Monday's early start on Patriot's Day in Boston should favor the hitters on both sides of the diamond. Play the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox 'over' the total.
Our Monday MLB selection is on the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox going 'over' the total at Fenway Park.
It is bad news for the rest of the teams in the AL East that something seems to have woken up the Tampa Bay bats. Perhaps they just needed to get out of sunny Florida?
After starting the season rather sluggishly and only scoring 24 runs in their first six games (all at home) and going 3-3 in the process, the Rays have now scored 38 runs in their next six games (all on the road) and have won each of those to bring their record to 9-3.
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This is the annual Patriots' Day game, the Red Sox contest that is held every year on the same Monday in which the state celebrates that holiday and on which day the Boston Marathon is also contested.
Since 1968, the Patriots' Day game has started at 11 a.m., and this early start generally favors the hitters over the pitchers. Apparently it's the pitchers that want to sleep in and aren't quite ready to perform this early in the morning, as in the last four seasons this game has seen an average of 12 runs per game scored. That includes last season's 12-1 victory by the Sox over the Orioles.
Big right-handers Jeff Neimann and John Lackey take the mound in the 2010 version, and although Lackey is off to a strong start to the season, his career ERA at Fenway Park is still pretty scary.
Neimann has never pitched there before, but his only other career start against Boston was very ugly. Take the 'over.'
Free Pick: Rays-Red Sox Over 9 (+100)