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00:00Maybe you would think that after the holiday weekend, America's past time for America's B-Day
00:05in the 4th of July, that we would have a rather quiet Monday slate around Major League Baseball
00:11in the final full week before the All-Star break. Think again, 10 games on this Monday. Again,
00:16not a full slate, but a pretty hefty one for a Monday around the bigs. DRS, we start in Cincinnati
00:22quickly with the Reds and the Marlins. Minus 136, that price on Cincy. Brady Singer gets the
00:29start at the Great American Ballpark for the Reds. Nine and a half is that total. Of course,
00:35at this stage last week, the Marlins had won eight straight games for the first time in 17 years.
00:41That came to a close. The Reds, over the weekend, lost their weekend set against the Philadelphia
00:46Phillies. Zach Wheeler yesterday, a one-hit, one-earned run, 12 strikeout, complete game win
00:52against Cincy. How does this week begin in Cincinnati for both the Reds and the Marlins?
00:58Get that junk in the trunk, Ben. How about that? Jansen Junk back on the line here. By the way,
01:04his last 60 days, not too bad. If you look on the card today, 19 total pitchers over the last 60 days
01:09with at least 10 innings pitched. You know what's number two today? It's Jansen Junk,
01:13a 75 XFIP minus, a 3.62 ERA, a 3.02 XFIP number here. So a plus pitcher on the mound going up against
01:21Cincinnati who lost that series in Philadelphia. What are we like today? 77 degrees here in the Great
01:26American Ballpark. Slight wind blowing out to left field. That's great. A couple guys in the
01:30lineup here, TJ Friedle, Matt McClain, Ellie De La Cruz, Spencer Steer, as well as Christian
01:35Encarnacion Strand have had very positive experiences over the past month against right-handed
01:40pitchers. Now let's get to the other side of the bump here. You do have a decided advantage just
01:44based on the analytical numbers with Miami. Why? Brady Singer's on the mound, Ben. You take a look at
01:49him. 16th out of 19 pitchers on the card today over the past 60 days. Singer comes in with a 111
01:55XFIP minus number, a 4.36 ERA, and a 4.51 XFIP number. Edwards, Sanchez, Lopez, as well as Stowers
02:02all have high weighted on base percentages here. The bats were coming alive for the Miami Marlins the
02:08past couple weeks. Down a little bit over the weekend, but I do think there's a chance that they
02:13can bounce back in this environment today. So if you take a look at a favorite in Cincinnati,
02:16I'll take the slight dog in the Miami Marlins today. I got the better pitcher on the mound.
02:20I'll let it ride. The Fish DRS, again, they had won that eight-game win streak. They didn't lose
02:25the weekend at home against the Brewers, to your point. Just 10 total runs scored by the Fish in
02:31their three games this week against Milwaukee over this past weekend. They've still won 10 of the last
02:3613. They're playing slightly better baseball, but still well below .500. Eight games below .500 to be exact
02:43at 40 and 48. All right. Elsewhere around MLB, maybe one of the best games on this Monday night
02:49slate, DRS in the Motor City, the Detroit Tigers and the Tampa Bay Rays. Tampa, a road favorite in
02:56Motown, now at minus 120. Total has dropped ever so slightly to eight and a half as well. You might
03:02be thinking to yourself, why are the Tigers, with a 57 and 35 record, the best in Major League Baseball,
03:09a home underdog against the Rays on this Monday night. As I see it right now, where the odds are
03:15listed, no starter name for A.J. Hinch and Detroit. Are you seeing a starter for the Tigers, DRS? And if
03:23so, who is it? Oh, yeah. Let me see here, because I have one list. Let me see. Yep. Okay. Looks like
03:27we probably have a confirmed start. It's going to come in as it's Kyder Montero. Not a great pitcher.
03:31So Shane Boz on the mound, the much better pitcher in form. You look at his last 30 days,
03:35a 115 ISO, weighted on base percentage of 261 against. If we look at his last 60 days to get
03:40a better broad picture here, we take a look at Boz. Six on the card today out of 19 pitchers
03:45with a 93 XFIP minus number, which again, the baseline is 100. Below that number, very good
03:50for a pitcher. Above that, not so good for a pitcher. He's below it. A 433 ERA, which is slightly
03:54elevated, but a 379 XFIP number to balance that out. 77 degree temperatures. Love that. Wind blowing
04:00out to left field, seven, eight miles an hour. Love that as well. You take a look at the
04:04lineup. You like that for Detroit, but I do think you have the better pitcher once again
04:07on the mound for Tampa because if we flip it over to Montero, his last 30 days, how about
04:11a 306 ISO power number against with a weighted on base percentage of 355. He is getting smashed
04:17by left-handed bats. And there's a couple of decent ones in the lineup here for the Tampa
04:21Bay Rays. But Montero, if we look at his XFIP numbers, a 114, which is above average.
