Stephen Nover
Arizona -140
Zack Greinke remans an elite pitcher. Jose Berrios has a high ceiling, but has been struggling after a bright beginning following being called up from the minors. Berrios has a 7.04 ERA in his last three starts.
Greinke is 3-0 with a 0.65 ERA in four interleague starts this year. Greinke knows the AL well. Berriors does not know the NL and the Diamondbacks have a very strong hittling lineup made stronger if J.D. Martinez is able to play after sitting out yesterday due to illness.
Arizona is 11-4 in its last 15 interleague games.
Doug Upstone
Reds vs. Braves
Play: Over 10
This is not so much a case of Cincinnati and Atlanta tearing the cover off the ball because they have great offense, rather because for the most part either starting pitcher isn't worth a damn. The Reds thought they had a great collection of young arms and were set for the future, turns out nearly all them are in the bullpen not having starter stuff and the latest not getting the job done is Robert Stephenson (6.64 ERA). We will cut the young man some slack being a rookie, but he is 24. However, we are not cutting Julio Teheran (4.98) any slack, having pitched in the big leagues for six seasons and for some reason he's developed a phobia about new Sun Trust Park and has ERA of 7.08 there. I am seeing both 9.5 or 10 and I like the OVER either way.
Cappers Club
Cleveland / Kansas City Under 9.5
We are going to expect a low scoring game here on Saturday night in Kansas City.
Both start pitchers here have found a lot of success as of late.
Trevor Bauer continues to improve with each start, as he has really come to form since his spot in the rotation was secured with Josh Tomlin's injury.
Jason Vargas goes for the Royals and he's dominated the Indians. He enters play 6-1 with a 3.17 ERA over 11 starts. This season he has just a 0.87 ERA in 2 outings as he's simply flustered this lineup completely.
Here, this number is just too big and worth a free move.
Dave Price
Yankees vs. Red Sox
Play: Red Sox -1½
The Boston Red Sox are 13-2 in their last 15 games overall. They are starting to pull away from the Yankees in the AL East race due to their best stretch of the season over the past coupe weeks. They should win by two runs or more tonight behind Chris sale, who is 14-4 with a 2.51 ERA and 0.88 WHIP in 24 starts. He has already struck out 241 batters in 168 1/3 innings this season. C.C. Sabathia has struggled lately at 0-2 with an 8.10 ERA in his last 3 starts. Sale loves facing the Yankees, going 4-2 with a 1.36 ERA and 0.82 WHIP in 10 lifetime starts against them. He has allowed just 1 earned run in 14 2/3 innings while striking out 25 in his last two starts against the Yankees in 2017. Boston is 16-1 as a favorite of -200 or more this season, winning by 2.6 RPG on average. The Red Sox are 27-4 as a home favorite of -200 or more over the last 3 seasons, winning by 2.7 RPG.
Matt Fargo
Indians vs. Royals
Play:Royals +126
The Royals could not muster any offense off Corey Kluber and the bullpen last night in a 10-1 loss to fall 6.5 games out of first place in the American League Central. Kansas City is now a game over .500 but is just a game out of the second American League Wild Card spot and looks to reverse the outcome tonight in what is a good spot to do so. Cleveland had a six-game winning streak snapped in the second game of its double-header on Thursday but it did not stay down for long as the offense has scored seven or more runs in four of its last five games. Keeping that up will be an issue as the Indians have 22 losses against left-handed starters this season which is the third most in baseball behind the Reds and Giants. Jason Vargas has taken a step back after a great start to the season but most of that damage has been on the road. He is 7-3 with a 3.30 ERA in 12 home starts and two of those games came against the Indians where he allowed no runs in 15 combined innings. The Royals are 24-9 in his last 33 starts. Cleveland counters with Trevor Bauer who has been on a solid run of four straight quality starts and in his last outing, he struck out 11 Red Sox. After that though he tossed two-thirds of an inning on Thursday in that Game Two against Minnesota and that could mess up his routine. On the road, he has a 6.23 ERA and 1.57 WHIP and going back, the Royals are 23-8 in their last 31 games against starters with a WHIP greater than 1.30.
Tony Karpinski
Colts vs. Cowboys
Play: Colts +5½
Indianapolis should have a better defense than they had last year. Their LBs will make sure of that. Although it's only pre-season, of course, we will be sure to see Barkevious Mingo and Edwin Jackson applying some much needed pressure on QBs. Stephen Morris has a decent enough arm with a soft touch - and he has enough to beat the safeties of Dallas down field. The Colts have had some issues with scoring but their offense is still good enough to hang on here vs a team struggling to find its identity right now. The Cowboys have some scoring issues, player issues and their guys finding ways of getting open. Kellen Moore vs the Rams wasn't impressive, even for a pre-season game. Because of their Dline not getting the better penetration the Cowboys had expected - the QBs of Indy will be able to have the time to find their receivers. Colts are 4-1-1 ATS in their last 6 road games and the Cowboys backup QB's have looked awful so far. Indianapolis wins taking the points
Power Sports
Arizona vs. Minnesota
Play: Over
With them coming off a 10-3 loss yesterday, most will expect Arizona to bounce back today as they have Zack Greinke on the hill. But typically, Greinke isn't quite as sharp on the road as he is at home, so I actually believe Over is the proper call. The D'backs may not score as many runs per game on the road as they do at home, but remember this is a NL team getting to benefit from the use of the DH this weekend.
