Tons of stories that could headline the news from last night. Chris Sale became the fastest pitcher to 1500 strikeouts, as he had his 17th double digit strikeout game this season and some how he still only has 15 wins. Stanton mashed another home run and is now closer to 100 home runs than he is to 0. Stanton put his number at 62, and right now it looks like he will make it. One of the hottest teams in baseball is the Baltimore Orioles, won their 6th in a row last night and now are 1.5 GB. Dylan Bundy pitched a 1 hit complete game shut out. Not going to brag but I said he was the top pitcher yesterday.
There’s a full slate of games today with a double header in the Bronx and in Philadelphia.
Low-Scoring Plays
Pittsburgh Pirates @ Chicago Cubs – Jake Arrieta pitched a great game last night for the Cubs and tonight they have Quintana on the mound. Quintana has been ok for the Cubs since coming over from the White Sox. Today is a day that I love him. Pittsburgh is closer in their division than they are in the wild card. I like the Cubs to put the nail in the coffin this series. Expect Chicago to get hot and to get other teams like the Dodgers and Nationals to start looking over their shoulder.
Targets: Quintana, Rizzo
Tampa Bay Rays @ Kansas City Royals – Kansas City finally scored as they beat the Rays 6-2 last night. Well look for the script to be flipped here on the Rays as they will be shut out by Vargas. This is a big series, as the Royals are 3 games out and the Rays are 3.5 games out. Vargas has had a great year this with an ERA at 3.72 and a low WHIP around 1.1. These numbers are what you want as your team is heading towards the end of the season. Great pitching will beat great hitting.
Targets: Vargas, Moustakas
High-Scoring Plays
Atlanta Braves @ Philadelphia Phillies – GAME 1 – R.A. Dickey is pitching for the Braves in game 1. I have left R.A. alone recently, where I usually picked on him. The Phillies have a young star in Rhys Hoskins who is boring the world to the ground. He is one of the hottest hitters in the game right now as he is batting .423 with 5 home runs over the last week. I love him as a play today, at home, an afternoon game against R.A. Dickey.
Targets: Hoskins, Franco
Cleveland Indians @ New York Yankees – Both Games – The Indians are hot and have fire power. The Yankees aren’t sending great starters to the mound so these games could get ugly quick. In game one the Indians should hammer the Yankees starter out of the game where they bullpen will keep in under control. However they will tax the bullpen and it will leave the Yankees in shambles for game two.
Targets: Lindor, Encarnacion, Napoli
Undervalued Plays
Verlander-DET-SP-Verlander is still rumored he could be on the move, and to be honest I don’t know how. What is the point of the trade deadline if you can just move people via waivers. Anyway, Verlander has turned it up this second half of the season and will be a great play today.
Vargas-KC-SP- I targeted Vargas above as a player I love and that was even before I saw his price point. The Rays are a good team but no one strikes fear in my eyes in that line up. The Rays don’t have and Altuve, Betts, or Lindor that can strike at any time like the division leaders have. That is why I like Vargas today.
Shaw-MIL-3B-Shaw one of the most improved players on the year is below $4000, playing St. Louis the Brewers should be able to score and Shaw will be a major reason why.
Stanton-MIA-OF-Stanton’s price point dropped today because he is facing Strasburg. Strasburg is coming off the DL and can make a mistake in this game. He will be focused on getting ahead in the count a curve ball could get away. Stanton is a monster, if he gets a pitch in the zone watch out.
Check out our MLB Breakdown Spreadsheet and our Pitcher Breakdown Spreadsheet (these picks – all over/unders – are now at 57.1% accuracy since June 30) where you can compare key statistics and numbers for today’s games.