Despite my brother and his fiancee calling it home, Los Angeles and I currently aren’t on speaking terms after first the Rams and then the Chargers shot themselves in the foot enough to ruin what should have been a winning Sunday. But sometimes these things happen, and Moneyline Monday has always given us a good chance to get right. Here are my best plays for September 20.
BLUE JAYS, +115
The Jays need this game to stay in control of their spot in the AL wild card race, and the Rays are handing the ball to rookie Shane Baz. And I’m getting plus money to take Toronto on the moneyline here? Tampa Bay is coasting down the stretch, and Toronto is in full-blown pennant race mode, because the Jays need wins right now and the Rays don’t even have to play .500 baseball over the final two weeks to win the AL East.
CARDINALS, +185
This is based on one reason: I don’t trust Freddy Peralta against St. Louis. In his past two starts against the Cardinals, he’s been chased from the game in just two innings and gave up seven runs in those two appearances. Milwaukee only needs two wins out of four to lock up the NL Central on its home field, so the Brewers likely won’t sweat dropping one game to a red-hot Cardinals squad.
ATHLETICS, -165
The Mariners have had Oakland’s number as of late, winning five straight against the Athletics, but Sean Manaea has had Seattle’s number, holding the Mariners to one run in 16 innings of work against them in 2021. Oakland comes in riding a five-game winning streak, and both teams are equally desperate in this series, as Seattle’s toast with anything but a sweep and Oakland is probably out of it if it loses this series. I’ll take the desperate team at home.
PACKERS FIRST HALF, -400
Well, this isn’t even worth doing, except to get back on the state of Wisconsin’s good side after that Brewers pick for the next time I want to attend GermanFest (which I highly recommend). The reality is that Green Bay hasn’t looked great against the Lions in recent years (Detroit is 7-1 ATS in their past eight meetings) and looked awful against New Orleans, but things are rarely as good or as bad as they seem in Week 1 (Seahawks and Titans, looking in your direction). Green Bay should be able to roll to an early lead here. This is one where you take the small profit and get out.
