Daily Picks 09/27: Oakland Sinking Mariners

As we enter the final few days of the regular season the main question marks remaining are around playoff positioning and home field advantage. Therefore, with only a few teams having anything to play for I am going to do something a little different today; A two-team favorites parlay alongside a couple of my usual picks.

Here are Today’s MLB Picks:

Two-Team Parlay

Tampa Bay Rays @ Toronto Blue Jays

• The Rays have won four of their last five, including a two-game sweep of the Yankees at home
• The Rays have won 60% of their games on the road and the Blue Jays have won just 40% of their home games.

The Rays virtually have a Wild card spot sewn up and a win here today would pretty much do it. A win in this one also gives them a shot of stealing homefield advantage in the Wild card game from the Athletics. Tyler Glasnow has been superb his last two outings and should get this Rays team off to a flying start from the mound. T.J. Zeuch is on the mound for the Blue Jays and he has given up two or more earned runs in all four of his starts with the Blue Jays.

Oakland Athletics @ Seattle Mariners

• The Seattle Mariners have scored two runs in their past four games
• Mike Fiers is 15-4 on the season with a 3.91 ERA facing Justus Sheffield and his 5.81 ERA

The Mariners offense appears to have gone completely missing in the last few days. They drew a tough hand facing two playoff teams in the final week and injuries have left them with a very young squad on the field. The Athletics are in a hotly contested battle to secure home field advantage in the Wild card game with the Rays. This would be huge for them as they would avoid having to fly cross-country to the East Coast before having to potentially come back to Houston for a series with their division rivals. With the contrast in pitchers and the motivation, I expect to see the Athletics come out on top.

1u – Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays ML @ +104

Cincinnati Reds @ Pittsburgh Pirates

• The Pirates have allowed an average of 5.72 runs per game at home this season
• Steven Brault has allowed 19 earned runs in last three starts, spanning just 13 1/3 innings.

The Reds season has been somewhat disappointing, but they have been frisky down the stretch, including putting a dagger in the Cubs playoff chances. In fact, both of these teams have been playing hard and proving to be spoilers for the Cubs. This game could be the most interesting meaningless game on the slate. Anthony DeSclefani is rolling right now so I am staying clear of the total and will instead take the Reds to pile more misery on Brault.

1u – Cincinnati Reds Over 4.5 Total Runs @ -110

Miami Marlins @ Philadelphia Phillies

• The Marlins have won three of their last five and have only scored less than three earned runs once in since September 17th.
• The Phillies have lost six straight and eight of their last nine games

As the season draws down, we have seen two very different attitudes from these two teams. The Phillies season has crumbled to virtually nothing. They have slipped out of playoff contention and have struggled to get anything going. In their six-game losing streak they scored a total of 14 runs and they appear to be ready for the offseason to start at this point. The Marlins on the other hand are building for the future and their young players are playing hard as they look to earn spots for 2020 and beyond. All of the motivation in this game is with the Marlins and I think they add to the misery of the Phillies in this one.

1u – Miami Marlins ML @ +160

By Ben Rolfe