LA Dodgers vs. New York Mets September 12 Free Pick

By MLB

Here in Uganda chess is a great way to spend my time that would otherwise be spent watching baseball. And while it hasn’t made me any better of a handicapper, it’s helped me visualize the war between the Dodgers and Mets.

Despite a mediocrity that should invite competition from dark, dreary corners, I can’t find many worthy opponents over here. I’m superior to my most familiar challenger. He runs into a win every 10 games or so with the inherent advantage of playing white, which has to be our arrangement for competition’s sake.

It’s as though the Dodgers are the weaker side, playing white in the NLDS. Entering the short series, things were set up for their inherent advantage to make a difference with a top-heavy rotation and three home games. But New York has met LA’s first shot and now has the opportunity to hit back at home with a developmental advantage: pitching depth.

Free Pick

Matt Harvey in the postseason was all anybody could think about when Scott Boras drummed isblt up a month ago. Then that story got real old real quick but the whole innings limit, Mets Edition, makes for some nice reminiscing. It came before a September 8 start when Harvey went back under the same microscope he pitched beneath way back in April when he still had to prove he wasn’t spoiled goods. Things didn’t go well in DC. The Nats hit him for 7 runs in 5.1 but the Mets won. They’ve only won once in the three starts since but their man has been a lot better. He allowed 2 earned in the 17.2 (and 265 pitches) that made up that trio of outings and finished it all with 11 K’s two Saturdays ago at home. It’s hard to believe that anyone reading would need me to endorse Matt Harvey in Game 3, so I won’t.

White had its chance and now its chances are built upon the flimsiness of Brett Anderson.

Free Pick: Mets -175

YTD: 27-22-5 -0.06

2014: 45-28-3 +9.02