04:26You don't like that. A 4 ERA, which is okay, but a 464 XFIP number. You look at the lineup
04:32tonight just against right-handed pitchers as they hit against. Taylor Walls and Jose
04:37Caballero have below numbers, but seven plus batters in the past month against right-handed
04:43pitching. I think the Tampa Bay Rays are the better side tonight, and that's the way I would
04:47lean even if they are slight favorites on the road.
04:49Yeah, the Rays DRS also now alive in that American League East conversation. They are also trailing
04:55the Blue Jays by three games right alongside the Yanks. Tampa playing a lot better baseball,
05:0030-28 at the end of May. They started off June 17-8. They have dropped five of their
05:07last seven now, of course, into the month of July early. The Tigers, the best record in
05:12MLB, as we have seen. They swept the Guardians, their divisional foes, over the weekend.
05:18Cleveland has dropped 10 in a row. We talked about some of those divisional leads. The Blue
05:23Jays now open up that three-game advantage in the AL East. Nobody a bigger lead in a division
05:29than that of the Tigers at 57-34. 13-and-a-half games in front of the Minnesota Twins, who have
05:37the second-best record in the AL Central and yet are four games sub-500. All right, DRS, let's go
05:45to the other side. Back to the National League and a weekend, midweek set, excuse me, starting in
05:50Milwaukee between the Brewers and the Dodgers. LA swept this weekend at home by Houston. How do they
05:57bounce back against the Brewers in Milwaukee? They're a slight road favorite today as Yoshi
06:02Yamamoto gets the start for LA, named an All-Star yesterday. Total at 7-and-a-half. Can the Dodgers
06:08find their footing once again, now away from Los Angeles? Yeah, I don't think we get to eight
06:13runs today, so I do like the under 7-and-a-half. You take a look at Yamamoto's past two months
06:17here, a 75 XFIP minus, which is wonderful. They are 2.51 ERA and a 3.03 XFIP number, which is
06:24fantastic to see. Freddy Peralta, not too bad on the opposite side. He's eighth on the card at a
06:2819, but a 99 XFIP minus, which is right around average, a 2.91 ERA and a 4.02 XFIP number.
06:35You look at both of these lineups entering in, it's like, you know what? The better lineup against
06:39right-handed pitching actually looks like it's going to be the Milwaukee Brewers. Having said that,
06:42though, it's still the Brewers. You take it with a grain of salt. You look at the temperatures,
06:46not that much. The roof will probably be open in Milwaukee, which should help, but look at that heavy
06:51price for the Dodgers. I think they win this game, but I don't want to bet that way. I'm more
06:55likely to see, Ben, a 4-2, 4-1, 4-3 type final stays under the 7-and-a-half here tonight in
07:01Milwaukee. 7-and-a-half is that total, DRS. The over has the slight bit of juice at minus
07:06120. Again, the Dodgers, a road favorite. They were swept at home this weekend by the Houston
07:13Astros. Still the second-best record, though, in all of Major League Baseball. Plenty more on TEL
07:18next. All right, DRS, back to Major League Baseball, where the hottest team in the bigs
07:22currently is the Blue Jays. They have won eight consecutive games, and frankly, it should easily
07:27be nine straight today when you go to Chicago and are a favorite, but I would maybe expect Toronto to
07:34be a larger favorite than just that, and now it's minus 168, total 8-and-a-half on the south side.
07:41Will Toronto make it nine consecutive wins over the White Sox tonight?
