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[Pick Bot]

Rangers -115 4* MLB POD
The Rangers won yesterday 12-0 behind their offense and major advantage out of the bullpen. Traditionally I will start with the starting pitchers and the offense in my analysis, but today I"m starting with the bullpens which Texas holds a major advantage. The Whitesox bullpen has been atrocious with a 6.29 ERA and a 6.62 ERA in road games while Texas comes in with a stellar 2.12 bullpen ERA at home and a 0.00 ERA over their last 5 overall out of the bullpen. The Whitesox got off to a strong start, but have slowed down of late and their offense is struggling. Over the last 5 they are scoring just 2.02 runs per 9 with an average under .200 while the Rangers are over .300 and scoring over 6 runs per 9 over their last 5. However, the biggest differences that separate these teams today is not the offense nor the starting pitching but the bullpen.


The White Sox are also 17-48 in their last 65 road games while Texas is 21-7 in their last 28 vs. a losing team.. We get value here because Colby Lewis was not very good in his first start, but facing the White Sox offense at the right time. Also he's held them to 2 ER over the last 3 years in 2 starts covering 15 IP. Lewis has been a solid pitcher at home over the past few years and not many pitchers can claim that pitching in Arlington. Jose Quintana who has been great so far had 5 innings of work and 4 ER in last years meeting here. He also faces a Rangers line up that is ranked 8th vs. LHP on the season and is scoring 5.77 runs per 9 vs. LHP on the year. I'm going with the Rangers as the White Sox just seem to be heading to a deep slump.

Grizzlies +7.5 2.2* bonus play
Re-entering Russell Westbrook into the line up is always a dangerous thought. The Thunder always seem to suffer form chemistry issues when he's back in the line up and I just think this is too many points when you take into fact that Memphis is 25-13 ATS vs. good teams who were +6ppg or more over the last 2 years. Memphis started slowly but they closed the season 23-9 and they seem to be healthy with Marc Gasol who gives them the most versatile front court in the NBA. With Gasol int he line up the Grizzlies are 40-19 and he allows Zach Randloph to get 1 on 1's, but the biggest reason why I think the Grizzlies are going to give the Thunder a real run for their money is MIke Conley who stepped up his game he's the reason why Memphis is 3rd fewest in turnovers per game. This Memphis team is built to win in the playoffs where the tempo slows and they have several role players who can help like Mike Miller who hit 58% of his threes in 3 games vs. the Thunder this year. Overall I do like the Thunder's depth better, but in a game with Westbrook coming back 7.5 pts is a few too many.