BASEBALL MLB ARTICLES

Coming out of the All-Star Break, the Chicago Cubs are hosting the St. Louis Cardinals in a usual five-game series including a doubleheader on Saturday. The first game of the doubleheader is a make-up of an April 16 postponement with the night game of the day-night twin bill the original scheduled contest. In that night cap, the Cardinals have John Gant coming up to make the start while Tyler Chatwood will get the nod looking for his first win against the Cards in his third start against them th... 

The Nation’s Capital was the center of the baseball world this past week, but eyes will remain on Washington D.C. as the season resumes with the Washington Nationals hosting the Atlanta Braves in a best of three series. Important for the dynamics of the NL East, Washington will be trying to climb back in the division race with the Braves do their best to keep the Nationals down as they battle with the Phillies for the top spot in the division. ... 

There was a ton of storylines coming out of the All-Star Game, but the two biggest featured the Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers for very different reasons. From old tweets from Josh Hader to the saga of Manny Machado—which indirectly impacts both teams, these two teams were the spotlight and now get ready to kick off their respective second halves in a head-to-head battle on Friday. ... 

Not to miss a chance to showcase one of the game’s biggest rivalries, the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs will kick off the second half of the season for MLB with a primetime matchup on Thursday night. The only Thursday game on the schedule, the All-Star break is cut a bit short for these two clubs as the Cubs send Kyle Hendricks to the hill against the Cardinals who have yet to announce their starter for this game.... 

Every year injuries to players like Clayton Kershaw and Carlos Correa prevent some of the game’s bigger stars from getting a chance to take center stage, but instead the door is opened for up-and-coming players to get into the national spotlight. This year’s crop of first time All-Stars include exciting youngsters like Ozzie Albies and Eddie Rosario while also giving a chance to grizzled veterans like Nick Markakis and Charlie Morton. As always, the game will feature the best of the best in Major League Baseball and although there’s nothing riding on the game, pride is still a strong motivating factor for both the AL and NL teams. ... 

BookMaker is the only online sportsbook where you can get the earliest MLB moneylines, runlines, totals and props. If you want to wager on baseball odds like the pros do, you need to join BookMaker today! The MLB Home Run Derby will take place on Monday, July 16, 2018 at 8 p.m. ET at Marlins Park. The event will be televised live on ESPN. ... 

It’s been an interesting first half for both the Seattle Mariners and Colorado Rockies as they meet on Sunday for the finale of their weekend series and first halves. Both teams will look to head into the All-Star break with a win under their belt and feeling good heading in the second half. Seattle, of course, is sitting in a better position than the Rockies, but both will be playing in meaningful games coming out of the break, pushing for the postseason.... 

In a potential postseason preview, the Cleveland Indians will host the New York Yankees in game three of a four game series on Saturday. The Indians, a benefactor of a weak division are virtual locks to win the AL Central while the Yankees are in a heated battle for the AL East despite boasting ten more wins than Cleveland. While both teams go with their aces in the series opener, this Saturday night showdown offers an interesting pitching matchup of its own with C.C. Sabathia starting for the Yankees and Mike Clevinger on the bump for the Tribe. ... 

Despite the names, the Los Angeles Angels and Los Angeles Dodgers are not exactly crosstown rivals like the Mets and Yankees or Cubs and White Sox. Nevertheless, these two teams do still have a friendly—at least sometimes, friendly—interleague rivalry. Of late, it’s the Dodgers with the edge in that rivalry. The Dodgers will host the Angels over the weekend looking to extend that edge though it was the Angels that took the series when the two teams met down in Anaheim earlier this year. Can the Dodgers return the favor in a best of three over the weekend? ... 

The Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox continue their four-game series on Friday the 13^th at historic Fenway Park for the second game of the series. Boston has owned the Blue Jays—and most of the rest of the AL—to this point in the season, winning seven of nine meetings. Rick Porcello will be tasked with keeping that going on Friday as he gets the start for Boston. The Jays haven’t yet revealed their scheduled starter for the contest.... 

The Washington Nationals head to Citi Field on Thursday for the first of four against the division rival New York Mets. While the Mets were supposed to be the Nationals’ biggest competition for the division, the two teams have turned into the biggest disappointments so far as Washington desperately tries to stay in the mix as New York continues to fade into the bottom of the NL standings. Now, the Nationals, behind Max Scherzer, will try to take advantage of their matchup against the Mets even w... 

The Texas Rangers and Boston Red Sox will close out a three-game series on Wednesday night with Texas’ Bartolo Colon going for the record for most career wins by a Latin American pitcher. The veteran right-hander will have his work cut out for him if he’s to achieve that record, facing one of the game’s best teams and one of the league’s best pitchers with All-Star southpaw Chris Sale toeing the rubber for the Sox. ... 

