Luis Severino has pitched well this season and has decent numbers against the Bosox projected lineup which holds a career .239 batting average against him. He does have a history of not lasting deep into games pitching seven or more innings in just two of his last nine starts. That’s a concern with the way the Yankees bullpen has performed this season with an era of 4.89. Boston lost four of the previous five Sale has started for them against New York, but he pitched well in three of them. Yanks 3rd baseman Todd Frazier who has moved on to the Mets did most of the damage going long three times on Sale. Lay the money.

The Reds send out Cody Reed who will be making his first start since last April when he was shellacked for seven runs over two innings against the Cubs. The Phillies starter Ben Lively missed recording a quality start by one out in his season opener but looked good allowing two runs on six hits with five strikeouts to go with one walk. The price on Philadelphia is high, but the lack of offense by Cincinnati this season and the better overall starter makes them undervalued in my opinion. Lay the money.

It's tough going against the Angels right now and counting on the Athletics to get you a win no matter what the pitching match-up is a risky investment. The Athletics starter Andrew Triggs does have solid back numbers against the Los Angeles projected starters, but he rarely lasts more than six innings, and the Oakland bullpen has been used hard in back to back games. LA Angels starter pitched brilliantly in his only lifetime start against Oakland throwing seven frames of shutout ball, but the hitters in this year's version have had success against him.

Texas starter Matt Moore has had success against some of the Jays' top hitters, but he wasn't sharp in his opener and Rangers debut. Texas got to Toronto starter Marco Estrada for six runs in only 3 2/3 innings in his last visit to Globe Life Park. However, he looked good in his first start this year which may signal a return to form after an off 2016. The Rangers batters have been struggling, so I'll lay the small price on the visitor.

Jon Lester takes the mound for the Cubs, and he didn't start the season off on the right foot. Lester was chased from the game after just 3 1/3 innings allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits and three walks. Additionally, Chicago's left-hander was beaten up for four runs in four in his last visit to Milwaukee. The Cubs also come into to this game cold at the plate failing to score a single run in back to back games. The Brewers counter with lefty Brent Suter who pitched adequately in his campaign opener allowing three runs over five innings. It's a small sample size, but the Cubs haven't hit left-handed pitching well this season with a .178 batting average with projected runs per nine innings of 0.44. Suter had two starts against the team in 2017 and pitched well with one run allowed over 12 1/3 frames.

For the Cards right-hander, Adam Wainwright will make his first start of the season. Wainwright has strong numbers against Arizona historically, but he has only faced them twice in the last three years. Against the Diamondbacks projected line-up tonight he hasn't had a ton of success with six batters having a career batting average over .300 versus him, and he may not be at his best with this his first start since last August. Either pitcher could get lit up here making a play on the total line the way to go.

Arizona will send out lefty Robbie Ray to face St. Louis in their home opener. Ray hasn't seemed right since mid-September last season failing to record a quality start in his previous five starts and was atrocious in his opener allowing six earned runs over five innings.

Washington opened the season scoring just two runs but getting the money on the road in Cincinnati. Since then, the team has been tearing the cover off the ball amassing 27 runs on 32 hits over three games. Tonight the Braves are expected to send out Julio Teheran to start the game. Teheran was terrible at home last season, and historically the Nationals have had their way with him especially Bryce Harper who has a career .459 average against him with seven home runs. Washington starter A.J. Cole hasn't impressed, but he did look better late last season allowing three or fewer runs in his last five starts.

LAD starter Hyun-Jin Ryu ended last season on a bad stretch with just one quality start in his previous five starts. That one QS did come in a home game against Arizona, but the five-game stretch began in Arizona where he was pasted for six runs over four innings. ARI starter Taijuan Walker pitched adequately in his in the last plus month of the season and which ended with a poor outing against tonight's opponent the LA Dodgers, but the Diamondbacks won his previous three starts against LA including both starts back in April last season. Tonight's is an excellent spot to back the home team getting plus money.

