Scott Rickenbach Premium Picks

Scott "The Bulldog" Rickenbach MLB Rotation #908 Sunday Free Pick UNDER the total in Atlanta Braves vs Milwaukee Brewers @ 1:20 ET - Both these lineups have had plenty of big games lately but it has also been a case of feast or famine for each club. In other words, they either score extremely well or they struggle badly to score. In this case I look for it to be the latter - so a little famine - for each of the lineups in this one. The Braves exploded for a big game at the plate yesterday but had been held to 2 or less runs in 7 of 12 preceding games. Milwaukee was held to just 1 run yesterday and this was the 4th time in ten games that they have been held to 3 or less runs. Anderson starts for Milwaukee here and has a stellar 1.20 ERA last 3 starts. Morton starts for the Braves and the Brewers have not faced him in a long time and he has allowed just 15 hits in 17 innings over his last 3 starts. Look for a strong start from both hurlers here as Anderson remains hot plus Morton is 5-1 in home starts this season. Free Pick UNDER the total in Atlanta

Total of the Week - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #923 Sunday 10* Top Play OVER 8.5 runs in Tampa Bay Rays vs Boston Red Sox @ 7:05 ET - With yesterday's 9-5 Rays win the over is now on a 26-11 run in match-ups between these teams including 7-1 this season! I see no reason for this trend to come to a halt here. Yes Nick Pivetta has had success against the Rays but he enters this start in poor current form and the Tampa Bay bats are red hot. Pivetta has allowed 4 or more earned runs in 4 of last 5 starts and has a 7.04 ERA in his last 3 starts. The Rays have won 10 of 15 games and have scored an average of 6 runs per game during this stretch! The Red Sox will be facing Shane Mcclanahan and the lefty is off a very fortunate start. He allowed only 3 earned runs but gave up 9 hits and walked 3 for a WHIP of 2.00 in his 6-inning start versus a Yankees lineup. In other words, that is not a good sign for him here as he now takes on a Red Sox team that ranks 7th in majors for slugging percentage versus lefties this season and 3rd in majors for slugging percentage in road games! Boston has scored an average of 7 runs per game last 4 road games and will be a tough test for Mcclanahan who has a 4.33 ERA in the last two months and that is even with pitching out of some big jams in some recent starts. He could easily be north of 5.00 over the past two months and the potent Red Sox lineup is going to give him trouble here. That said, this turns into another high-scoring game because I expect Pivetta's struggles to continue. 10* OVER 8.5 runs in Tampa Bay

Earliest Cash - Rickenbach MLB Rotation #915 Sunday 8* OVER 10 runs in Detroit Tigers vs Baltimore Orioles @ 1:10 ET - The over is 3-1 in Spenser Watkins 4 starts this season. The over is 3-0 in Tyler Alexander's 3 home starts this season. The wind will be favorable for this afternoon game at Detroit and neither starter is likely to work deep which will expose two of the weaker bullpens in the majors. Watkins averaging about 4 and 2/3 innings per start and Alexander averaging about 3 innings per start this season. Both starters enter this game off rough starts also. The Orioles pounded out 11 hits in yesterday's game and though these games have trended under in this series this absolutely looks like the one that easily snaps that trend. Despite the recent unders, Baltimore has scored an average of 5 runs per game last 8 games. The Tigers have won 10 of last 16 games and have scored an average of 6 runs per game last 15 games. The Detroit bats bounce back after consecutive losses here but the Orioles have another big game at the plate too and this one gets into double digits as both Baltimore and the Tigers set up to score well here. 8* OVER 10 runs in Detroit