Expert Baseball Picks

Most signs point toward LA here, and yeah Pittsburgh just dropped four in a row at home, but baseball can be a funny game. How often have we seen teams struggle through a home-stand, then hit the road and start winning games? And the Pirates recent funk drives up the price. We're taking what we see as good value here with Pittsburgh.

Philadelphia isn't much to look at as of late, but we give the Phillies the edge in the pitching match-up for Wednesday and in the bullpen comparison. And after losing the first two games of this series, they do not want to get swept. We're going with Philly for our free MLB pick for Wednesday.

Colorado is suddenly hot, while Philadelphia is treading water, at best. Also, Nola is struggling, and Coors Field isn't exactly friendly toward struggling pitchers. In fact, it almost seems like the oddsmakers have the wrong team favored here. We'll take the home-dog Rockies for our free MLB pick for Saturday.

Crash Davis once said “never fuck with a winning streak,” and Houston is riding a helluva streak. So we're going with Crash's advice in this spot. And knowing that the Astros will bat nine times we have no qualms about giving the run and a half against the MLB run line.

Peralta is a Jekyll-and-Hyde case; he can dominate for eight innings as he did two starts ago, or he can struggle to get out of the fourth inning, like last time out. We just don't know what we're going to get out of him any given outing. Also, we'll give St. Louis short edges at the moment with the sticks and in the bullpen comparison. Plus, the Cardinals are getting the underdog price.

This game sets up as a play on St. Louis on the MLB streak betting theory, but we do not always abide by that. Maeda is perfectly capable of out-pitching Flaherty, and while LA struggled mightily with RISP the first two games of this series, we expect a little better luck Wednesday.

Washington roughed up Nola last week, but we expect a bounce-back effort Tuesday night. And that Nats bullpen is struggling. We're going with Philadelphia for our free MLB pick for Tuesday.

Chacin was the rock of the Milwaukee rotation last season, and he's continuing in that role this season with a pair of wins already. And we like this Brewers lineup. So we're betting Milwaukee Monday for our free MLB pick.   

The Royals Brad Keller gets the start today, and he's been fantastic this year with a 2.08 earned run average and 0.92 WHIP. Admittingly two games is a small sample size, but dating back to last season he has allowed three or fewer runs in nine of his last ten and two or fewer runs in eight of the ten starts. Today he faces a Tigers club that he has success against last season and a club that has struggled to put up runs on starting pitching all season. The Royals have done an OK job at the plate this season, but Detroit’s starter Tyson Ross has owned them with a .136 career batting average in two starts, and the pen has been good with a 3.00 ERA this season.

Houston's been scuffling a bit out of the gate this season, but perhaps Friday's victory will provide a spark. Meanwhile, Brooks is coming off a fantastic effort his first time out, but we're still dubious of a guy who entered this season with a career ERA over six.