Scott Rickenbach – Sports Handicapper

Total Annihilation - Rickenbach MLB 10* Top Play OVER the total in Cincinnati Reds vs St Louis Cardinals @ 7:10 ET - With last night's extra innings 8-7 Cardinals win, St Louis has averaged 7.8 runs per game in their last 5 games versus the Reds. The issue tonight for the Cards won't be their bats though. What will surprise some people is that the Cardinals Luke Weaver is likely to struggle. Don't get me wrong, the young hurler's performance has been solid this season no doubt. However, the key here is a little bit of a hidden nugget. He's facing the Reds for the 2nd time in a week and the significance in that is that when teams get a second look at a young, inexperience pitcher it often goes much differently in round 2 than it did in round 1. For Weaver, the 2nd time he faced Milwaukee this season he gave up 8 hits in 5 and 2/3 innings and the second time he faced Pittsburgh he gave up 7 hits in 5 and 2/3 innings. As you can see, there is plenty of reason to believe that the Reds will have a bit of a "hit parade" versus the Cardinals young pitcher tonight. I know his numbers are great this season but those numbers above don't lie and this is still a guy who went 1-4 with a 5.70 ERA in his rookie season last year. As for Reds starter Rookie Davis, he is 1-2 with a 7.71 ERA in his 5 starts at the MLB level this season. Even at the minor league level he was not impressive as he got hit at a .282 clip. With the Reds he has been hit at a .367 clip. You can see why I am expecting a slugfest in this one. 10* OVER in Cincinnati

Contrarian Crusher - Rickenbach Wednesday MLB 10* Top Play Tampa Bay Rays Money Line (+) vs Chicago Cubs @ 7:10 ET - The Rays will be facing a left-handed starter for the 3rd straight game and 8th time in 11 games! Before struggling against Montgomery last night, the Rays did have 30 hits total in their 3 prior games against a left-handed starter. The repetition will pay off as repetition generally leads to success. The fact that the Cubs Jon Lester has struggled some recently certainly increased the likelihood that the analogy holds true here. The Chicago southpaw has walked 4 in each of his past two starts as he has struggled with command of his pitches and, overall, has struggled with efficiency. Prior to these two outings, Lester's last 5 starts had seen him compile a 7.71 ERA. Though their chances are certainly slim, the Rays are still mathematically alive in the wild card race and they're not going to stop fighting. I like the fact that they have Blake Snell on the mound for this one. Snell is 3-1 with a 3.75 ERA since the All Star break. He has held hitters to a .233 batting average in those 11 starts. Also, the Rays southpaw has had just one bad start in his last 5 outings. In the other 4 starts Snell allowed a total of only 3 earned runs. TB is 6-2 in his last 8 starts. Even with yesterday's win, the Cubs are still just 9-13 in road games with a posted total of 8 or 8.5 runs this season. Grab the home dog with the starting pitcher whom is in better current form. 10* TAMPA BAY

Daytime Dominator - Rickenbach Wednesday MLB 8* Colorado Rockies Money Line (-) @ San Francisco Giants @ 3:45 ET - The Rockies, still battling to secure a playoff spot, are off of a tight one-run loss yesterday and I look for them to get revenge against the Giants this afternoon. Colorado will have Tyler Chatwood on the mound this afternoon and he has a fantastic 0.66 ERA in his 3 starts since returning to the rotation. The Rockies right-hander has a solid 3.41 ERA on the road this season and remember that last season he went 8-1 with a 1.69 ERA in starts away from home. Chatwood is a solid pitcher whose overall numbers get skewed because he pitches his home games at Coors Field. He has allowed just 7 earned runs in his last 44 innings versus San Francisco. That equates to a 1.43 ERA for Chatwood versus the Giants in his last 7 appearances against them. SF goes with Matt Moore in this one. The southpaw is coming off of another short outing and has had a rough season. The Rockies have actually given Moore a ton of trouble this season as the lefty has a 13.50 ERA versus Colorado on the year as he has been crushed in all 3 starts against them. I look for more of the same here and feel the Rockies are a bargain price here. They are the much better team and also have a huge pitching edge. 8* COLORADO

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach Wednesday MLB 8* OVER the total in Miami Marlins vs New York Mets @ 1:10 ET - Yesterday's game just missed going over the total as the Mets bullpen (very poor on the road this season) caved in once again and blew a late lead. The starters pitched very well in yesterday's game but I don't expect a repeat of that here. The Mets have Rafael Montero on the mound for this one and he is getting hit at a .298 clip this season. Also, in day games this season Montero is 2-5 with a 5.77 ERA and has been hit at a .314 clip. In his last 11 and 2/3 innings versus the Marlins he has given up 21 hits! Miami will have Jose Urena on the mound here and he has lasted 5 and 1/3 innings or less in 5 of his last 7 starts. Overall, walks have been an issue in 3 of his last 4 starts and, in terms of his home starts, he has been hit hard in 3 of his last 4 in Miami. Prior to yesterday's under, the over was 10-1-1 in the Marlins last dozen games and the Mets were 13-5 to the over in their last 18 games. Look for the OVER trend to resume early this afternoon on Wednesday. New York is 46-27 to the over in road games this season. 8* OVER the total in Miami

Scott "The Bulldog' Rickenbach Free Pick MLB Wednesday UNDER the total in Detroit Tigers vs Oakland A's @ 1:10 ET - With both these teams trending OVER this month it is no surprise that a big total is posted on this game. That is resulting in exceptional line value here because Oakland's Daniel Mengden is coming off of a 2-hit shutout in his most recent start plus he has an edge here against the Tigers as they have never faced him. As for the Tigers Anibal Sanchez, he also is off of a fantastic start as he fanned 11 in 6 innings while also allowing only 1 run. He has an added edge here against the A's as they haven't faced him this season and when Sanchez faced Oakland in 2016 and 2015 they did not hit him very well at all. The Tigers right-hander has seen his numbers skewed this season by a couple of bad starts but he has produced a number of quality outings and, given the lack of familiarity for the hitters here, I am expecting another quality start here. Look for the under to improve to a perfect 3-0 in Mengden's road starts this season. Even with yesterday's game flying over the total, the under is 12-6 in Oakland's road games with a posted total of 10 or 10.5 runs the past 3 seasons combined. Free Pick on UNDER the total in Detroit early Wednesday afternoon. Best of luck, Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach