Four of the last five meetings have gone over...

The Rangers are only 31-35 on the season and even worse on the road at 11-22, scoring only 3.3 runs per game, but it's the pitching that allows only 3.3 runs per game that's keeping the Rangers alive on the season so far. That's 6.6 runs total per game by the Rangers, and we have a total here at 8.5, and it's been like that for most of the season as the Rangers have stayed under 45 times. The Rangers have lost Tyler Mahle’s last three starts, but they stayed under his last five games and 9 out of his last 10 games. Just the under.

Sandy Alcantara stopped his streak of six consecutive games allowing 4 runs or more by allowing only two runs in his last start. Maybe it's a sign that he found his Cy Young form again, but the Marlins ended up losing that game to the lowly Rockies. The Marlins have lost eight of his last nine starts, and in the game that they won on May 28th against the Padres, Alcantara allowed six runs. I have to take the Pirates, who have won a season high four games in a row, with Mitch Keller, who started the Pirates last loss. The Pirates are having fun for the first time this season, ride the streak.

Cleveland has lost nine of their last 14 games while the Reds are one game over .500 at 34-33 and ride a four-game win streak. Andrew Abbott is the reason I am betting the Reds today. He's been on it all season, with the Reds winning seven of his 10 starts. He had gone six straight starts of allowing one run or less until allowing five runs against the Brewers in his last start. Last month, he beat Cleveland by allowing no runs in five innings in a 3-1 Reds win. Reds win again.

The Marlins took three out of four in the opening series against the Pirates, but it's the Pirates with the better record on the season at 26-40 to the Marlins 24-39, thanks in part to the Pirates sweeping the Phillies three games over the weekend. The streak is the key for betting the Pirates Monday, who have Mike Burrows pitching his fourth start of the year, and his last one went really well, pitching 5.1 innings, allowing no runs in a 3-0 win over Houston. Miami comes with Eury Perez, who hasn't started a game since September 2023. The Pirates are 14-14 since firing Derek Shelton and making Don Kelly the manager. Pirates to win.

The Reds have reached .500 again with a 33-33 record after sweeping the Diamondbacks over the weekend. They also swept Cleveland last month in Cincinnati and now meet in Cleveland for a three-game set in the battle for the Ohio Cup. This will be the first time Reds manager Terry Francona returns to Cleveland, where he managed through 2023. Cleveland has lost four of their last six, but one of those wins was behind Luis Ortiz, who beat the Yankees 4-0. That's part of the reason the price is so high; the other part is because Wade Miley makes his second appearance of the year and first start. The two clubs have stayed under in the last eight meetings. I bet the Reds.

For the Thunder to get back on track and win Game 2, they're going to need Jalen Williams to show up. He's only scored over 20 points twice in his last six games. Once he misses a couple of shots, he's reluctant to shoot. In Game 1, he was 6 of 19 shooting and only had 17 points. With the importance of Game 2 for the Thunder season, he needs to show up, and he knows it. He averaged 21.6 points in the regular season and 20.2 in the playoffs. Batman needs his Robin. I'm betting Williams over because he'll have plenty of opportunities to get over 22 points.

The Pacers won 111-110 in Game 1, which makes it six consecutive games the Pacers have scored 111 or more against Oklahoma City. So why is the total dropping to 108.5? The thinking here is that the Thunder are going to come back to life and show the dominance they have throughout the season, but I've seen the Pacers win four out of the last six meetings, and the Thunder are somewhat rattled. They got punched in the gut. The Thunder are going to score plenty, and the Pacers are going to score more than 109.

The Pacers pulled out a win in Game 1 in the last second after trailing the whole game. That's the third consecutive series the Pacers won on the road in Game 1. Why can't they do it again in Game 2? What I'm betting first is the total over because they owe me one from Game 1 that should have gone over. The Pacers only scored 20 points in the first quarter and 45 for the first half as they turned the ball over 20 times. And somehow they found a way to win by scoring 66 points in the second half and turning the ball over only four times. Just six turnovers from the Thunder, but they shot poorly at 40%. Over.

The A’s had their two-game win streak snapped yesterday, and the Orioles picked up the winning again after winning six straight before losing Friday. They won 7-4 yesterday and can continue their rise in the standings today. Tomoyuki Sugano had one of his best starts of the year his last time out, allowing one run in seven innings in a 5-1 win at Seattle. The A's have lost all three starts by Jacob Lopez this year, including his last one which he didn't make it out of the second inning and allowed seven runs in a 12-0 loss at Toronto. Orioles win.

The Diamondbacks have won six of the last seven meetings with the Reds, but I'm looking at the over today with Eduardo Rodriguez pitching, who has gone over in his last six starts, and much of it is due to poor pitching from Rodriguez. He's allowed 28 runs in his last five starts. When these two meet, this series has generally stayed under, but the Diamondbacks are on a hot roll of four straight wins, including the giant comeback against the Braves on Thursday when they scored seven runs in the ninth inning to win 11-10. They can withstand Rodriguez's pitching, but I think the better bet is betting both teams to get over.

The Dodgers have won five of the last seven meetings with the Cardinals, but the Cardinals are 20-10 at home this year and have their best starter on the mound in Sonny Gray. However, Gray had some trouble with the Dodgers over his career, at 1-4 with a 3.35 ERA in seven career starts. The Dodgers score 10.1 runs per game and have gone over 37 times this season with a lineup leading MLB with a .266 average. The Dodgers start Justin Wrobleski, who makes his first start of the season. The weather is expected to be 74°, wind blowing in at 3 mph, and a 54% chance of precipitation. Over is the play.

I've been watching this Tyrese Haliburton total points scored prop from the beginning of the week, and was looking at 18, and now I've seen 16.5. The public likes the under. The problem with Haliburton is that even though he averaged 18.6 points per game in the regular season, he only averaged 11 points in losses to Oklahoma City, where he shot 44% from the field and assisted the ball considerably less than in the rest of his games. He knows this too, which is why in Game 1 of the finals, I expect him to be a big part of the offense. He's averaged 19.8 points during the playoffs and has gotten over 20 points in three of his last four games. Over.

The Thunder beat the Pacers in both meetings this season, and both games went over, one with the total of 234.5 and the other with 227.5. The total on this game for the Pacers is 110.5, a number that went over in both games they played. The Pacers are going to do some things with their offensive schemes that's going to give OKC some trouble. I expect the Pacers to play their desired game plan and run it successfully for most of the game, staying within the 9.5 point spread in this game and getting over 111. It's got to be a Tyrese Haliburton game.

The Pacers played at Oklahoma City on March 29th at a total of 234, and the game went over with the Thunder winning 132-111, where they beat the Pacers by 10 in the second and third quarters to take control of the game. That's a total of 243 in the game, over. Thursday's total is set at 230.5, which is a sharp turn from what we've been seeing in the playoffs that cuts off a large percentage of the regular season totals. This total makes sense. Both games they played during the regular season went over the total. Really, 230.5 isn't that much. Let's get over.