Andre Pallante has become a full-fledged starter. ...

The Yankees try to avoid the sweep vs. the Reds. ...

Orioles ace Corbin Burnes starts for the Orioles in Seattle. ...

The Red Sox have dominated the Marlins in this series. ...

Bailey Ober has been rolling for the Twins. ...

The Twins are without the injured Royce Lewis vs. Detroit. ...

The Guardians are 5-0 in Ben Lively's home starts. ...

Bailey Ober is having a career best season. ...

The Astros have the lowest K rate in the league. ...

The Yankees won their two with Marcus Stroman.....

Here are the early bets I made after the NFL schedule release ...

I can't deny that I am in a huge hole this week. Worst of season. Mentioned it before: The last couple weeks before the All-Star break are the worst for guys like me who back home favorites for the most part. Last night was an utter disaster. I was going to take the night off and perhaps I should but instead I'll do a slumpbuster ahead of the holiday weekend. I worry too much about my "numbers" on here. I bet very, very differently off-site. This will be my parlay anchor, for example. Gavin Stone vs. Cristian Mena in his MLB debut (and hasn't been great in minors) looks like a huge mismatch.

Freddie Freeman has been excellent of late, hitting .319 in June and ripping the game tying rbi double late last night to help the Dodgers eventually pull out the win. Cristian Mena has a tough challenge here, coming up from AAA, where he has struggled mightily against lefties, allowing a .319 average with 11 home runs surrendered in just 30 innings. Freeman, Ohtani and the other Dodgers lefties should have at least a couple at bats here against an arm they certainly should be able to handle. Despite not getting walks included here, at plus odds I like backing Freeman here to go over.

San Francisco took game one of the series. The Giants have been hitting lefties well over the last month, .294 average with a .847 OPS. However, they now face Chris Sale who has yet to lose a game at home while owning a 2.86 ERA. Sale has only allowed more than two runs twice in his eight home starts. While the pitching edge goes to Atlanta, the Braves have really struggled on offense, as they’re hitting .206 with a .630 OPS over their last seven days.

The Marlins were routed by the Red Sox in the opener, 8-3, and I expect more difficulties for Miami tonight even with southpaw Trevor Rogers pitching pretty well over his past four starts. But the inconsistency of the Marlins bullpen has led to Rogers having just one win this season in nine decisions. Additionally, look for Boston's Brayan Bello to settle back down after three straight outings against an AL East opponent. The Marlins' lineup doesn't stack up to any in that division.