The Royals starter today Jason Hammel had a rough end to last season, getting lit up for a combined18 runs in three of his previous five outings. However, those three rough starts bookended by two quality starts against the Tigers where he allowed a total of five earned runs over 12 innings. Detroit played a doubleheader yesterday taxing their bullpen using six relievers. They send out Francisco Liriano who has decent numbers against Kansas City, but he'll be starting for the first time in a regular season game since late June of last year.

Cleveland’s starter Trevor Bauer and Seattle’s starter Mike Leake both closed the season out with strong performances with Bauer recording quality starts in three of his last four and Leake in four of his previous five outings. That said, historically the Mariners expected starting lineup has had a lot of success against Bauer with five batters hitting over .300, and the Indians didn't impress in their lone outing this season against a right-handed starter.

It's always tough picking winners out of the gate, but the projected line-up of the Rockies has for the most part been successful against Arizona's starter Patrick Corbin. The same can’t be said about the Diamondbacks who do have four with lifetime averages over .300 versus Jon Gray, but the bottom half of the line-up has poor numbers.

The Astros have just two road wins in the playoffs, but one did come in this series in Game 2. The Dodgers’ bullpen came up big in the Game 6 victory last night as mentioned previously, but they did use four relievers, including closer Kenley Jensen who pitched two frames. That may turn out to be a problem tonight. Darvish hasn’t lasted more than 6 1/3 in his last three starts and has completed 7 innings just twice in his last 8 starts. Astros starter McCullers hasn’t been sharp on the road this season with a 4.89 ERA and registering a 33.3 quality start percentage. We do get an UNDER umpire behind home plate, but I feel that there are enough angles to predict tonight’s game surpassing the 7.5 runs.

With the Astros Game 5 win they are one win away from their very first World Series title. They won two of their three games at home in this series where they pounded out a combined 18 runs in the two wins but only two runs in the loss. Houston had lost four straight playoff road games prior to winning Game 2 of this series in L.A. Verlander has been fantastic in the post season and I’ll back him to put an end to the series in Game 6.

The Astros beat the Dodgers 5-3 in Game 3 and they now lead this series 2-1. The loss in Game 3 was only the Dodgers 3rd loss in the post-season and the first time in the playoffs they have lost back to back games. While their pitching had been stellar in the playoffs they have given up 12 runs in their last two games. The Astros have won the last two games of this series and they are undefeated at home in the playoffs. In the last two games Houston has outscored L.A. 12-9. Alex Wood only has one playoff start and it was not a great one. I don't think he'll rebound here tonight, but I expect that the Dodgers lineup will give him run support. Morton was light’s out in his last start, but something tells me the Dodgers will get to him in this game. The L.A. lineup will be the difference maker in this game, as they will get the win to even the series at two games apiece. This is strictly a feel play. 

After a wild Game 2 where there was a World Series record eight HR the Astros now have the home field advantage with the series tied at 1-1. The loss in Game 2 was only the Dodgers 2nd loss of the post-season and the seven runs were the most they gave up in any playoff game. L.A. had only given up a total of 10 runs in seven games before given up seven runs in Game 2. The Astros had lost four straight playoff road games before winning in L.A. in the 2nd game of this series. Darvish has been solid in his two post-season starts and he is familiar facing the Astros in Houston in his few years with the Texas Rangers. He faced the Astros on the road, while with Texas, on June 12th and had a great outing only giving up one earned run on one hit in a 6-1 Rangers win. He will have another solid outing facing the Astros tonight and he will keep the Houston lineup in check. McCullers Jr. has pitched well in his last three playoff appearances after getting shelled in his first one and the Dodgers will get to him early and often in this Game 3. Behind Darvish the Dodgers will win this game and take a 2-1 series lead.

