The Cleveland Indians jumped out to an early lead over the Angles with a grand slam. The Indians then blew the 7 run lead and went into extra innings. A game I thought they were going to lose and I would fall out of the money in my league as the player behind me was .25 points behind with Trout still playing. Luckily the Indians hit another grand slam to win the game in 11 keeping me in the money.
A bizarre play in New York as Todd Frazier was set up to hit a grand slam in his first at bat in Pinstripes. Instead Frazier hit into a triple play, but a run did score. That was the first time a run was scored on a triple play since 2006.
We have a ton of games happening today, with a couple of afternoon starts so get those lineups in.
Low-Scoring Plays
Boston Red Sox @ Seattle Mariners – The Red Sox have been getting rocked lately as they came back in last night’s game and then blew that lead. Well tonight all they have to do is score 3 or more because Sale is on the mound. The Red Sox never score with Sale on the mound so this game should be very low scoring. The Sox called up their 3rd base prospect who is by far the youngest player in the big leagues now. They are searching for answers when Bogaerts is nowhere to be found. The Sox will win this one but not by much.
Targets: Sale, Ramirez, Betts
Cincinnati Reds @ New York Yankees – The brightest arm in the Yankees rotation, Severino, gets the call for the Yankees. The Reds are not a great team so Severino should have a big game. Pitching at home makes me like the play even more as the Yankees should pick up the win. Severino strikes out more than 1 batter per inning and has a WHIP of 1.108. All the stars are lining up here for him and it will be a great play.
Targets: Severino,Judge, C. Frazier
Miami Marlins @ Texas Rangers – Yu Darvish is on the hot seat as the Rangers are taking calls about potential trades for him. The Marlins aren’t a great team but they aren’t terrible and are more than capable of scoring runs. However pitching at home Darvish should have a huge game that will increase his trade potential even more as teams are scrambling looking for the last couple of pieces to make a charge. Look for Darvish to look like him old self and have double digit strike outs in this game.
Targets: Darvish, Napoli
High-Scoring Plays
Pittsburgh Pirates @ San Francisco Giants- Jeff Samardzija gets the call for the Giants who is 4-11 on the year. I thought it was the fact that he kept pitching against great teams that he wasn’t getting wins but at the end of the day we have to hold him accountable for most of it. The Pirates have been playing better baseball. McCutchen has been hitting over .300 the last 2 months, Harrison and Bell have been mashing the ball, even though their averages have fell. There are always games where I’m looking at the scores and I see Pittsburgh put up 13 and I get mad at myself for never picking any of their players. These games are usually afternoon games too where I don’t get a line up for the early slate. Well today is an afternoon game, 3:45 first pitch. Stack Bell, Harrison, and McCutchen.
Targets: McCutchen, Bell, Harrison
Houston Astros @ Philadelphia Phillies – It’s hard not to take the Astros every night during this series as it’s one of the best teams against the flat out worst team. You can never go wrong taking the Astros and it will be another solid night for them here. They won’t blow the doors off of this one as Nola is a decent pitcher but if you want some sure points you can always take Altuve, Correa, or McCan. They will be highly owned and expensive so it might not be worth it in the end, but if you have a couple wild plays that could put up a goose egg, take some Astros to balance you out.
Targets: Correa, Altuve
New York Mets @ San Diego Padres – The Padres are a struggling ball club and have been since I can ever remember. Not sure what is going on but they don’t seem to ever have great prospects or able to land free agents. It’s one thing if you trade your prospects for stars but they don’t even do that. So I’m not sure whats happening in San Diego. This is a great matchup for the Mets. Cespedes had that little league home run where he stretched a check swing into a triple and scored on the throw over third. If he is in the line up today I would take him, he is about to go on one of his Cespedes runs where Met fans freak out and think he should be the MVP because he had a good week of baseball. Stack Mets and Pirates in your lineup, be the underdog and win first place.
Targets: Cespedes, Cabrera, Bruce
Undervalued Plays
Moore-SEA-SP- Boston’s bats are nowhere to be found right now and they never score when Sale is on the mound. Moore has an ERA above 5 and will be a very risky play. However if you want to go the obscure route he won’t be owned and is only $4800. It’s a bold play but if you have an extra team you want to throw in, take a shot.
Zimmerman-WAS-1B- Zimmerman is batting .317 with 20 home runs in the deepest line up in baseball and he is only $3800. He can drive in runs, score runs, and has protection all around him. Zimmerman should be a lock for your line up until his price point goes above $4500.
Bogaerts-BOS-SS- Bogaerts has gone cold, he isn’t hitting for power this year but he was hitting well above average. His average has now dipped below .300 and Boston writers are saying a rehab stint wouldn’t be the worst thing for him. I still believe he is one of the best short stops in baseball and could turn it around at any point. Don’t love the Red Sox right now but you could get a super star for $3700.
Thames-MIL-OF- Yesterday I said Thames and Shaw will be great plays, well I was right with Shaw as he hit another home run. Thames price has fallen big time as he has came back down to earth this year. He is still a monster though with huge forearms so look for him to have a good game here. The Brewers will need him facing the Nationals and Geo Gonzalez.
Check out our MLB Breakdown Spreadsheet and our Pitcher Breakdown Spreadsheet (these picks – all over/unders – are now at 54.5% accuracy since June 30) where you can compare key statistics and numbers for today’s games.