07:44They will. Just take a look at Sean Burke here. 18th out of 19 pitchers last 60 days,
07:49a 121 XFIP minus a 4 ERA and a 4.94 XFIP number, but also just Burke's not a great pitcher. He does
07:56decent, at least over the last 30 days against lefties. Righties really have an advantage on
08:00him. He's only striking out righties 15% of the time here on the, and by the way, on the season,
08:05which is crazy, but look at the lineup. Outside of Bo Bichette, Ernie Clement, and Joey Loperfido,
08:10six of those guys, sky-high ISOs and weighted on base percentage, and the best thing, Ben,
08:15they don't strike out against right-handed pitching. Ball's in play, 77 degrees. Let's get
08:21after it. Toronto comes away with a victory. They're going to continue that hot streak here.
08:25Looking for nine consecutive wins and to extend the lead in the American League East. More around MLB next.
08:32Live right here on the early line, going all around Major League Baseball, 10-game slate on
08:38this Monday from the brilliant baseball mind of 1DRS, even explaining what some of the advanced
08:45analytics mean to the crew here on TEL on this Monday, like XFIP. What exactly is that? DRS continues
08:53to break it all down. The Blue Jays have won eight straight. They look to make it nine in a row
08:58against the White Sox opening day starter, by the way, in Sean Burke. Minus 168 is that number.
09:04Let's head out to Southern California, DRS, in a divisional duel between you, Darvish,
09:09and the Padres, and Zach Gallin and the Diamondbacks. Over-understands at eight now tonight
09:15at Petco Park in San Diego. NL West divisional duels. Padres not playing great as of late. D-backs,
09:22a few games, sub 500. What do you like tonight in San Diego?
09:26I say, you crank that soldier boy, right? You Darvish back on the mound. Haven't seen this
09:31guy in a minute right now. Yeah, man. Crank it, man. Get it going up. Get the high. Yeah,
09:35yeah. Let's go. Crank that soldier boy up here. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, come on, man. That was big
09:40back then. Where were you? Senior in high school or maybe even in grade school?
09:43No, dude. Bar Mitzvah slate. In the Bar Mitzvah slate each and every weekend. The young Benny
09:48Steve was out there hitting it, you know, every time.
09:52Now, give me a little tour. Give me a little tour right now. You got any? You got any? You can read
09:55off real quick to us? Read the tour? You got any? Yeah. Give me a tour, Mike, of our new
10:02studios. You want me to walk around? And here we have that. No, I don't. I don't have that
10:09in the, in the, I had to memorize my tour portion, but I had to rent the rabbi. Yeah,
10:14nothing much to it. Nah, there you go. Let's see what Darvish has in the mound. By the way,
10:18Woodruff came back to major league baseball after an extended period. I have perfect segue
10:22over here. Yeah. Transition over. Maybe he has that same type of effort tonight for Mr.
10:28Darvish. Yeah. By the way, the Diamondbacks have hit right into pitching where they've
10:31hit a lot of things. Well, this season so far, disappointing in the standings, but usually
10:35not at the plate. Corbin Carroll trying to work his way back from that extended period
10:38on the IL himself. It's hard to bet on you Darvish because I don't know what I'm getting
10:42back, but here's the problem. Right. It's like, are you on the road? Whoa, Zach Allen's on it.
10:46You can trust Zach Allen more than you Darvish. I don't know. Can you, you take a look at his
10:49last 60 days, a 104 exit minus, which is average and ERA above five, which is very unlike Zach
10:55Allen and a 4.21 X fit number. If I look at both of these and say, all right, I don't know
11:00how long you Darvish is going to go in this game. I'm going to just take a de facto contrarian
11:04look at the over saying like gallon hasn't been great. So I don't expect them to be great
11:08tonight. That lineup for Arizona has hit right into pitching. And I don't know how much you
11:12Darvish has left in the tank for tonight, where they're just trying to probably build them
11:15up 50, 60, 70 pitches. Maybe at that point, maybe a sneaky over, but it's just hard to
11:21say, I know what I'm getting out of Darvish. And that's the way I want to play this game
11:24out because they're the favorite. Like it's not unknown commodity is on Arizona. No, it's
11:29not like gallon can snap back. He just hasn't done it this year, but I can't back Darvish
11:33as a favorite in this spot either. Probably looking at the eight and a half and going, Hey,
11:36if Darvish isn't on gallon gives me what he's been giving me here. Why can't we challenge
11:40your nine runs tonight up there in San Diego? No doubt about it. DRS again, most of the
11:45indications around you Darvish in his season debut, he was scheduled to return perhaps
11:51early in mid May, suffered a few setbacks, had to work his way back, right elbow inflammation
11:57on his throwing arm, never a good sign. But Darvish said to make his MLB debut this year
12:03in 2025, a known commodity nearing 40 years old and all that he has done throughout his time
12:08in major league baseball. This start right here, we shall see scheduled for about four
12:13to five innings around that 70, 75 pitch limit is what they expect tonight for San Diego though,
12:20a great sign to have Darvish back 35 and 24 on June 3rd for the Padres, a team of course,
12:27that was challenging the Dodgers atop the national league West, the giants playing really good
12:31baseball at that time, both San Diego and San Francisco have been sub 500 really since the
12:38beginning of June. Now into early July, we said 35 and 24 on June 3rd from that time,
12:44DRS 13 and 17 in the last 30 games for San Diego. They did win their weekend set though,
12:51against the Texas Rangers, low scoring affairs in most of those. That's been the story for Texas.