The Astros had won their last two games before falling to the Dodgers in the first game of the World Series. After beating the Boston Red Sox on the road to close out the ALDS, Houston has lost their last four road playoffs games. They scored 11 runs in the last two wins of the ALCS before only scoring one in the first game of this series. The Dodgers have won two in a row overall and they have only lost one game in the playoffs. Their pitching has been superb, as they only gave up eight runs in the five games in the NLCS and held the Astros to a single run last night. Verlander has been lights out in the playoffs going 4-0 with an ERA of only 1.46, but he has been less than stellar in his three career World Series starts. While Hill has not been lights out he has been solid in the post-season even though he has only two starts and lasted nine innings. Both will have good outings and this game will be like Game 1 in a low scoring affair, which the Dodgers will win and head to Houston with a 2-0 lead in the series.

The Astros are coming off a tough ALCS where the Yankees took them to seven games with the home team winning every game. after losing the three games in the series in New York where they were outscored 19-5 they won the last two games at home outscoring the Yankees 11-1. In the five road playoffs games this post-season Houston is 1-4 and only scored eight runs in those games. L.A. took care of the Cubs in five games in the NLCS and their pitching was great in the series only giving up a total of eight runs. Keuchel had a solid season, but was not sharp in his last outing, which was on the road, and look for the Dodgers to get to him in this game. On the other side of the coin while Kershaw has had his issues in the playoffs in his career he is coming off a great last outing and he will have another one in what will be his first career start in the World Series. The Dodgers will take the first game of this series behind their Ace in Kershaw, who will keep the Houston lineup in check.

If the Yankees win tonight, they will become only the 14th team in playoff history to come back from an 0-2 deficit. They had won the previous three games of this series all at home, where they totaled 19 runs. The Astros avoided elimination with their Game 6 win with the offensive outburst after scoring a combined five runs in the three straight losses in New York. Sabathia was lights out in his last outing while Morton was not getting lit up. I expect Morton to rebound off his poor road outing based on his home record this season of 10-3 W/L, 3.34 ERA and 1.14 WHIP. However, I am also confident that Sabathia will have another strong outing. While the Astros are 5-0 at home in the playoffs this season and the Yankees are 0-7 in their last ALCS road games I believe those trends will end tonight. New York’s only road win in this year’s post season was in the deciding Game 5 of the ALDS in Cleveland and Sabathia and the bullpen will lead them to the promised land at plus money. It will be the Yankees and the Dodgers in the 2017 World Series.

After winning the first two games of the series at home the Astros were swept in three games in New York and find themselves with their backs against the wall down 3-2 in the series. They won the first two games by a 2-1 score, but they were outscored in the three losses in New York 19-5. Houston was the highest scoring team in the Majors this season (5.43 RPG), but in the five games in this series they have totaled nine runs (1.80 RPG). The Yankees bats came alive at home winning the three straight games and while they have lost seven of their last eight playoff games on the road the one win was in the ALCS facing the Indians in Cleveland in the closeout Game 5. Severneo’s best start in the post-season came in Game 2, but he only lasted four innings and he was hit hard in the two regular season games against the Astros. Verlander has been great all around since coming to the Astros and he will lead them to a win tonight forcing a Game 7 in this series.

The Dodgers lost Game 4 of this series and that snapped their eight-game win streak and was their first loss in the playoffs. Their pitching has still been throughout the series allowing eight runs over the four games. The Cubs avoided the series sweep with the Game 4 victory, but they are still on the brink of elimination and overall have lost four of their last six games. Their pitching staff had been lit up for15 runs in the first three games of this series before giving up the deuce last night. The Dodgers have their Ace on the mound tonight, but in this season’s playoffs and over his career he has not pitched like the “top gun” in the post-season. He has given up six earned runs in nine innings of work in two starts against the Cubs this season. I feel like he’ll come up big in this game with a strong start. The Cubs starter Quintana has been solid in the post-season and while I expect him to perform well, I’m banking on Kershaw to win the pitcher’s duel. I’ll be betting on Los Angeles to move on tonight to the World Series.