LOS ANGELES DODGERS @ SAN DIEGO PADRES 5:40PM
The Dodgers and Padres wrap up a two game series tonight in San Diego and this game will feature a great pitching matchup with Clayton Kershaw starting for the Dodgers and Dylan Cease starting for the Padres. The Padres are currently sitting 5.5 games behind the Dodgers for the NL West lead and are barely holding on to the final Wildcard spot after a walk off victory against the Dodgers last night in the bottom of the 10th inning. This will be Dylan Cease’s first appearance since throwing for his first career no hitter against the Nationals 6 days ago. He is playing some of the best baseball of his life right now managing to strike out 8 or more hitters over his last 4 games. It couldn’t be coming at a better time; the Dodgers hitters have been slumping over their last 4 games striking out at a much higher rate than normal. The last four starting pitchers the Dodgers faced all had above average strikeouts. Michael Waldron got 6 strikeouts in 4 innings off 81 pitches last night. The night before that Spencer Arrighetti on the Astros went for 8 strikeouts in 6 innings with 97 pitches. Ronnel Blanco threw for 9 strikeouts in less than 5 innings with 99 pitches on 7/27. Framber Valdez threw for 10 strikeouts in just over 6 innings with 96 pitches on 7/26. Look for Cease to continue his strong play and get lots of strikeouts tonight. His line is at 8.5 currently on FanDuel. While taking him for over 8.5 strikeouts is not a bad play to consider he should be good for at least 8 strikeouts and you can take him for 8 or more under the Alternate Strikeouts prop to lower your risk.
The pick: Dylan Cease 8+ Strikeouts
OAKLAND ATHLETICS @ SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS – 6:38PM
The A’s take on the Giants tonight in the 2nd game of their 2 game series. The A’s continue to be among the hottest hitting teams after getting 10 hits in their 5-2 win last night against the Giants. The Giants come into the game today as the favorite to win with their ace Logan Webb on the mound. I don’t agree with how this game has been priced when you consider how Webb has been pitching lately. Over his last 3 games he has given up 25 hits and 15 runs to the Dodgers, Rockies, and Blue Jays. Through the month of July Dodgers hitters ranked 20th in MLB for batting average while the Rockies were 17th and the Blue Jays were 14th. Long story short Webb is giving up lots of hits and runs to teams that aren’t even hitting that well. Look for that trend to continue tonight against the A’s who ranked 4th in batting average in July. While you could look at Athletics Batter prop bets to make some winning bets there’s a lot of value with taking the A’s to win moneyline with the price currently over +150.
The Pick: Oakland Athletics Moneyline