12:57Again, the Arizona Diamondbacks, when you look at what they have done this year, 44 and 46,
13:03they have scored 461 runs. They have allowed 461 runs and even zero run differential DRS. That is not
13:15something that you often see in any sport, but certainly around major league baseball, the pitching
13:21has been the weak spot for the snakes this season. Speaking of weak spots, let's talk about those
13:26Cleveland guardians. They have lost 10 consecutive games and who do they get to see trying to stop
13:33that slide. Maybe the hottest team in baseball today, outside of the blue Jays in terms of the
13:38last month and a half, that being the Houston Astros who swept the Dodgers in Los Angeles this weekend.
13:44And since the beginning of June, 24 and eight, the best record in the bigs for the Stros today,
13:51they are a home favorite at minus one 36 against a Cleveland team. Again, that has dropped 10
13:57consecutive games, total seven and a half. What's the play in H town? Yeah. I tell you like back in
14:03the day, you've watched the Chappelle show, right? Dave Chappelle showed up at the players ball and
14:06go, you look bombed out and depleted. That's the lineup here for the guardians. There's supposed to be
14:11a much better Cleveland guardians team that we saw in the beginning. Hey, you know what? They got a lot
14:15of switch hitters in this lineup, some power here. They should always challenge for this division.
14:20This team flat out stinks. And the, but like whoever thought Steven Kwan would be a terrible
14:24hitter. Like the guy used to be always plug and play. You need a base hit. Just take Kwan. If he
14:28gets five plate appearances automatically, at least one base hit, if not two or three, he can't hit
14:34left-handed pitching. The only guy in the lineup that can hit left-handed pitching. It's Carlos
14:38Santana. Everybody else, terrible ISO power numbers, terrible way to don't base percentages. And it's
14:44Colton Gordon. I'm showing on the mound here. Who's not even a great pitcher, 84 degree temperatures.
14:49You like to see that four degree with light wind blowing out. And here's the issue. It's Houston.
14:54Like you saw the soccer game last night. I mean, come on now. We don't have the roof open. We just
14:58let the smoke and the pyrotechnics be there the entire game. Open the roof in Houston. We're only
15:03in the mid eighties tonight. The reason I say that is Tanner Bybee has been a good pitcher this year.
15:08Not great, but his last 30 days have been better than the opening parts of the season. But this lineup
15:13is just starting to come around for the Houston Astros in this spot. If you're just asking me,
15:18pitcher versus pitcher. Yes, Bybee is a better pitcher, but that lineup is dead in the water for
15:23the Guardians and a hot Houston team. Do I love the minus 160? Let's just call it here as a favorite
15:28for them. Not necessarily, but if they do win this ball game, they're going to have to put up some
15:33runs on Bybee. Maybe a team two to look like because Paredes, Myers, Atuve, Smith, Walker,
15:38all really high weighted on base percentages against right-handed pitching. Sometimes just ride the streak.
15:43I don't trust Cleveland. I don't care what type of pitching situation they're going up against.
15:48Seven game lead now for the Astros atop the American League West and the Mariners swept and
15:54shut out the Pirates over the weekend as well in all three games. And yet still a seven game lead for
16:01Houston elsewhere around Major League Baseball this week to start things off on a Monday in Kauffman
16:06Stadium. It is the Royals and the Pirates. Can the Buccos score run? The Pirates also swept the
16:12Cardinals shutting out St. Louis and during the weekend, six consecutive games for the Buccos
16:17involved in a shutout either which way. The Red Sox at home in Fenway get the Colorado Rockies and
16:24Jacob deGrom is on the bump for the Rangers. An individual duel against the LA Angels in Anaheim,
16:31minus $138 that price. Also in San Francisco, it's the Giants and your Phils. Christopher Sanchez,
16:38the RS, he gets the nod tonight for Philadelphia. They are a road favorite around a minus $140 number.
