There are some interesting MLB betting matchups on the schedule for us today, so lets go over the lineup to decide if the MLB odds makers have levt any value on the table fr us. Which picks are we taking to the books?
Within today's busy baseball schedule, there's quite a few heavy
favorites for another rendition of Sunday baseball.
The Angels, Mariners, Reds and Marlins among others are the
prominent chalk for the day. Are we including any of these teams in our MLB
picks?
Los Angeles Angels vs. Tampa Bay Rays
We can't help ourselves.
All caught up in the hoopla of Zack Greinke's Angels debut,
we're backing him to dazzle us.
Greinke was recently traded from Milwaukee and will make his
first start for his new team today. Though he hasn't faced Tampa Bay this
season, he dominated the Rays in his one start against them last year, going
seven innings, allowing four hits and one earned run, and striking out 10.
The right-hander also just loves pitching at home, even
though it'll be in a new park this time around. He was 11-0 at home last season
and is 4-0 this year to go along with a squeaky clean ERA of 2.56.
Remember also that this is a Tampa Bay team that's missing
their slugger (Evan Longoria) and one that's in the bottom half in the MLB in
runs scored. Over their last three games, the Rays have scored a total of just
six runs.
Life-time, B.J. Upton is .211 against Greinke and Ben
Zobrist is batting .176. Carlos Pena, who's having an awful year anyway, has
been even worse against the Angels starter, recording a .167 mark (with 18
strikeouts) in 36 at-bats.
Play the Los Angeles Angels -1.5 (+105)
Seattle Mariners vs. Kansas City Royals
Another play on an ace here as we're taking Felix Hernandez
and the Mariners to win by two or more runs against the Royals this afternoon.
Should they get the victory, it will be Seattle's first sweep since May versus
Colorado.
Over his last eight starts, King Felix has a 1.49 ERA with
63 strikeouts and 10 walks. It doesn't really get any better than that.
At Safeco this season he's gone 5-3 with a 2.23 ERA (88 K
vs. 17 BB) and he's also been excellent in day games, recording a 2.51 ERA in
four starts. Ten days ago Hernandez went eight strong innings in a 6-1 win
against the Royals.
Opposite King Felix will be Will Smith, who was the starting
pitcher in that 6-1 loss for Kansas City. He gave up eight hits and four earned
runs.
While Smith did rebound with an outstanding performance
against the Angels following that defeat, we don't believe he'll be able to
repeat that against a team he's already struggled against once this season.
The Mariners have actually been playing some pretty good
ball in the second half, going 10-6 since the All-Star break. They've also won
each of Hernandez's three starts in that span and we're looking for more of the
same today.
Play the Seattle Mariners -1.5 (+125)