After spending most of the 2019 regular season scuffling with the Tampa Bay Rays, the New York Yankees may be pulling away, winning eight of ten to take a 4 ½-game lead in the American League East. Minnesota continues to have the best record in all of the American League, though, the first team in the junior circuit to win 50 games, and leading Cleveland in the AL Central by eight games. In the AL West, Houston is stumbling a bit, having dropped seven of ten, and the Texas Rangers have crept within 6 ½ games. In the National League, the Atlanta Braves are pulling away from Philadelphia, growing their lead in the Eastern Division to 6 ½ games as the Phillies have now dropped nine of ten. Acquiring closer Craig Kimbrel has not helped the Chicago Cubs pull away from Milwaukee in the NL Central; while the Brewers have dropped seven of ten, the Cubs have dropped six, and they lead by just a half-game. Meanwhile, the St. Louis Cardinals have crept within two games of the division lead. In the NL West, the Dodgers are pulling away, leading Colorado by 13 games and leading all of MLB with a 54-25 record. We have two primo MLB betting picks for those considering a wager in the national pastime for this coming week.

Top MLB Betting Picks of the Week – June 24th Edition

New club takes over Power Rankings’ top spot https://t.co/X1uXYyYmNf via @MLB

— kitty cat (@kittycatrj) June 24, 2019

Tuesday, June 25

N.Y. Mets at Philadelphia (7:05pm ET)

• Projected Pitching Matchup: Walker Lockett (0-1, 23.14 ERA) (NY) vs Jake Arrieta (6-6, 4.12 ERA) (PHL)

If there is a team in the National League in a worse spiral than the Phillies, it might be the New York Mets. Following a loss to the Chicago Cubs this weekend, manager Mickey Callaway was upset by a reporter’s remark and told the reporter (using more colorful language) to get out of the clubhouse, and then player Jason Vargas threatened to punch the reporter and charged at him, with two other Mets having to hold him back. In this atmosphere, the Mets will send Walker Lockett to the hill after a dreadful debut on June 20 in which he lasted just 2 ⅓ innings, permitting six earned runs on five hits and a walk in a 7-4 loss to those same Cubs. With rumors surrounding Callaway’s job, will the clubhouse come together or start to fall apart? Jake Arrieta made a lot of noise in the off-season with regard to his desire for the Phillies to spend and make themselves more competitive in the National League East in 2019. His pitching had been fairly inconsistent, to say the least, until the last two starts, as he held Arizona and Washington to four earned runs on eight hits over 12 innings combined, striking out eight and walking five. If he can get back to pitching deep into games and delivering commanding stuff, then Philadelphia has a chance to creep back into the division race. I see him putting together a third solid performance against a distracted Mets lineup. MLB Betting Prediction: Philadelphia 5, New York 1

Wednesday, June 26

Chicago White Sox at Boston (1:05pm ET)

• Projected Pitching Matchup: Reynaldo Lopez (4-7, 6.23 ERA) (CHI) vs Chris Sale (3-7, 3.59 ERA) (BOS)

Reynaldo Lopez looked sharp in a 5-2 win over Kansas City on June 9, but since then he has been shelled by the Yankees and the Rangers, permitting eight earned runs on 12 hits (including three home runs) in 11 ⅓ combined innings. The White Sox dropped two of three against the Rangers over the weekend and have slipped to three games under .500. They take on a Boston team that has scuffled all season long and even now is just five games over .500, and Chris Sale’s pitching performance has mirrored that inconsistency. He threw a complete-game shutout of the Royals on June 5, striking out a dozen, and he was terrific on June 10 against Texas, striking out ten and permitting just a run on three hits, only to see the bullpen spit up the win, as the Rangers rallied to win, 4-3. Since then, though, he has limited Baltimore and Toronto to five earned runs combined over 11 innings. He definitely has the stuff to outpitch Lopez in this matinee. MLB Betting Prediction: Boston 6, Chicago 2