He has a perfect opportunity here against the light-hitting A's lineup to get back on track. Kirby has faced the A's once this season and was sharp going seven innings and allowing just three runs in a Mariners' win. The A's will have to cobble together a group of pitchers to with no available starter to give them a long stint. The Mariners lineup should have its way with the A's staff today as they try to stay with the Rangers and Blue Jays in the wildcard race. Looking for yet another easy win by Seattle.

Rating: 2 Units

The White Sox have lost five of their last seven games and two of their last three road games and have only scored 15 runs in their last four games. Their offensive struggles will continue in this game because they haven’t had a lot of success batting against right-handers and Gray has done a decent job on the mound in recent starts, giving up five runs in his last two starts. The Nationals have also struggled in recent games, losing six of their last eight games. But, they have hit the ball well against right-handers and Scholtens has struggled on the mound, giving up 14 runs in his last three starts. He gave up eight runs in his last two road starts, and with Chicago having the sixth-worst bullpen in the league, they will have a hard time slowing down the Nationals in this game. 

Rating: 2 Units

The Mets have struggled to find consistency this season and having to travel from Miami to Philadelphia for this one won't help matters. They lack the pitching to compete on a regular basis and while the lineup has dangerous names, they have struggled to produce and gel together. In the other clubhouse, the Phillies get to lean on a starting pitcher who has only improved over the last month and is pitching the best baseball of his season so far. Their lineup is heavy at the top but even when just one or two bench players contribute, it's more than enough for success and wins to be found. Suarez was successful in his earlier start this season against the Mets and if he can channel that in this one, the sky is the limit for the Phillies in the series opener.

Rating: 2 Units

The Pittsburgh Pirates continue to struggle when playing the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs have completely dominated the rivals, winning 10 of the 11 meetings. The Pirates have dropped four of their last five road bouts. Pirates’ starter Johan Oviedo has not been sharp, posting a poor 5.11 ERA in his three outings this month. Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks has silenced the Pirates, holding them to three earned runs in 12 innings this season, and has recorded a 3.67 career ERA against the rivals. The Cubs have won all four home games against the Pirates this season. They have also secured the win in three of Hendricks' last four outings.

Rating: 2 Units

The Brewers have won four of their last six games and three of their last five road games and have scored 18 runs in their last four games. St. Louis starter Mikolas has struggled on the mound in recent starts, giving up 13 runs in his last three starts. He gave up 15 runs in his last three home starts and with St. Louis having the eighth-worst bullpen in the league, they will have a hard time slowing down the Brewers in this game. The Cardinals have lost three of their last five games and have struggled offensively and scored only 11 runs in their last four games. Miley has done a good job on the mound for the Brewers, especially on the road where he gave up 11 runs in his last six starts. He gave up one run in his last two starts in St. Louis. 

Rating: 2 Units

San Francisco is one of two teams in the NFL this year that went from worst to first in their division last season. That’s not good news if you’re looking to back them as a favorite, as these teams are just 82-100-5 ATS overall since 2004, including 43-68-3 ATS as home favorites. San Fran is also 1-6 ATS in this series when coming off back-to-back wins. The Giants were one of four NFL teams to come back and win after trailing by double-digits last week. New York is 6-0 ATS as a dog after being a favorite in its last game, and 3-0 ATS on Thursdays the past three seasons, and 4-0 ATS before a Monday night game.