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The Twins improved on baseball's best road record and continue getting a lot of offense from the top of their batting order. Nelson Cruz will look to homer in a sixth straight game and has hit .357 with a pair of bombs against Ivan Nova, who will have his work cut out for him in slowing down an offense that has scored six or more runs in each of their last six games. With lefty Martin Perez on the mound making his first road start in weeks and sporting an ERA of nearly 5.00 in opposing stadiums, we'll likely see at least a dozen runs.
MLB - Padres/Giants Over 8.5 (-106)
The Giants continue to win games in exciting fashion and prevailed in the opening game of their nine-game road swing thanks to a late Pablo Sandoval homer. Their bullpen has been working a lot of innings, which means rookie Shaun Anderson will be relied upon to put in a full day despite struggling on the road. Opponents are hitting over .300 against him in opposing stadiums. San Francisco should be aggressive against Cal Quantrill to try and get Anderson an early lead so look to see offense here.
Tim Wilkerson (CFL Best Bet of the Week)
Saskatchewan Roughriders vs BC Lions
Wager - UNDER 52.5
Given that it is a home-and-home scenario, it never hurts to start at the top in terms of the difference(s) in the prices offered. Last week, the Riders opened up in the -2 range as a home favorite, were promptly bet up and up to about -5, before closing in the -6 range. Given that they ended up covering that number supports all that love they received and definitely warrants them going out to Vancouver and laying a FG on the road.
However, there are some inherent advantages they don't have this time around, the most obvious being they aren't at home, but Saskatchewan was also coming off a bye week prior to last week's game and that never hurts. It was an extra week to rest bumps and bruises, an extra week of 1st team practice snaps for QB Cody Fajardo to continue to get comfortable as the starter and rehearse what he was going to run and expected to see against the Lions and it proved to pay off.
Yet, Saskatchewan fans better hope the Farjardo and the Riders left a few bullets in the chamber for this week, as there has to be some concern that they let it all hang out a week ago and the Lions can more readily adjust and prepare themselves this week. Farjardo is still relatively new to being a starter in this league, so in a game where both QB's are up against the same defense, it's hard not to side with the more veteran guy (Mike Reilly) who's been at or near the top of being the best QB in the CFL for the past few years now.
Reilly's Lions get that added advantage of being at home this time around, and HC DeVone Claybrooks (and probably Reilly), made a point to leave his starters in for the entirety of last week's game to punch in a late score in hoping that it can kick-start the Lions this week. It was a bit of a bold move considering the injury risk involved – and BC's O-Line reverting to chop blocking methods throughout the game in an attempt to “protect” Reilly better – but Claybrooks and Reilly got the result they wanted (a late TD score), even if it didn't change anything at the time.
Regarding the total, this number has been bumped up basically a full FG since closing at 50.5 last week and being the only game in Week 6 that was a winner for 'over' bettors. This move was to be expected too, as this game was always on a nice pace to cash the 'over', even if bettors who had 50.5 were sweating the Riders decision to go for (and miss) a two-point try when they scored to go up 31-19. Anytime two teams put up 60+ points there is going to be some adjustment, and now that they are in the climate controlled BC Place this week, expecting plenty of points is likely the common perspective.
But the fact that BC's O-line went to a chop-blocking approach last week is highly concerning in the sense that the coaching staff can't have much confidence that they'll be able to turn around these blocking woes in a hurry. Like the football team that has to run gimmick/trick plays to beat a better squad, that's essentially what BC did with their blocking tactics and the element of surprise from the Roughriders perspective is gone now. It's what will keep me off backing BC on the side (although it's probably the better way to go) for this game, but it does lend itself to another total play.
Struggles and concerns in protection make it hard for a QB to continually sustain drives, and sustaining drives tends to be more important in the CFL game. Reilly and the Lions attack couldn't sustain anything offensively the last time they were at home (33-6 loss to Edmonton), and with the Riders defense being one that was thought highly of at the beginning of the year, showing them much of the same looks two weeks in a row isn't ideal if you're a BC fan.
The same holds true for a much maligned Lions defense, who wasn't expected to be great in 2019, but do need to show up – especially at home – after it's been a rough go of it (allowing 30+ points in all but one game) for this entire year. Farjardo is far from a rookie in this year, but the 27-year old is still very new to being a starter in the CFL, and with the Lions defense likely connecting on many more of their 'educated guesses' on what they expect Farjardo to run from certain formations, a road start for the Riders QB isn't exactly conducive to points either.
