The Nats have been dominating the NL East and already have a nine-game lead before the halfway point.

The Cubs have sputtered for most of the 2017 campaign. They're a banged up team right now with Ben Zobrist, Jason Heyward and Kyle Hendricks all on the DL.
I like the matchup today for the Nats, with Gio Gonzalez going up against Eddie Butler. Lastly, the Nationals have won six of seven behind Gio Gonzalez at home against winning teams, while the Cubs have dropped five straight road games against clubs with winning records.

The Nats scored 18 runs on 19 hits on Saturday and I expect more of the same here on Sunday.
The worst thing for a struggling pitching staff in the National League is a date with the Washington Nationals, and the Cincinnati Reds are not putting up much of a fight. The Reds will try to get some length out of their starter and avoid another sweep here on Sunday.

The Reds are 1-13 over their last 14 contests and are in danger of suffering their fourth three-game sweep in that span. Washington leads the majors with 422 runs scored and pounded on Cincinnati Saturday,

Washington starter Roark is coming off his worst start in a while - a 2 2/3-inning stint at Miami on Monday in which he was rocked for six runs on six hits and two walks. Roark is 1-1 with a 3.41 ERA in five career starts against the Reds and I like him to bounce back here at home.

The Nationals bats are on fire including 2B Daniel Murphy who recorded an extra-base hit in each of the last eight games and recorded 11 RBIs in that span.

Also, Ryan Zimmerman is 6-for-13 with five RBIs in the last three contests. Take the NATIONALS to get us another 10* win on Sunday.

We roll with the OVER between these two teams in what should be a game in which the hitters have gained experience against both these pitchers as they face them once again. The Phillies Ben Lively will face the D-backs for the second consecutive time after giving up three runs in six innings in the series finale Sunday. There wasn't a ton of hitting here on Friday night, so look for there to be plenty of runs here and this one to go OVER the total on Saturday night.

TB Rays starter Jacob Faria continued his impressive start, holding Detroit to one run and fanning nine. He became only the fifth pitcher since 1913 to pick up a win while going at least six innings and allowing no more than a run in each of his first three career games. On the flip site, last night the Orioles became the first team since 1924 to allow at least five runs in 20 straight games. The Baltimore pitching staff ranks dead last in the league with a 5.20 ERA, while it has allowed a league-worst 401 runs and 377 earned runs. Mash that with the Rays hitting .264 at home, where it ranks 8th in the league with 207 runs scored at Tropicana Field. Take Tampa Bay tonight at home to take care of business and get us a win.

Both of these starting pitchers have been on fire lately posting ERA's at 3 and UNDER.
This is a critical game one in this series between these two teams that sit a top of the NL West. Tonight's Colorado starter Freeland throws and over 60% of his outs are by way of the ground ball. It's extremely difficult to hit his sinker pitch. The grounders also translate into fewer home runs and Double-play opportunities. He has allowed two runs or fewer in eight of his starts and has made a quality start in 10 of 14 showing why he is the ace of the staff. The Colorado bats have also cooled off and I think we have a very strong play on the UNDER here tonight.

I like the Pirates winning their Thursday afternoon showdown with the Brewers behind Ivan Nova. Nova is coming off two straight wins, including a seven-inning start vs. the Cubs on Saturday. In 12 IP vs. the Brewers, all in '16, Nova has fanned 10 and he is also 2-0 with a 1.85 ERA in his last 3 starts. The Pirates have won five of the last seven starts by Ivan Nova, while the Brewers are 7-15 in starts by Chase Anderson following a loss which he pitched in. Lets play the PITTSBURGH PIRATES here on Thursday afternoon.

Atlanta wins battle of losers. The bag runners in Atlanta have only gotten the Braves a total of 310 runs as of 6.18.2017.
Oddly enough, Atlanta is actually hitting around .268 - but their pitching is bad - but vs San Francisco they will look better, more like they did when they beat Washington back during their 6.12 - 6.14 series.



This year’s San Francisco rotation has been a mixed bag of trash for the Giants. Samardzija and Johnny Cueto in particular, have been just awful, after last seasons relative success. San Francisco have some low ended hurlers and that results in a high ended slugging pct and 4.50 ERA across the board.
SF hasn't won back-to-back games in over 3 weeks. Take the BRAVES on Wednesday as your FREE PLAY!

Carlos Carrasco and the Indians are 22-15 on the road and playing some good ball.
He allowed one run on four hits and struck out seven in 6 1/3 strong innings in Friday's 8-1 win over the Twins. The right-hander is 5-1 with a 2.89 ERA and has only allowed two home runs in seven road starts this season while Kevin Gausman has struggled with control and walks.

Cleveland wins on the road - even though the Os are a completely different team at home in 2017. Cleveland is an odd team that has flashed some high ranked pitching through the season. I fully believe their pitching staff can get it done here vs the strikeout happy swingers of Baltimore. Patience has been really inconsistent for Baltimore in recent years






Considering their size, it's not inconceivable that we'll see a significant bats swinging for power for Baltimore on the offensive side of things. As they haven't been able to pick up steady runs in a game with any consistency since the beginning of June. Baltimore's 24 year old righty, Manny Machado, has not shown the O's hopeful that he deserves a better sense of trust as his plummeting bat skills verify.
Take the INDIANS on Wednesday night.