The streak is over, Chris Sale failed to strike out double digit batters last night. He was able to pick up the win as the Red Sox put up 9 runs, despite not having a home run. This has to feel like a good series for Boston as they now look to sweep the team that had the best record in the AL last season.
Pujols hit a home run last night in their loss to the Rays. Don’t want to brag or anything but I told you to pick him…hopefully you listened (I also told you to take Ellsbury and he is headed to the DL so it all evened out). More importantly that home run pulls Pujols even closer to career number 600, as he is now 3 away. Since coming to the Angels Pujols hasn’t done much and doesn’t have much left. However he is one of the most iconic ball players of his generation and will easily be a first ballot Hall of Famer.
The highlight of the day has to come from the Blue Jays and Jose Bautista. Bautista hit one of the farthest home runs I think I’ve ever seen. The video is posted below this if you haven’t seen it. The Blue Jays are slowly climbing their way out of the basement and it could be thanks to Bautista. He isn’t the player he once was, which is probably why no one wanted to sign him this offseason. However after a miserable start to the beginning of the season Bautista is starting to swing the bat smoothly and launching some balls over that wall. Of course he has his little bat flips because he enjoys being the most hated player in the league. Despite any of it, Boston is heating up, the Blue Jays are climbing, the Orioles are just flat out good, and the Yankees are surprising everyone. The division is up for grabs-unless you’re the Rays.
We don’t have a full arsenal of games today, however we have more than a usual Thursday so let’s break it down.
Low-Scoring Plays
San Diego Padres @ New York Mets – The Padres shouldn’t be able to do anything in the game as deGrom takes the mound for the Mets. The Mets lost a heartbreaker last night, but they are only 6 games under .500 – Met fans will still make it seem like they are headed to the World Series on Twitter once they win. deGrom is one of the bright spots for the Mets this season as he’s top 5 in the league in the strikeouts. I think the Mets will score some runs in this one however it is possible the Padres get no-hit. That’s how much I like deGrom in this game.
Targets: deGrom, Conforto, Reyes
Kansas City Royals @ New York Yankees – GAME HAS BEEN POSTPONED
High-Scoring Plays
San Francisco Giants @ Chicago Cubs – Poor Jeff Samardzija always has to pitch against great teams. The Cubs are struggling this year but you can’t look at that lineup and tell me they are bad. I like them to score all over Samardzija today. He is having a rough season at 1-5. However it isn’t all his fault, every time he takes the mound it seems he is playing a good team, and he gets absolute 0 run support. The Cubs are going to get back on track at some point, Shwarber is hitting below average, Bryant has been quiet – had a couple home runs the other day but that’s about it. Rizzo also hasn’t been hitting besides his home run last night. These three will have to wake up at some point to help the Cubs defend their title.
Targets: Rizzo, Bryant, Baez
Texas Rangers @ Boston Red Sox – The Red Sox have been hot, and hitting the ball well. I like them to keep the fire going and put up another good game today. Look for Bogaerts to finally hit his first home run of the season. As for the Rangers I like them to score as well. Drew Pomeranz is pitching for the Red Sox and he just loves to let up the long ball. He is lucky a lot of the Rangers sluggers are hurt, however they still have Napoli and Odor. Overall I think Boston will take this one, but it will be the high scoring game of the day.
Targets: Betts, Pedroia
Check out our MLB Breakdown Spreadsheet and our newly-released Pitcher Breakdown Spreadsheet (picks are 9-4-2 using this spreadsheet over the last four days) where you can compare key statistics and numbers for today’s games.