With the Lions on a 3-7-1 O/U run at home dating back to last year, and Saskatchewan on a 0-4-1 O/U run after their last five outright wins, points should be much harder to come by in this return match, especially if itgets chippy from the outset like we saw in the final 5+ minutes of last week's meeting. Both defenses will be out to make a statement that it's going to be much harder for both offenses to move the ball just seven days later, and while last week's result warrants the total bump, this week's game probably tops out at where last week's total closed; 50-51 points.
ATLANTA @ PHILADELPHIA | 7/27 | 7:05 PM EDT
11:40 AM
My model likes the value on the Braves again tonight on the road against Zach Eflin. Eflin's struggles with left-handed hitters, and in the month of July overall are a major concern. Max Fried provides a slight pitching edge and this Braves lineup is simply the better team. My simulations make Atlanta -135 in this spot. Lay it.
15-4 IN LAST 19 MLB ML PICKS | +1057
6-0 IN LAST 6 PHI ML PICKS | +629
Perez v. Nova
1) All 9 at bats will happen for our side no matter the score...a side that happens to be the hottest offense in the majors over the past week!
2) Since last weekend, the Twins are the best facing any handed pitcher, but let's focus on the RHP since Ivan Nova is such:
in 210 PAs (less by a decent margin than the next 4 teams in line) they have amassed metrics including:
.275 ISO/.967 OPS/ 41 wRC/ 147 wRC+ and 14.5 wRAA!! (in the so far short series against these Sox they have also expanded on these numbers!)
3) Ivan Nova is sporting very low K rate with just over 5 per 9 innings in combination with the Twins low K rate on offense. He has a 20% HR/FB rate despite being a ground ball pitcher nearing the 50% mark for the season...as well as habitually over his career- the Twins are right at the top of the league over the past week hitting 24% of their FB for HR...in fact only making "soft" contact merely 10% of the time. Nova made the Marlins look absolutely silly earlier this week...throwing a gem of a complete game, allowing 1 run, and facing 31 batters! No 2 lineups could be more different however, (maybe Boston) and this does not bode well if Nova approaches this game with the same stuff, in fact his last 2 starts inside the division yielded a 7.26 and 5.98 xFIP.
4) Nova's offense coming into this game, facing lefties, over the same period of since last weekend!:
with the most PAs over the stretch facing LHP, the ChiSox have put up incredibly poor numbers:
4% BB rate/ 30% K rate, 9 wRC, 59 wRC+, -6.4 wRAA, and .254 wOBA
5) Wind blowing hard out to left field tonight - at 15+ MPH
which pitcher in tonight's game is in the "top 5" for allowing hitters to pull the ball- Ivan Nova at damn near 50% and 52% when facing right handed hitters! at nearly 40% hard contact!- Cruz and Sano who are raking more than anyone in the league with a .634/.430 wOBA respectively during this span should make things incredibly difficult on Nova. Of the 2, Cruz also already hammers Nova historically with a .357 BA and .508 wOBA in his career! In addition to Cruz, Jason Schoop has had great success, with Max Kepler not too shabby all well above average in most categories facing Nova.
6) Martin Perez coming from the left side has not been one of the better starters for the Twins breakout season so far this year, but where he excels (if the White Sox needed any more red flags for them offensively sans Tim Anderson) is in limiting hard contact and even moreso, barrell of the bat contact! less than 5% on the season
The value here has been immense for this play both of the first 2 games of the series, and while I agree the Twins overall haven't been as good since the break as beforehand, the offense is in FULL FORCE and the value getting this run line at close to normal vigorish is IMMENSE!
Game: (979) Houston Astros at (980) St. Louis Cardinals Date/Time: Jul 27 2019 7:15 PM EDT Betting Line Provider: Heritage Play Rating: 4% Play: Houston Astros -1.5 (-113)
Team Total Over 5.5 Game:(973) Cleveland Indians at (974) Kansas City Royals Date/Time: Jul 27 2019 7:15 PM EDT Betting Line Provider: Pinnacle Play Rating: 2% Play: Cleveland Indians 5.5 (-106)
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