I started the weekend strong with college football getting going and I ended it well on Sunday with another 2-0 sweep on my free plays. Hopefully I can keep this momentum rolling as the NFL season is mere days away but on this holiday Monday there are plenty of afternoon MLB games for me to dissect. It’s the final month of the regular season in baseball so playoff contenders will either man up or buckle under the pressure and that’s something to keep an eye on as the weeks go on. But let’s just focus on today and get right to the picks.

Don’t forget to check out our premium selections as they finished up 9-4 ATS on Saturday and Sunday, banking our clients some nice dough.

All lines taken from Pinnacle Sports with bet amounts ‘to win’ on favorites and flat on underdogs

Play of the Day in bold

Free Play Records

MLB Pre All Star Break:101-107-13 (+$691)

MLB Post All Star Break: 30-32 (+$708)

CFL YTD: 6-8 (-$266)

NCAAF YTD 2-1 (+$284)

MLB Plays

 Texas/KC Over 8 (+102) $300 to win $306

It’s now September and the young KC Royals find themselves in 1st place in the AL Central. It will be a dog fight between them and the Tigers the rest of the month as both battle for that playoff spot and given the Tigers experience in that situation and the Royals inexperience, it will be interesting to see if KC collapses under the pressure this month. They begin a series with the lowly Rangers tonight and this is a series KC must win, but to do so they better bring the sticks with them.

Colby Lewis and Yordano Ventura squared off about a week ago in Texas and KC won that game 6-3. Neither starter went deeper than six innings as both teams found ways to cash in on their opportunities. That won’t change tonight as the Royals are 4-1 O/U in Ventura’s last five home starts against a losing team and Texas is 9-3 O/U in Lewis’ last 12 starts as a road underdog.

Bettors are hitting the under at a 65% rate right now because of KC’s streaky bats and the fact that their young stud Ventura is on the hill. But being in the minority is something I look to do with many of my plays and with the total one run lower than last week’s meeting (that finished with 9 runs), I see a lot of value in the high side of this total.