Griff's MLB Picks: July 23

Here are my picks for Thursday, July 23: (run lines from SportsPlays.com)


Minnesota Twins (+1.5) vs. Los Angeles Angels

The Twins start Ervin Santana, who has been terrific since returning from his suspension, against Garrett Richards. The Angels' offense might be too good for the Twins, but Ervin will at least keep them within a run.

Los Angeles Dodgers (-1.5) vs. New York Mets

Clayton Kershaw takes the hill against Bartolo Colon in this matchup. Kershaw has pitched scoreless baseball dating back to a game against the Mets in early July. The Mets have struggled a bit on offense and will need to take advantage of Kershaw early if they want to thwart my pick in this game.

New York Yankees (-1.5) vs. Baltimore Orioles

Masahiro Tanaka makes his debut for the second half of the season against Ubaldo Jiminez. I like my chances with the Yankees offense that's been very successful against Jiminez in recent meetings.

Washington Nationals (+1.5) vs. Pittsburgh Pirates

Doug Fister has been phenomenal against the Pirates' hitters, and only two of Pittsburgh's hitters have driven in runs off of Fister. The Pirates start Francisco Liriano, but their scuffling as of late leads me to pick the Nats, especially with Washington being underdogs.

Three Draft Kings No-Doubters:

1) Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers

He's thrown 20 scoreless innings and facing the Mets. The price will be high, but it'll be worth it.

2) Yoenis Cespedes, Tigers

Cespedes has owned Hisashi Iwakuma, facing him 27 times. Of those 27 times, he's hitting .407 with home runs and seven RBI's.

3) Adrian Gonzalez, Dodgers

Gonzalez has found success against Bartolo Colon in the 13 times that he's faced him, hitting for a .538 average that includes a home run.

As always, thanks for reading! Be sure to follow me on Twitter @griffaldo for more picks and the rest of my work!