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Welcome back, RotoBallers! I felt really good about that 3-unit Astros play after that three-run first inning! And then... nothing. They couldn't score a single run for the next eight innings, and Zack Greinke could only do so much to keep them in it. A Manny Machado homer in the bottom of the 8th dashed my hopes of a late-inning victory, and just like that potential bounce back from Saturday's rough night was ruined. Luckily, my two 2-unit plays that you would've seen on Twitter both came through, so I avoided another disastrous setback. Let's get back in the saddle for Monday's action!
As I'm sure you already know know, Steve Janik and I will be sharing the duties of writing up an MLB Betting article every day of the week! All season long we'll be supplying you MLB betting articles with a few of our favorite picks for the day in baseball. Along with the picks, we'll give a little write-up with some supporting evidence for the picks, and we'll keep track of our records throughout the course of the season. You can always find my updated picks for the day as well as my running tally @BellRoto on Twitter. I'll also do my best to continue posting my picks there on my "Off Days" for this series.
- Sunday, August 16: 2-5
- 2020 Season Total: 65-51
Without further ado, let's get to the picks for today's slate. Please make sure to follow me on Twitter @BellRoto, as I'll post any updates and/or additions to these picks there throughout the day. I'll also field any questions or comments on Twitter as well as in our Premium RotoBaller Slack Chat under the Sports Betting channel. Here we go!
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St. Louis Cardinals (-180) at Kansas City Royals
O/U: 8
STL: Jack Flaherty, KC: Brad Keller
Brad Keller has pitched as well as anyone so far in 2020, throwing nearly 18 scoreless innings to start his campaign. However, I don't foresee him being a front runner for the Cy Young award in this shortened season, so I would imagine some regression is coming. The St. Louis lineup has plenty of pop to take advantage of Keller's mediocre stuff, and Jack Flaherty should be ready to ramp up his pitch count in this one to hopefully get us 4-5 strong innings. The Cardinals bullpen can take it from there, and I'm thinking this one could get ugly if Keller has to leave the game before the end of the 5th inning.
Pick: Cardinals -1.5 (+112) 1 Unit
Oakland Athletics (-149) at Texas Rangers
O/U: 7.5
OAK: Jesus Luzardo, TEX: Lance Lynn
This one all comes down to how legit we think Lance Lynn is this year. I'm a big Jesus Luzardo believer, and I am taking a stand that Lynn's high contact rate will come back to bite him eventually. Some big A's bats in a small Texas park might be the right combination here, and I think a couple of early homers will be plenty of run support for Luzardo and the pen to bring this one home. Give me Oakland.
Pick: Athletics ML (-149) 1 Unit
Houston Astros (-153) at Los Angeles Angels
O/U: 9.5
HOU: Framber Valdez, LAA: Patrick Sandoval
The Astros offense has to feel quite crummy (to put it lightly) after getting swept by the Padres over the weekend. They get a chance to tee off on Monday against a homer-prone lefty in Sandoval who has struggled mightily to keep the ball in the yard over the past month. Framber Valdez will take the ball for Houston, and he has been dynamite this season, sporting a great strikeout rate to go with his soft contact tendencies. I'll take the Astros' bullpen by a small margin as well, so all signs point to Houston righting the ship tonight.
Pick: Astros ML (-153) 1 Unit
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