16:44Yeah, you just take a look at the Phillies tonight with Sanchez on the mound going up against
16:47Landon Rapp. Sanchez out of 19 pitchers today on the card, Ben. He's number one overall with an
16:51XFIP minus of 72. He already have 2.68 and an XFIP of 2.91. It seems like every single day the
16:58Phillies throw out the best pitcher on the card outside of like a Skeens and a Scooble. It's
17:02incredible here. They just win by that. They should continue their winning ways and again in a lower
17:07scoring affair because it's San Francisco. It's colder temperatures. Bryce Harper's ice cold.
17:13Three to four runs by the Phillies make some sense in a victory tonight for me.
17:16The Phils are playing really good baseball, DRS. They lost that five-game losing skid or they lost
17:21five in a row early in June, 37 and 28. Since then, they have gone 16 and nine since. They are
17:30playing really good baseball here as of late. They have won five of their last seven, but just a
17:35game and a half lead in the National League East as the Mets are trying to find their footing. Again,
17:40it is our final full week of baseball before the All-Star break that comes our way at the end of Sunday
17:46home run derby exactly a week from today. Prop perspective with TV talk next. Well, let's get
17:52back to the boys of summertime. Becky, I want to ask you one question here. What are the chances
17:55that the Pittsburgh Pirates score a run tonight? What do you think? I would say it's a non-zero
18:02chance. There is a theoretical chance that they do score a run. Will it actually happen? I'm going
18:07to say yes, just because it's baseball. They've been on the wrong side of variance. However many games
18:12in a row, they'll be on the right side tonight. Highly expected to score a run. Three and a half
18:18the number for the Buccos in Kansas City tonight inside Coffman Stadium. In the over has the hefty
18:24juice at minus 146. All right, Tom Beckill, let's go around Major League Baseball. One of the more
18:30compelling matchups in the midweek to start off this Monday slate is in Milwaukee. It's the Brewers
18:37and the LA Dodgers. The Brew crew hosting LA. The Dodgers hoping to bounce back after being swept
18:42at the ravine over the weekend by the Houston Astros. Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the bump today,
18:48named an all-star yesterday. The Dodgers an ever so slight favorite now at minus 134.
18:53That total seven and a half. Freddie Peralta gets the start on the other side for the Brew crew.
18:59What do you like tonight in Milwaukee? So I like the Dodgers come away with the win. As I've always
19:04talked about, I'm not going to, I'm always going to be willing to back good teams that are on losing
19:08streaks. Like I always will buy into that. So I'm expecting the Dodgers come away with the win.
19:11And I also like Freddie Peralta under five and a half strikeouts that was sitting at plus 120
19:16before. Freddie Peralta is a good pitcher, but he's not the same pitcher that he once was. And I
19:21think his props are still being booked as if he was. If we look back just two years ago,
19:25his strikeout rate was at 30%. This year it's down to 25.5. And you can say that he may be pitching
19:30better overall. He's allowing fewer home runs, but he's also had, he also has a higher fly ball rate
19:35this year compared to last. So he's allowing fewer home runs yet more fly balls. I think he's on the
19:40right side of variance so far. And if there's any team that's going to break out and score a ton
19:44of runs and then expose that high fly ball rate, it would be a team like the Dodgers. So Dodgers
19:49to win Freddie Peralta under five and a half strikeouts. Let's keep it in that same division
19:54out there. The San Diego Padres. We just handicapped this game. Arizona versus the Padres. You
19:59Darvish back on the mound tonight. How do you handle that situation? And usually like, okay,
20:03Darvish is coming back, but again, Gallon with plus money on the opposite side. Gallon hasn't been
20:07the Zach Gallon that we're used to here. How can you approach a game like Arizona and San Diego
20:11tonight? So I'm on Arizona. I, I bet them last night. I said it on, um, game time decision or
20:17excuse me, in game live last night with, uh, George and Adam, uh, Arizona plus 116. This is what I said
20:23about Arizona yesterday, Donnie. When, when Di Sclafani was on the mound, that was an insane line
20:28to have Arizona minus one 54 picture making his first started in effectively two years. Now you
20:34Darvish is a very good picture, but we don't know if he's had his proper form. So if you just give me
20:38plus money with Zach Gallon, I think that's the only play you either play Arizona. You could play
20:42the over, but I'm not laying minus one 20 or minus one 30 on a picture. That is, let's just say he's
20:47unproven. I know Darvish is a great picture historically, but he's right now he's unproven.
