Game Day: Friday, June 12th

There are 15 three game-series beginning this evening and the likelihood of a few sweeps in the works in what could be a "Reversal of Fortune" weekend.  Get swept this weekend and it's going to be a drag on your ball club heading into next week.  The Vernal Equinox is on June 21st.  The days are long and the sun is hot.  I'll be looking out for and rooting for the sweeps this weekend.  I'll discount all the teams who get swept on Sunday and give a boost to all the teams who carry the brooms.  Paying attention to the sweeps could help us out some into the end of June. 

It's going to be exciting on Sunday.  Here are four series that I have my eye on this weekend:

Marlins at Pirates

The Pirates have been the darlings of the NL Central with MLB's most special pitcher, Paul Skenes, and Wonder Boy Konnor Griffin at shortstop but Skenes has lost his shine some and Griffin could be a flash in the pan.  The Marlins, with Max Meyer and Eury Perez, have a pair of young starters at the top of their rotation that can pitch with Skenes and Ashcraft and their young shortstop, Otto Lopez, leads the league in batting average.  This is a big series.  Marlins win two of three and they can steal some of the Pirates' bounty.  Max Meyer vs. Paul Skenes on Sunday is a great matchup.  Two of the games' best young pitchers.  Marlins sweep the Pirates and they will have to rethink the Sandy Alcantara trade.  

Tigers at Guardians

The Guardians have been the better baseball team all season and it was the Guards who made up a 15.5 game deficit last season to take the division title away from Detroit.  The Tigers haven't forgotten and find themselves 8.0 games back of Cleveland as we conclude the second week of June.  This is a heated rivalry.  Tarik Skubal and Casey Mize are both expected to return for this series.  The Tigers' rotation is going to be strong and deep over the second half and the Guardians, they don't have much depth.  Daniel Espino is up and he could factor in but even if Espino aces it, the Guards are still short on pitching.  A series win for the Tigers would inch them closer to the top of the division.  A sweep would turn the tables with all of the momentum swinging to Detroit.  

Braves at Mets

Ronald Acuna Jr. drags up with a hamstring injury right before a big series with the New York Mets.  The Mets aren't going to bow out early. They may be 15 games back of the Braves in the NL East but the Guardians overcame a 15.5 game deficit to win the AL Central last season.  The Mets could break their record this season having fallen 16 games back of the Braves on Saturday, June 6th.  While it is unlikely, a sweep would be a big reversal in momentum and would have the Mets believing.  The Braves are still without Drake Baldwin and Sean Murphy.  The lineup looks soft without Acuna at the top.  Derek Hill isn't the answer.  The Braves may have a big lead in the NL East but the Phillies have kept pace and it isn't necessarily the Mets that they need to worry about.  If they don't win the division, the NL Wild Card race is heated.  They could slip out of the playoff picture and a sweep at the hands of the Mets this weekend could be the catalyst to a "Reversal of Fortune".

Rays at Angels

The Angels have some new faces on the bench.  They aren't world beaters in any sense:  Wade Meckler, Nick Madrigal, Jose Siri, Trey Mancini, they are all underdogs but they all seem to have some fire and some determination that has the Halos glowing.  The Angels have played .500 baseball since May 17th.  They may be nine games back of the Mariners and seven games out of the wild card but they aren't out of the picture.  The Rays refuse to fall from the top of the mountain.  They landed a pile driver on the Red Sox earlier this week, a three-game sweep that kept the Rays on top of the AL East but this series with the Angels is precarious.  They are out on the West Coast and that ocean has a way to it.   The Halos could wobble the Rays and the ocean could sweep some of their MO out to sea.  This is a big series for both teams.  The Halos don't have a day off for two weeks and have a seven-game road trip beginning on Monday.  If they get swept at home, heading into a long road trip, it will be a heavy burden to tote around and could end their season.  

The sweep is a powerful pendulum and the weight of a sweep in June is at it's heaviest.  There aren't many days off around the league and the days are long.  Who is going to get swept this weekend?  I'll post it on Monday's Game Day.  

It's a full slate of games to begin the week.  The Pickstreak blog is most certainly in the hole early.  We are down 16.0 percent (8 units) on our buy-in, the lowest point of the entire season.  We bought in for 50 units and that was the cost to play the game.  It's like paying for a vacation or buying into a poker tournament.  We paid the entry-fee and it's a sunk cost.  We get the entertainment that comes with making the bets, we get the opportunity to beat the book and we have the potential to win some money back too.  If it all goes to plan, we can earn a return on our investment.  That's the goal.  If we fall short, we'll have had a good time playing the game.  We have already banked 7 units. The goal is 51 units.  60 units would be a 20% return on our investment.  75 units would be an awesome season, 50% return on our buy-in and that is nice.  A long way to go before the Pickstreak season is over.

If we can rack some more units into the All-Star break, we'll have an opportunity to beat the book in the second half of the season and to emerge victorious.  

Popular posts from this blog

Postgame Report: MIN -1.5 (-120) Loss

It's 8-2 in the eighth.  Twins lost this one.  Joe Ryan had a bad game.  I'm not looking into this one too far. I picked the game I liked the most, it was the heaviest favorite on the board outside of the Orioles and the pitching matchup, in my opinion, was as good as it gets. Mitchell Parker had a good game.  One thing I can't understand is why Rocco Baldelli stacked his lineup with righties to start the game.  I get that Parker is a lefty but if you look at his splits and you look at his pitch stats, you can see clearly that he gets outs against right handed hitters and gets mashed by lefties.   Baldelli left all three of his lefties on the bench tonight.  Both of the Twins switch hitters took at bats from the right hand side of the plate.  Eight righties in the Twins lineup tonight opened up Parker's game and he got the win.   I noticed it before the game started.  I should have taken the bet off but thought that Ryan and th...
Read more

Today's Pick: A 2 Team Parlay

I have 1.56 units in play after yesterday's quasi-disappointment.   I'm going to rack a unit, and play a two team parlay tonight.  I've been stuck on 32 units banked for two weeks now.   I can't stand the number 32.  It has everything to do with Magic Johnson.  I don't like magic and I don't like Johnson.   Anyhow, now that we have 33 units in the bank, I feel better. Jose Canseco wore number 33.  Still one of my favorite players of all time.   No analysis today, I'm just making a pick.  My season for the most part is over.  I have 0.56 units in play, 4.0 units in my account, and 33 units in the bank.   The pick is a parlay on the Astros (-350) ML / Blue Jays (-175) ML for a (+105) payout. I like the pick.  Im happy with the plus money.  Have to win them both to cash a ticket but I like the play.   Today's Pick:  PAR:  TOR (-180) ML / HOU (-350) ML over Units in Play:  0.56...
Read more

Postgame Report: MIL (-130) Winner

The Brewers kept it rolling last night, winning their fifth game in a row with a 7-2 victory over the Braves.   Joey Wentz cruised through the first two innings.  He had three K's and retired six in a row.   Brewer's center fielder Blake Perkins led off the third with a base hit.  Danny Jansen flew out to right.  Perkins stole second base.  Nine hole hitter Joey Ortiz put the ball in the gap and recorded an infield single that moved the runner to third.  Leadoff hitter Caleb Durbin walked to load the bases.   Bases loaded with one out.   Joey Wentz got a shallow fly ball from William Contreras.  Two down with Christian Yellich at the plate.  He got ahead 0-2 on Yellich and made a good pitch with the curveball but the veteran didn't chase.  Yellich collected an RBI on an infield hit that scored Perkins from third.  It's a 1-0 game.  Andrew Vaughn at the plate.  Wentz got ahead of Vaughn 0-2 and...
Read more