Happy 100th Birthday, Wrigley Field!!! On the season the Diamondbacks have an Over/Under record of 14-8 and a run-line W/L record of 5-18 and the Cubs have an Over/Under record of 10-8 and a run-line W/L record of 11-8.
The Red Sox are starting to run away with the AL East with a 9.5 game lead over the Orioles and a 10 game lead over the Yankees, so New York and Baltimore will likely have to snag a Wild Card to make the playoffs.
The Red Sox have won 3 straight and they are in first place in the AL East with a 2.5 game lead over the Rays and a 6.5 game lead over the Orioles.
The Cardinals are tied with the Pirates atop the NL Central with the Reds lurking, as they are only 2.5 games back. The Reds are in good shape even if they do not win the NL Central, as they are in the Wild Card lead with a big 7-game lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Boston did not show very well last night in this series opener between first place teams getting shutout on the West Coast. Yesterday they had just two hits off of Ricky Nolasco and things won’t get much easier this afternoon.
Oakland currently sits in the final AL Wild Card position but things are tightly bunched with three teams all within a three and a half games of the A’s.
The Atlanta Braves have the best record in the Majors and should be pumped to face off with a potential playoff opponent in St. Louis.
The Yankees have been playing well as of late winning 3 straight and 8 of their last 10, but they are still in 4th place in the AL East 6.5 games back of the Red Sox.
The Reds are in the heart of their division race in 3rd place in the NL Central 3.5 games back of the St. Louis Cardinals. While the D-Backs are in 2nd place in the NL West they are 7.5 games back of the red-hot Dodgers. MLB lines have the Reds as the home favorite with a total of 7.5 runs.
The Rays and Orioles are both chasing the Boston Red Sox in the AL East with Tampa Bay 1 game back of Boston with Baltimore 4.5 games back.
Except for a couple of runs the Arizona Diamondbacks couldn’t solve Pittsburgh rookie Gerrit Cole in dropping the first game of their series last night.
The Giants and Marlins combined for a week’s worth of offense in their opener Friday night with the Giants winning 14-10. San Francisco cranked out 19 hits with OF Hunter Pence and 3B Pablo Sandoval going a combined 7 for 10 with 8 RBI.
The Cleveland Indians are in the thick of the American League race thats for sure.
New York was showing some signs of life before getting hammered by the Angels in the closing game of their 4 game set on Thursday. Prior to that they had won 4 in a row and 5 of 6 and things are slowly getting to a normal stage with 3B Alex Rodriguez in the lineup – if there is a normal.
A month ago it didn’t look like this series would be all that meaningful…but with Kansas City’s recent strong play they are actually in the conversation as it relates to the American League Central and certainly the Wild Card race.
One of the reasons the Pirates are in first place in the NL Central is that they have fared well against the Cardinals this season. They are 6-1 in their last 7 games facing them and the last time they faced them in a series they won 4 of 5 games.
