Big fan of the site. First time posting. Been doing great in the early MLB season. Figured I might share some thoughts.
Tonight's plays-
New York Yankees (-105)
Masahiro Tanaka is the real deal. Outstanding control and an absolute filthy splitter. After giving up a home run to his 1st major league batter I had flashbacks of Kei Igawa luckily that's not the case. In 3 starts he is 2-0 with a 2.05 ERA 0.77 WHIP and has 28 K's to only 2 BB. The Red Sox have been having trouble getting their bats going early on in games. Having never faced Tanaka before I don't expect that to change tonight. Tanaka should pitch deep enough into the game to get the ball to the key bullpen pieces Betances, Kelley, Thornton, and Robertson (off the DL tonight) who have been very solid this year. Jon Lester is no slouch coming in at 2-0 with a 2.07 ERA not allowing more than 2 ER in any of his 4 starts and over the last 3 seasons in 10 starts against the Yankees is 4-2 with a 3.53 ERA. The Yankees are 4-1 in their Last 5 vrs. lefties averaging 5 runs per game. Since their loss to Lester 11 days ago the Yankees are 6-2 and the Red Sox are 4-5 and in all 4 wins have not taken the lead until the 7th inning or later. Yankees win tonight behind great pitching and getting enough off Lester to secure the win. No late inning magic for the Red Sox tonight. Yankees win in Fenway.
New York Mets (+150)
It's still April so the Mets will continue to play decent baseball before the fall off a cliff sometime around June. The Cardinals in the 9th game of an 11 game road trip have lost 3 of 4 scoring only 7 runs total in those games. The Mets have won 5 out of 7 and send Dillon Gee to the mound who is 1-0 with a 3.71 ERA after going 7 IP 3 H 0 ER 0BB picking up the win in his last outing. Gee 2-0 with a 2.23 ERA in 3 home starts against the Cards. Adam Wainwright's has his worst NL ERA and win % against the Mets. In his last 5 starts against the Mets he is 1-4 with a 6.49 ERA and at CIti Field in 4 games (3 starts) he is 1-2 with a 6.60 ERA. Wainwright is a perennial Cy Young candidate but for whatever reason the Mets seem to have his number. That being said in the past two seasons in 13 starts coming off a Cards loss he is 8-2 with a 2.44ERA and in his last start against the Mets in Citi field he did pitch 7 scoreless for a 2-1 victory. With Gee's success against the Cards coupled with Wainwrights shaky past against the Mets and the Cards bats going cold on the end of a long road trip plus the fact that everyone and their mother will most likely be on the Cards I'm taking the Mets to win at home.
Chicago Cubs (-110)
Taking the Cubs and the Mets in the same night would normally be a recipe for disaster but the D'backs have been terrible so far. They send Brandon McCarthy to the mound with his 0-3 record and 7.71 ERA losing all 4 of his starts. In the past 2 seasons with the D'Backs in 11 road starts he is 2-7 with a 5.99 ERA. His only start against the Cubs was his 1st in the majors in 2005 going 5.2 IP 2ER ND. It's been mostly downhill from there. Jason Hammel has been solid so far going 2-1 with a 3.05 ERA and a 0.73 WHIP. In his last 5 starts against the D'Backs he is 1-2 with a 3.09 ERA. Cubs have won 2 out of 3. D'backs have lost 3 in a row and 9 out of 10. Look for McCarthy to give up more than Hammel and the Cubs to secure the win with a bullpen who has been pitching decently lately for a change. Cubs win at home.
Hope this can help somebody out tonight.