20:53First start this year for you Darvish and was supposed to come back, hopefully in the middle of May
20:58suffered some setbacks as he has tried to get his way onto the diamond in 2025.
21:04Vecchio, we saw another prop that you liked today for the Red Sox shortstop in Trevor
21:09Story, Boston, a hefty home favorite inside Fenway going up against the worst team in baseball.
21:14That would be the Colorado Rockies. What's the move on Trevor Story today in that proper
21:19perspective? Yeah, let's keep it simple with story over, or, you know, over one and a half
21:23or two plus throw bases sitting at minus one 10. We have the ideal scenario. We have the
21:27Red Sox who all of a sudden their offense is unbelievable. They struggled after they trade
21:31traded Rafi Devers. Now they have exploded. We have a great hitting environment at Fenway.
21:35We have beautiful hitting weather with wind blowing out to the monster. And then we have
21:39Austin Gomber on the mound, who's a terrible pitcher. Now he only has 19.2 innings this season. If we
21:44look back to last year, horrible numbers. And if we actually look back at his splits from last year,
21:48he's a Rockies pitcher. So if we look back at his home splits versus righties and his away splits
21:53versus righties, they're basically identical. So if you say he was terrible at cores, I'm like,
21:57whoa, hang on. He's pitching at cores. Let's, let's actually dig into things. Like, no, he was
22:00actually awful versus righties on the road last year. So he's still a bad pitcher, regardless
22:05of where he is. Trevor Story, two plus throw bases or minus one 10. I like that look, Vecchio. I
22:11really, really do. You and I will continue on the other side of the break. Some more prop plays,
22:15perhaps on this Monday for our 10 games slain around Major League Baseball. But now DRS, we send you
22:21the Moneyline. Have a great time. See ya. Woo, yeah. Can't wait. Let's go. Come on now.
22:26Open up the phone line. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Phone lines. Ring, ring, ring.
22:30Best rivalry in Major League Baseball. Yeah, everybody knows it. More on the early line for
22:34Tom and I next. We continue with the prop perspective from TV Tom Vecchio of Sports Grid on
22:42this Monday around Major League Baseball. 10 games slate Vecchio in MLB. Donnie asked you about
22:48the Pittsburgh Pirates trying to plate even a single run after they were held scoreless
22:52in three games in Seattle and were swept this weekend by the Mariners in the Northwest.
22:57You gave your two prop plays. Trevor Story, two plus total bases today as the Red Sox welcome
23:03in the Colorado Rockies. Freddie Peralta getting the start for the Brewers against the Dodgers
23:08under five and a half Ks. If you were to highlight any other games today or any other plays around
23:13MLB, which games have your attention? So let's turn to the Tigers raise and as I'm seeing
23:19as of now, the Tigers don't have a starting pitcher announced. It's probably going to be
23:23a bullpen game for them, but listen, we're dealing with the best team in baseball and
23:28I'm going to, you know, they're better than the Dodgers at least right now. You give me plus
23:32money on a team like the Tigers. I think they'll come through and like, I think it's just a good
23:36bet to make. You give me plus money anytime. And again, it's not going to be Scoob always there
23:39yesterday. It's not gonna be Jack Flaherty. We know that's me some type of bullpen game for
23:43them, but you know, we saw them come through yesterday late versus Cleveland where they were
23:46tied and they didn't score any runs up until the ninth inning and 10th inning. All of a sudden
23:49they explode. That's the type of offense that they have. And the Rays, they've been really good,
23:53but they've also been really good at home and they're on a rough road trip right now because
23:57they're not playing a whole lot of home games. So you give me the Tigers a plus money. I'll simply
24:01just take it. Best record in baseball, 57 and 34. They swept the guardians over the weekend.
24:07Cleveland has dropped 10 consecutive games. Only game number 32 this year for Detroit.
