Jim Feist Handicapper Review & Free Sports Picks

The Dodgers broke their five game losing streak with a win over the Giants on Wednesday, 4-3. They had Thursday off to stew in their recent lackluster efforts. Walker Beuhler starts tonight for LA with a 5-3 record in his 14 starts and a 2.80 ERA. Beuhler has had a very solid season, allowing two runs or less in five of his last six starts. LA has fallen to third in the NL West, two games back of the Diamondbacks. Meanwhile, Seattle has also fallen to third place in the AL West, now 4.5 back of the Astros. Seattle also had Thursday off after winning Wednesday over the A's, 2-0, but losing two of three to their AL West contenders Oakland. Wade Leblanc has been excellent this season, posting a 7-2 mark in his 19 starts with a 3.70 ERA. Leblanc has allowed just three runs over his last 11 1/3 innings after a seven inning performance vs Houston the game before. We get Seattle at home as a dog and that's hard to pass on here. There is a lot of value with today's dog. Take Seattle.

The Oakland A's have been one of the hottest teams in baseball of late and have closed a once enormous NL West gap to just two games behind the Astros. That makes this three game set with the division leaders their biggest of the season. The A's did take two of three from Seattle, but lost the finale on Wednesday, 0-2. Still, the team is 11-3 in their last 14 games. Edwin Jackson starts tonight with his 4-2 record in his nine starts. Jackson has a respectable 2.48 ERA and has allowed no earned runs over his last three starts (19 1/3 innings). The Astros snapped a five game losing streak with a win over Colorado on Wednesday, 12-1. Charlie Morton starts tonight and has been one of the best pitchers for the Astros this year. Morton is 12-3 on the season with a 2.88 ERA. Morton has been solid, allowing no more than three runs in any of his last five starts. Still, getting the red-hot A's as a home dog with Jackson on the hill is too much to pass on. Take the A's.

The Chicago Cubs have opened up a 3.5 game lead in the NL Central, while the Pirates have now fallen to 10 games back and are out of the 2018 playoff race. The Cubs will start Cole Hamels tonight, with a 7-9 record and a 4.22 ERA. Hamels has been great of late, allowing two total runs over his last three starts (18 innings). The Pirates have lost four straight and not scored over four runs in any of those games. Trevor Williams will start tonight with a 10-8 record and 3.66 ERA. He's been amazing lately, shutting our four of his last five opponents and allowing just two total runs over his last 29 innings. This game has UNDER written all over it. Play the UNDER.

The St Louis Cardinals have turned-up the heat in the NL Central, now cutting the Cubs lead to just five games. Moreover, they have closed to within 1.5 games of second place Milwaukee and 1.5 games back of a Wild Card spot. The Brewers have won just two of their last six and three of their last nine. Freddy Peralta starts tonight with a 5-3 record in his 11 starts and a 4.47 ERA. Peralta was hit hard last time out, allowing seven earned runs over just three innings to the Braves. The Cardinals saw their nine-game win streak snapped on Thursday night to the Nationals, 4-5. The pitching has been great, allowing over three runs just three times in their last 11 games. Jack Flaherty starts tonight with a 6-6 record and 3.14 ERA. Flaherty has held his lat two opponents to just two total runs (13 innings) with four walks and 16 KO's. The Cardinals are the hot team right now and I like them here tonight. Play St Louis.

 Both these clubs won their week 1 preseason games, with the Cardinals beating the LA Chargers and the Saints beating Jacksonville, 24-20. Most of the Cardinals starters played about 12 snaps in week 1. Typically, week 2 will find them playing the first quarter or until halftime. HC Steve Wilks has put a lot on the shoulders of QB Josh Rosen. Rosen needs improvement in week 2, after completing just 6-of-13 passes in week 1 for 41 yards. Tonight he'll get a better chance with the starting line in front of him. Wilks plans on playing Rosen more with the top offensive line tonight. It's not certain how long Saints QB Drew Brees will be in the lineup, but I don't expect long. Backup Tayson Hill looked good last week, completing eight of his nine passes and rushing seven times for 52 yards. RB Mark Ingram will miss the first two games of the regular season with his suspension. However, he can play in the preseason and likely will get more action than normal. He rushed for 23 yards and a TD last week. A lot in this game depends on how Rosen plays and if last week is any indication, he's going to need a lot more work. Play New Orleans.

The Cleveland Browns have lots to be optimistic about this season with the arrival of QB's Tyrod Taylor and rookie Baker Mayfield. The Browns have won only one game the last two regular seasons, but they have won five games in the preseason the last two years, including last week against the Giants. Taylor may have some extra incentive tonight against his old team mates. Today may highlight both rookie QB's, Mayfield for Cleveland and Josh Allen for the Bills. Both should get plenty of action. Mayfield looked very good in the win last week against the Giants, connecting on 11-of-20 passes for 212 yards and two TD's. Allen, also looked good in their opener vs the Panthers - hitting 9 of 19 passes for 116 yards and a TD. With both rookies getting plenty of action in this game and wanting to impress, I like this game to go OVER.