MLB Free Pick - San Diego at Chicago

When the clubs collided in San Diego back in early April, the Padres took two of three games from Chicago, outscoring the Cubs 19-10 in those victories. But Chicago is 14-9 since dropping that three-game set, and it most recently picked up a 5-0 win over the visiting Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday. Thanks to that shutout, the Cubs continued to stay unbeaten in series at home (4-0-1).  Chicago starters Hayden Wesneski, Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad combined for 18 1/3 shutout innings in the series with Milwaukee, and now left-hander Justin Steele (0-0, 1.93) will look to give the Cubs a fourth straight quality start today.  In two career starts against the Padres, Steele has gone 1-0 with a 0.73 ERA.

Rating: 2 Units

Cleveland sports a .417 slugging percentage and .739 OPS at home, with 20 of its 33 long balls coming at Progressive Field. That's despite playing five more road games this season. The Guardians don't strike out too much (seventh-fewest per game) and were only fanned four times by Flaherty in seven innings last year. He may be coming off a stellar performance, but I doubt he'll command the strike zone like he did versus the Cardinals. I expect McKenzie to pitch well against a Tigers club that didn't perform up to expectations over the weekend. Detroit slashes .223/.298/.339/.637 on the road and .220/.301/.356/.656 vs. right-handers this season, as well. He hasn't allowed more than two runs in any of seven career outings versus Detroit and has tallied eight-plus Ks in four appearances. Once he exits, Cleveland's bullpen (2nd in ERA with the fewest HR allowed) will close the door on the visitors!

Rating: 2 Units

The Mariners send their ace to the hill on Monday night against the Twins. Castillo has won three straight starts and has not allowed a run in two of those three starts. He was particularly sharp in his last start, holding the Atlanta Braves' powerful lineup to just three hits and no runs while striking out seven batters in a 3-2 Mariners win. While the Twins have hit the ball better during this hot streak, they do not have a murderer's row of a lineup. Castillo will keep his team in the game and get into the backend of the bullpen today. He has pitched six or more innings in each of his last four starts. The Twins starter, Woods-Richardson, is relatively inexperienced and has had things go in his favor thus far despite giving up more hits than innings pitched this season. His luck will run out in the opener of this series today and the Mariners will open the series with a win.

Rating: 2 Units

The San Francisco Giants are struggling to win games due to the slumping offense. They have dropped five of their last six games. The Phillies have won nine of their last eleven games.  The Giants will have Mason Black make his MLB debut. While he has great numbers in the minor leagues this is not ideal against a potent offense. Philly starter, Zack Wheeler is a Cy Young candidate. The ace has been incredible, conceding only one run in his last three performances spanning 18.1 innings.

Rating: 2 Units

The offense struggled but the defense stepped up, allowing only 12 goals in the series. Hampus Lindholm and Charlie McAvoy led the top pairing while Brandon Carlo and Matt Grzelcyk added depth to the unit, creating turnovers in the defensive zone and limiting shots on the net. In addition, goaltender Jeremy Swayman stepped up in the net with a .950 save percentage and a 1.49 goals-against average on 181 shots with 8.1 goals saved above average. The Bruins swept the four-game regular season series against the Panthers.