1* Take Kansas City –
Chicago White Sox OVER (#971-972)
The quietest streak in MLB right now comes from Chicago,
where the White Sox are 10-0 to the Over in their last ten ballgames. As I’ve written before, MLB totals streaks
build upon themselves – Overs beget more Overs.
Struggling pitching staffs lead to tired, overworked bullpens while hot
hitting lineups tend to stay hot until proven otherwise.
Both circumstances (a hot lineup and a struggling pitching
staff) are likely to be on full display in Kansas City tonight. Chicago hasn’t seen any of their starting
pitchers record an out past the sixth inning in their last seven ballgames,
with multiple ugly stints from their starters during that span. That’s how Chicago has allowed a whopping 70
runs during this ten game Over streak.
I’m certainly not expecting a shutdown effort from White Sox
starter John Danks, coming off his highest pitch count game since May. Danks has spent the entire season getting lit
up on the highway, with a 6.29 ERA in nine road starts compared to 3.70 at
home. He’s thrown only two quality
starts in those nine road outings, including a loss right here in KC against
the Royals. And KC is certainly capable
of generating runs against opposing southpaws that they are familiar with, just
as they did against Mark Buehrle and the Blue Jays last weekend.
But I’m not looking to bet against the White Sox here
either, because their lineup is on fire, averaging six runs per game during
this streak of Overs and seven runs per game on their last road trip. That’s bad news for Edison Volquez and the suddenly
iffy Royals bullpen behind him; a unit that took the loss in Detroit
yesterday. Look for a handful of big
innings in this one, resulting in a relatively high scoring affair. Take the
Over.