Ben Burns

I'm playing on SF/Chicago OVER the total. Given the pitching matchup, I feel that this O/U line will prove to be too low. Lynn has made three starts this season. He's been taken deep in each of them and he's got an ERA above six. His WHIP is 2.309 on the road. Cobb has struggled all season. He's got a 5.48 ERA and 1.457 WHIP through 10 starts. Not surprisingly, seven of those finished above the total. While the club struggled in June overall, Chicago is still getting big output from Jose Abreu. Josh Harrison and and Andrew Vaughn. Speaking of Vaughn, he's from close to the Bay Area and he went to school at Cal. He's playing here for the first time as a big leaguer. He commented: "I've been going there since I was old enough to go to a baseball game. Great atmosphere. Tons of special players who were there. It was really cool to have that close to home. When you went and watched him hit, the whole stadium shut down. It didn't matter what was going on, what people were doing. They just stopped. That's what people came to watch. People were there to see Bonds." Look for Vaughn and co to combine with the Giants for enough runs to send this one over the low number. 

I'm playing on ST. LOUIS. The Phillies won big against the Braves yesterday. The Cardinals enjoyed a much-needed day off yesterday. While the Phillies are playing at home, the Cards are favored for good reason. Note that they're 22-7 their last 29, as road favorites in the -125 to -175 range. Mikolas is in outstanding form. He's got a 1.29 ERA and 0.629 WHIP his past three. On the other hand, Falter has only made three starts. He's got a 4.26 ERA and 1.421 WHIP to show for them. Falter has served up three home runs in his past two outings, too. He's averaged less than five innings over his three starts while Mikolas is averaging seven complete innings over his past three. Cards roll. 

I'm playing on HAMILTON. Both teams are off to 0-3 starts. The similarities stop there. Hamilton is a good team off to a slow start. Recall that the Ti-Cats were one play away from winning the Grey Cup last season. On the other hand, the Elks are just a bad team. In addition to being the vastly superior team, the Ti-Cats are playing at home AND they've got a scheduling advantage. They last played on 6/24 while Edmonton played on 6/25. The Elks really left it all on the field in that game, too - a tough loss against archrival Calgary. The Ti-Cats have dominated the h2h games in recent years. They've beaten Edmonton four straight times. Each of the past three victories came by a minimum of 16 points. Scores were 39-23, 36-16 and 42-12. Expect another blowout. 

I'm playing on NY. The last couple of games notwithstanding, the Mets have been money off a loss. Off three straight setbacks, expect them to return to their winning ways to start July. NY batters will face struggling Glenn Otto. He's got an ERA above five on the season and he's got an ugly 6.23 ERA and 1.769 WHIP his past three. He's made one start since returning from Covid and he was terrible. On the other hand, Bassitt has a stingy 2.53 ERA and a 0.797 WHIP his past three starts. Bassitt will be happy to see Texas. His team (all starts were with Oakland) is 6-0 his past six starts against the Rangers. Texas scored only one run in each of the past five of those games. Mets roll. 

I'm playing on TORONTO. The home fans will be fired up for a day game on Canada Day. I expect their team to reward them with a victory. Typical of much of his career, Berrios is much better at home. The Jays have dropped each of his past two starts. They both came on the road though. They're a perfect 6-0 in his six home starts this season. Berrios is 3-0 with a 3.18 ERA and 1.059 WHIP in those games. Since last year, the Jays are 8-0 in his past eight starts here. Kluber is 1-3 in seven road starts, the team going 2-5. Jays win.