Greinke has a 12-2 TSR w/ a 0.888 WHIP at home. But on the road, his ERA jumps a more than a point and a half and his WHIP is 1.247. The result is a pedestrian 5-5 TSR. The last time Greinke pitched on the road, he ended up giving up six runs to the Cubs. Perhaps you'll write that off as "it's the Cubs," but as the Twins showed yday, they have plenty of offensive firepower as well. In fact, yday marked the third time in the previous ten games that they scored 10 or more runs! Their last seven games have seen an average of 12.3 rpg scored total. They have 40 hits in the L3 games alone!
But the Twins problem all year, at least at home, is on the runs allowed side of the ledger. They've been scored on more times at home than every other team in baseball, giving up an average of 5.7 runs per game. I look for Arizona to exploit that today. They'll face Jose Berrios, who has allowed 11 runs in his previous two outings, which have spanned only 8 1/3 innings. He's still got nice looking numbers here at Target Field, but they've slowly started to worsen as it looks like he's running out of gas as the season wears on.
Eric Schroeder
My free play is on the San Francisco Giants over the Philadelphia Phillies. And in this game I don't want you listing pitchers, as it won't matter.
The Phils arrived in Frisco, after losing their series to the San Diego Padres, including a free play I gave you right here in this exact same spot, in the series-finale. The last two nights I gave you the Giants, and tonight I'm back on them.
Yes, I know the Giants are in last place in the National League West, and I know they're just 29-32 at home. But they were obviously relieved to get home after a road trip that ended with Wednesday's 8-1 thumping at the hands of the Miami Marlins.
The only team worse than the Giants in the National League, is the Phillies, who are 43-77 this season, and who have lost eight of 12.
Philly is 19-46 on the road, as it is one of only two teams in the bigs with less than 20 road wins, along with Oakland's 19.
All Frisco.
5* GIANTS
Brad Wilton
No chance the Yankees get to Chris Sale this Saturday night, none!
New York battled back from a 3-0 hole last night as they took a 6-3 lead into the bottom of the 7th, but allowed 4 runs that frame, and a couple of more in the 8th.
That means Boston is now 13-2 their past 15 games, and Chris Sale is sitting on a 14-4 mark this season with a 2.51 ERA.
Sale just held the Yankees to one run over 7 innings, with 12 punch-outs along the way last week in a no-decision at Yankee Stadium. For the season versus the Yanks, Sale owns a 1.19 ERA over 3 starts, but has yet to record a win.
That will change tonight, as the Red Sox get to go against CC Sabathia who is back from a stint on the DL with a knee injury. Sabathia allowed 12 runs to score over his last 13-plus innings prior to landing on the disabled list, and my guess is he gives up that one big inning that keeps the Yankees from being close tonight.
Boston on the Run Line the call.
5* BOSTON -1.5
Jack Brayman
My free play tonight is out of the American League East, as I like the Boston Red Sox over the New York Yankees. And with the Line as big as it is, play this one on the run line.
Boston has won three straight and eight of 10, while it boasts an American League-best 39-21 home mark.
The Yankees are sliding, as they're now 30-34 on the road. They're five games back in the division race, and the Red Sox are taking advantage.
Play the Sox.
2* RED SOX -1.5
Jeff Benton
Your Saturday freebie is the White Sox and the Rangers to play Over the total.
Hard to overlook the fact the White Sox and Rangers have played 4 of their 5 games this season Over the total, and 7 of their last 8 games overall since last season Over the total. Last night being the first Under for the teams this year.
Strong chance the Over trend continues tonight with Derek Holland and Martin Perez on the mound. Both pitchers have season ERA's over 5, and Holland happens to be coming off a short 2 inning start that saw 7 hits and 7 runs score at home against Kansas City. Each of his last pair of starts played Over the total, and on the road this season 9 of Holland's 12 starts have landed Over the total.
This will be Holland's second start against his former team, and his first lasted 5-plus innings with 5 hits and 5 runs plated in a game that landed Over the total.
As for Perez, he has settled down over his last pair of starts, lasting 14 innings with only 3 runs scored - both of the starts playing Under the total. Overall, Perez has seen 6 of his past 10 starts Over the posted price. This will be his first start against the White Sox this season.
Chicago has played Over the total in 3 of their last 5, while Texas is Over in 3 of their last 4.
Sox-Rangers Over the total.
3* WHITE SOX-RANGERS OVER
Chris Jordan
My free winner for tonight is on the Arizona Diamondbacks over the Minnesota Twins, and in this one be sure you're listing Zack Greinke over Jose Berrios.
The Snakes-ace picked up a win in Interleague play, against the Houston Astros, in his last start. The fiery right-hander tossed 6.2 shutout innings and struck out nine. Greinke steps to the hill at Target Field having won six of his last seven decisions.
Meanwhile, Berrios is in after giving up six runs over 3.1 innings against the Detroit Tigers in his last start. Berrios has allowed five runs in the first inning in each of his past two starts. Not a good sign for this kid, when the D-backs will have confidence in today's game with their top hurler going.
All Arizona.
1* DIAMONDBACKS