24:13And they are now past 90. They have been booked as an underdog. And Tom, there's only seven teams
24:18in MLB that have a winning record outright as a dog this year. Detroit part of that 16 and 15.
24:25DRS said that he was looking at a few things, saw that Keiter Montero more than likely an opener
24:30gets to start today for the Tigers. But again, not a bad look for that plus money. The Rays part of now,
24:38what I think is one of the main storylines, Vecchio, entering this final full week ahead of the All-Star break
24:43that comes our way after our action this upcoming Sunday. A week from today, the Home Run Derby in Atlanta.
24:49A week from tomorrow, Major League Baseball All-Star game in that mid-summer classic.
24:54The American League East now looks a lot different than it did even a week ago.
24:58Toronto, certainly about a month ago. The Yankees are struggling. They avoid the sweep yesterday against the Mets
25:04to snap a six-game skid. The Blue Jays, the hottest team in MLB. They have won eight consecutive games.
25:10Toronto, looking for nine straight today in Chicago and have opened up a three-game advantage over the Yankees.
25:17How do you view that division? How do you view the American League at this point?
25:21Oh, the Yankees are killing me as a Yankees fan. It's been a tough few weeks for that.
25:25You know, I think the Blue Jays are in a good spot, and it really comes down to, not just for the Blue Jays,
25:31if you're looking to back the Yankees or if you have a Yankees ticket, you know, ALCS ticket, whatever it might be.
25:35It comes down to the confidence that it would have in either teams, the moves that they make,
25:38because the Yankees just lost Clark Schmidt. They need to make moves on pitching.
25:41They need to get a third baseman. They need more relief help.
25:44And the Blue Jays, while I think their lineup is really good right now, I do think they're slightly overproducing,
25:49like they're just through a hot stretch, as we could say teams are in a cold stretch.
25:52I also think they need to go out and get another pitcher, because, you know, seeing Eric Lauer start,
25:57I don't love that. Seeing Max Scherzer start, what kind of length will they have entirely?
26:01I think the combo of Gossman, Scherzer, and Barrios is a good combo, but it's not great,
26:06and it's not going to be head-to-head better compared to the Tigers.
26:09So if you're backing the Blue Jays, I would actually look to back them in some type of direct matchup
26:14of, like, Blue Jays versus the Tigers in the ALCS, rather than taking it outright,
26:18because it does leave you some outs if we do get to that point.
26:21Yeah, it certainly does. And when you look at that AL pennant price on Toronto,
26:25despite the fact they have the three-game lead in the American League East,
26:29still that fourth-best number at 8-1.
26:31The Tigers now the favorites in front of the Yankees for the first time this year,
26:35plus 270. The Yankees now at plus 340.
26:38A couple of cents of movement there.
26:41And the Astros, Vecchio, since the start of June, have been the best team in baseball at 24-8.
26:45And, hey, what's your outlook on Houston surging up the odds board
26:50and the standings in the American League?
26:52It's been unbelievable, the fact that they're doing it,
26:55and they are dealing with so many injuries.
26:56We've got to remember that Blanco is down, and Luis Garcia hasn't pitched this year.
27:01They lost Spencer Arrighetti, who got hurt during warm-ups in one game.
27:04I believe he broke his hand back in May or whenever it was, or April.
27:08And they're doing so not healthy.
27:10And this is also a team that has shown that they are willing to go chips to the middle
27:13and make moves at the deadline to get better.
27:16And if they're dealing with these injuries and they're willing to do that,
27:18it seems like a good team you should be backing.
27:21Yeah, certainly so.
27:22They have Hunter Brown, who has been one of the best in baseball this year.
27:25Frambois Valdez has been on great form here as of late.
27:29And, Vecchio, you mentioned the pitching staff.
27:30Jordan Alvarez still not back yet for Houston this season, trying to make his way.
27:35Has gotten close a few times, but a couple of setbacks in that rehab.
27:39TV, Tom, appreciate it as always, man.
27:41Thanks for being here on this Monday.
27:43Thanks for having me.
27:43We'll be back on Thursday, and then next Monday is the Home Run Derby.
27:47Oh, and the Home Run Prop King will be ready to deliver.
27:50That does it for us on the early line today.
27:53The show returns tomorrow on Sports Grid, 8 a.m. Eastern.
27:56We'll talk to you then.
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