American League Recap & Daily Best Bets – July 14th, 2022

American League

Last Night’s American League Recap

Seattle wins double hitter to get 9th & 10th straight victories

The Mariners completed the one-day series sweep of the Nations yesterday. The team remains red hot and sits in a three-way tie for two American League playoff spots. Seattle held off the Nationals 6-4 in the opener and followed that with a tight 2-1 victory in the nightcap. The Mariners remain in a three-way tie with Toronto and Boston for two wild-card spots in the American League.

Orioles keep pace beating the Cubs

The Orioles incredibly won their 10th straight game yesterday beating the Cubs 7-1. It is their longest streak since a 13-game stretch in 1999 and their fourth longest in franchise history behind their 14-game streak in 1973. The win also put the O’s one game above 500 and they remain just 2 games back in the log jam for wild card contention. Amazingly, all five teams in the American League East are now above the 500 mark.

Ohtani beats the Astros single-handedly

Shohei Ohtani showed why he should be the American League MVP with a legendary performance last night. Ohtani allowed just 1 run over 6 innings with a stunning 12 strikeouts. He also added a 2 run triple in the second inning which turned out to be the winning run of the game. Shohei also became the first Angels starter to hit a triple since Nolan Ryan managed the feat in 1972.

Blue Jays fire manager getting back to winning ways

The Blue Jays appeared inspired to get their first win for their new interim manager, John Schneider. Teoscar Hernandez homered twice with Vlad Guerrero added another as Toronto cruised to an 8-2 win over Philadelphia.

McClanahan shines as Rays Beat Red Sox again

Shane McClanahan had another dominant performance for the Rays picking up his 10th win of the season while regaining the American League in strikeouts adding 6 more a total of 147 on the season.

Royals take series from the Tigers

The Royals finished their four-game set by taking their third from the Tigers. Brady Singer lead the way for the Royals for the win and Scott Barlow pitched his third perfect ninth inning of the three-game set, getting his 15th save of the season.

More Interleague play

The Yankees picked a walk-off win against the Reds on a wild pitch scoring DJ LeMaieu. The Victory snapped the Yankee’s three-game losing streak and they still hold a huge 14-game lead in the best division in MLB, the AL East.

Joe Miranda hit a game-winning three-run home run for the Twins as they took care of the Brewers at home, 4-1. The Twins stretch their lead in the AL Central to 4.5 games over the Guardians.

Today’s American League Best Bets

July’s Best Bets: 18-11, +8.57 Units

I had three underdogs on the ticket yesterday but only the Mariners could find a victory. July picks drop about half a unit as a result but still going strong.

I hope everyone is profiting from my free daily picks. Starting August 1, you will need to be a paid subscriber in order to continue getting my daily picks. Unpaid subscribers will still be able to get my AL recaps and other content for free.

MLB: Blue Jays (Gausman) [NL] @ Royals (undecided) $

There is no line for this game as of writing time due to the Royals not yet setting their starting pitcher. This pick has little to do with the Royals and everything to do with what is going on in Toronto. I will be taking the Blue Jays today and I will just take the closing price for the purposes of this blog.

Blue Jays fired their manager Charlie Montoyo who was a fan favourite in Toronto. The club narrowly missed the American League playoffs last season with a club that much bigger potential. They have underperformed this season as well despite currently being in a wild-card position. What this move says to the team is that the club’s expectations are higher than what the club is currently performing. The Blue Jays desperately want to return to the championship form that brought them two world series victories in the early 1990s. The players are now on notice that changes can be expected if the team fails to meet their full potential.

The Blue Jays responded yesterday with their second straight victory overcoming their recent bad form. The Jays scored 8 runs yesterday for the first in about two weeks. This team is too talented not to be blowing opponents out regularly. I expect another outburst of runs from them today at home in what will hopefully be the start of a long winning streak.

American League: Guardians (McKenzie) [-1.5 -110] Vs Tigers (Rodriguez) $

Tristan McKenzie is emerging as a potential future all-star in his second year as a starter in Cleveland. In his last two starts, he has been just dominant allowing only 4 hits in 13 innings. His 3.47 ERA is actually bloated by a couple of bad outings against the Twins. He is still prone to giving up too many walks and HRs, but his hit totals are remarkably low. The Tigers with their .336 team slugging percentage are not a team that should hit McKenzie hard.

The Tigers starting pitching has been hard hit by injuries and inconsistency this season. Rookie Elvin Rodriguez gets the ball to start today, but he has not pitched well in his first four career starts. He was tagged with 7 HRs and 18 earned runs in just his last two starts against the Yankees and Jays. The Guardians do not bash the ball like those two teams, but still, Elvin’s day is unlikely to be easy.

This is big to lay, but I do like both sides of this pitching matchup. This should be an easy win for the Guardians today against the Tigers who looked lifeless in their last series in KC.

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Legend: $ one unit regular bet, $$ two units best bet, * prop bets .5 units

Jason Grad

Jason Grad

Helping serious betters and collectors win more often and grow their portfolios. Follow me on Twitter for my daily sports picks and NFT portfolio management advice.

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