The San Francisco Giants and Chicago Cubs meet for the second and final time this season in a three-game series. This time, it’ll be the Giants hosting. These two teams don’t exactly have a rivalry going, but here in the 2018 season, it is interesting to note that these two teams represent the last teams to win a World Series in an even-numbered season since the Philadelphia Phillies took the 2008 Fall Classic a decade ago. ... 

Not exactly a premium matchup of World Series, but the Minnesota Twins will play host to the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday night, pinning two teams with their eyes towards the future against each other. These divisions rivals won’t have aces battling it out on Tuesday, but it does look to be a fair matchup based on the starters as the Twins will go with Aaron Sledge and the Royals haven’t announced their starter as their rotation is decimated by injury and ineffectiveness. ... 

The Washington Nationals and Pittsburgh Pirates feel like they’re in two different classes and, in fact, the Nationals are buyers while the Pirates are likely sellers. Nevertheless, as these two teams get set for the first in a three-game series on Monday, the two are rather close based on the record. The Pirates will host the Nationals on Monday looking to take advantage of the Nationals’ struggles while Washington hopes Pittsburgh can offer easier wins compared to their more recent opponents.... 

The Los Angeles Dodgers will close out their three-game series against the Los Angeles Angels on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball. While it’s not really a battle for Los Angeles, these two are interleague rivals and do share a city in name despite no being exactly geographically correct. The rivalry makes it a fun matchup for these west coast teams. The Dodgers will try and put the nail in the coffin to the Angel’s slimmest of postseason hopes while the Angels may be nothing more than spoilers for teams like the Dodgers at this point. ... 

Typically primetime, nationally televised games feature a balanced matchup of contending teams, but on Saturday, FOX will feature one of the game’s best teams against one of its worst as the rebuilding Kansas City Royals play host to the Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox will throw David Price in the contest against the Royals’ rookie right-hander Brad Keller who has impressed so far in his young career. ... 

This weekend will feature a big series between the NL East and NL Central leaders in what could be a postseason preview. For now, it’s just a series between the Atlanta Braves and Milwaukee Brewers, but will serve as a statement series with Saturday’s game broadcast nationally. Both these teams are starting to get more national air time as they continue playing well. We’ll see which can thrive on the big stage Saturday with the Braves turning to veteran Anibal Sanchez to make the start and the Brewers have Brett Suter lined up to take the ball. ... 

In the late game on Independence Day, the Arizona Diamondbacks will host the St. Louis Cardinals in the desert in the finale of a three-game series against two NL contenders. This is a big series by both teams, already in the heat of divisional races. We have a prime pitching matchup in this contest, too, as two of the NL’s biggest surprises square off with Miles Mikolas and Patrick Corbin both scheduled to take the mound in the series finale.... 

It’s fitting that the city of Philadelphia would be featured in a nationally televised game on the Fourth of July, but this game may not be the most balanced of matchups as the Philadelphia Phillies continue their push for the postseason against the Baltimore Orioles in the finale of a brief two-game series. To make things more imbalanced, the Phillies send ace Aaron Nola to the hill to mystify the Birds who have yet to announce their starter for the contest. ... 

The New York Yankees will host the Atlanta Braves in a best-of-three series this week as the team with the second-best record in the AL host the team with the second-best record in the NL. Despite a similar positioning in their respective leagues, the Yankees entered Sunday with six more wins than the Braves. Atlanta still has more to prove this season than the Yankees, but a good showing in a three-game series against the Bronx Bombers would sure make a statement. ... 

The Boston Red Sox will have a pitcher hitting for just the third time all season and first since April 3 when they head to Washington, D.C. to take on the Washington Nationals in their third interleague series of the year. The Sox are picking a good time to play the Nationals as they continue to struggle offensively. Rick Porcello will try and take advantage of the struggling offense as he pitches the series opener on Monday and tries to outduel former teammate Max Scherzer. ... 

The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox will wrap up the latest installment of their heated rivalry Sunday when the Bronx Bombers host the Sox for the finale of three. This is just the matchup ESPN loves to show on Sunday Night Baseball. As tired as some fans are of the Boston versus New York rivalry, the matchup sells and makes great television. This one is particularly great given David Price and Luis Severino are slated to take the mound. ... 

The Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals meet up for the middle game of a three-game weekend series on Saturday in a nationally televised game. Both the Cardinals and Braves find themselves in the middle of contention here as the midway point to the season draws near. This game—and series—could be a playoff preview for two historic teams who are looking to get back to October baseball. In this game, the pitching matchup could feature a couple exciting youngsters with Luke Weaver against one of the Braves youngsters coming up to replace Brandon McCarthy. ... 

The middle game of three between the Colorado Rockies and Los Angeles Dodgers is slated for national television on Saturday. It’ll feature two teams heading in completely opposite directions, one in a heated battle for the top spot in the NL West and the other desperately trying to hold on to relevance as it slips closer and closer to moving from buyer to seller at the non-waiver trade deadline. For the Rockies, the bleeding needs to stop now. They’re expected to send German Marquez to the mound on Saturday to make the start opposite Kenta Maeda for the Dodgers. ...