opening day

Las Vegas - Take me out to the ballgame BAABBBEEE!!! Looks like Joey Votto might not be working today, which might normally lead me to wager on the Cardinals. But we're gonna stay with the home team and Luis Castillo is the reason we're kicking off 2021 with Cincy. Castillo is the ace of the staff now that Trevor Bauer is gone. Luis opened up 2020 with a gorgeous first outing, allowing only one earned run over six innings, with ELEVEN K's! In his only start last season against St. Louis, he was LIGHTS OUT. He posted an easy W with 9 innings of work, allowing just 2 hits and throwing 6 Ks on the board. Castillo had a solid spring training, starting three games, and working to a 1.93 ERA. Can't say the same about St. Loo's Jack Flaherty. He has started four times this spring, and been roughed up for 14 hits and 8 earned runs in just 13 innings (5.40 ERA). Always like to keep the first few wagers very thin until we have some meaningful pitching stats in the books, but you can color this one red, LIGHT red. Of course, if Votto is playing, we would upgrade the selection to Fire engine red!

If you were planning to drop a few pennies on Washington, DON'T. It was just announced that the Nationals will be missing six players due to COVID-19 protocols. The GM, Mike Rizzo, did not identify any of the six members of the organization who are involved.

OOPS. Never mind. The game has been PPD!!!

Also gonna take a quick trip out to L.A. and roll with the Nuggets over the Clippers. Denver is playing at a high level and the Clips just lost to Orlando. The Nuggs added Aaron Gordon to a very formidable lineup, and he'll still need some time to blend. But with Jamal Murray scoring 30 against the 76ers in the last game, Michael Porter Jr. with 27 and Nikola Jokic dropping a blackjack (21), anything that Gordon puts on the board is a yuge bonus. And if the Clippers are without Paul George again, you can BOOK IT!

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