It is an unusually busy Monday on the diamond, but teams just had a few days off for the All-Star Break and will be looking to make up for lost time on July 25. A dozen games are on the betting board, with just six teams idle, including the White Sox and Mets, who are also off on Thursday.
Before we get to the action, take some time today to check out the latest edition of The Run Line, with myself and host Ben Wilson. We chatted about a lot of baseball betting topics for a couple hours last night and you can get the on-demand version here. HOUR 1 | HOUR 2
Cubs/Phillies: Could we say that, ahem, the Phillies “Faltered” over the weekend? Bailey Falter got the nod on Sunday and gave up three homers and four runs over five innings, which wound up being enough run support for Drew Smyly and friends. The Phillies weren’t just swept by the Cubs, they were outscored 25-7 in the series. Now they face the Braves, so we’ll see if they can bounce back.
Marlins/Pirates: Maybe Don Mattingly’s impassioned speech worked, as Miami found its offensive stride with 15 runs over three games in Pittsburgh. They even scored six runs in support of Sandy Alcantara on Sunday, who had his win swiped by a blown save in the ninth. He struck out 10 over six solid innings.
It wasn’t all unicorns and rainbows in the Steel City for the Fish, though. Max Meyer left after throwing 10 pitches on Saturday in a game where the Marlins were shut out by Jose Quintana. Meyer left with the dreaded “elbow discomfort” initial diagnosis, so we’ll have to see how severe his injury is. He’s only thrown six MLB innings, but has dominant numbers at the minor league level.
Cardinals/Reds: Given what we know about the Cardinals heading to Toronto to take on the Blue Jays, that makes this series loss that much worse. With Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado unvaccinated and unable to face the Blue Jays, St. Louis heads north of the border after losing two of three to the Reds. Steven Matz was also hurt again in the series.
On the Reds side, Tyler Mahle only allowed two hits (both homers) over his six innings in his first MLB start since July 2.
Rockies/Brewers: The Brewers prevailed, but Josh Hader struggled again, allowing a run on two hits with a couple strikeouts in his lone inning of relief. Milwaukee swept the weekend with wins of 6-5, 9-4 and 10-9, but it wasn’t exactly the most impressive performance. The Rockies scoring 18 runs in three road games was rather interesting, though, as they had scored just over three runs per game on the road. Maybe that’s not a great sign for Brewers pitching moving forward. This is a wraparound series with Game 4 today.
Giants/Dodgers: It was a weekend to forget at Dodger Stadium for the Giants. Los Angeles swept the four-game set and pushed the Giants down further in the NL West standings and in the NL Wild Card standings as well. Bad defense and bad relief work were the main culprits, but it was a really disappointing start to the second half for a team that clearly needs some Trade Deadline assistance.
Every Dodgers hitter recorded at least one hard-hit ball in Sunday’s game. The Giants had very little hard contact to show for the weekend and scored just 13 runs over the four games. The offense isn’t good enough this season to compensate for the team’s other issues and it shows.