Sports Handicapper Doug Upstone's Picks & Predictions

Danny Salazar of Cleveland has been on fire since returning from the disabled list on July 22nd. In five starts since, he has gone 32-1/3 innings striking out 46 hitters while allowing just 5 earned runs. His ERA during that stretch is just 1.39 and his WHIP is a minuscule .835. Even still, the Indians only earned him two wins during that stretch. Today, he and the sizzling Indians finish off a set against Kansas City and are moderately priced at -154 as a favorite. That seems a low price to pay for as good as Salazar has been in combination with the Indians winning eight of their L9 games. The bullpen and bats have also been stellar of late and historically, under Francona, when Cleveland is on a roll, it stays on a roll: FRANCONA is 31-10 (+18.9 Units) against the money line after 2 straight wins by 4 runs or more as the manager of CLEVELAND. Let’s go with the Tribe today.

Unless you have Phillies or San Francisco Giants jersey in your closet, that is probably getting dusty by this time of this season, there is no curb appeal to the series finale. If you like betting baseball however, it might be worth following the score, because runs are not anticipated to be plentiful. Sportsbooks sent this one out at 8 based on three factors. The first two are the crummy offenses the Phils and Giants have and Madison Bumgarner (2.99) is scheduled pitcher. While Philadelphia's pitching could prove me wrong, the average total score when Mad Bum has been the favorite in 2017 is 6.2  runs.

Doug Upstone's 4* Baseball Crusher (Sunday Night Style)

Neither Mike Leake or Ivan Nova have been pitching well of late, but I do like Nova and the Bucs are 8-2 at home and Leake is 13-28 in road games vs. a NL team with an on base percentage .325 or worse in the second half of the season. (Team's Record) 

Tampa Bay has been in a real rut offensively, averaging 2.2 runs per contest going into Saturday. Today we will have a precise indication of just how bad this slump really is when they face Seattle's Yovani Gallardo. The seemingly almost washed up Gallardo is only 31, but he's dropped about 5 MPH on his fastball since his prime with Milwaukee and has a 5.84 ERA. The Rays Blake Snell (4.79 ERA) is not exactly missing a myriad of bats as his 4.89 ERA suggests. With the total at 9.5, my pal Gallardo is 14-4 OVER in road games vs. teams whose hitters strike out seven or more times a contest since last year.