Wednesday, August 9th Business Person Special

Most Business Person Specials consist of shootin’ the shit, throwin’ back a few cold ones, and lying to your boss about how well the sales pitch went with your new potential client. But make no mistake Brian LaFevre’s of the world, this games going to be strictly business. With absolutely nothing to watch on the field today, every sales exec whose stuck attending this afternoon’s game in Queens better put on their big boy/girl’s pants and pump up the charm because this nightmare of a game will provide 0 entertainment value. If you’re putting a gun to my head, I’ll guess I’ll go home team. Mets win today’s #BPS opener in front of an empty Citi Field.

Trevor Bauer is a man on a mission. After putting to bed Toronto, LA, and then the Yankees on Friday, this righty is coming out hungry to take on one of the National League’s best. It won’t come with ease however as Colorado sports one of the strongest offensive lineups in baseball. All year I’ve boasted about how good the Rockies lineup is as the young talent they’ve worked so hard to accumulate over the years has finally come to fruition; but it’s no surprise how mightily Colorado can struggle outside of Coor’s field. The Indians are legit, and are priming themselves for another World Series run as they begin to cement themselves as leaders in the Central. This will be the game to watch, but with how dominant Bauer has been lately, and how cold I expect Antonio Senzatela to be after a stint on the DL, my pick goes to Cleveland.

(Sniff, Sniff) You smell that? I smell our first #BPS UPSET! I woke up puzzled this morning to see the line Vegas put out on this game. The Mariners are hot right now. Winners of 7 of their last 10, Seattle is fighting tooth and nail to secure themselves a spot in the AL Wildcard race; no way are they letting this one get away from them. Neither pitcher injects any confidence in me either which way on this one so I’m going with offense, and that I know the Mariners have. Expect a good old fashion moon shot from Robinson Cano today as Seattle sends Jharel Cotton to the wood shed.

Oooo this one’s good. Neither Baltimore or Los Angeles have provided many headlines this year, and for many fans, have been forgotten about completely, but like a stingy argument your girlfriend brings up after months of it lying dormant, both the Orioles and the Angels have maintained relevancy in this year’s playoff race. Every win is important here, and if you can take one from a contender, it means even more. Baltimore has elected to place star prospect, 26 year old, Kevin Gausman on the mound for this afternoon’s series finale and that shows me they mean business. The former 4th overall pick in the 2012 MLB Draft has pitched gem after gem for the O’s and has not surrendered a loss since June 21st. I believe Gausman is battle tested and is aware of the situation at hand this afternoon, and for that reason, I pick Baltimore.

Man this one’s tough…The San Francisco Giants are arguably the worst team in baseball. The only team with 70 losses, San Fran just hasn’t been able to get anything going this season and by no means deserves any consideration in a #BPS pick ‘em game (especially not against the defending World Series Champions), but today they have decided to put Big Dog, Madison Bumgarner on the mound… A 3x World Series champion and 2014 World Series MVP, Madison Bumgarner is one of the most lethal pitchers in baseball. Although the righty has missed the majority of this year’s season with a shoulder injury after crashing his dirt bike in late April, he is not a pitcher to take lightly. In fact, with the exception of Wilson Contreras and Ben Zobrist, not a single batter in the Cubs order holds a batting average over .145 against Bumgarner lifetime (an eye-popping stat that makes this pick so challenging). But making the challenging picks is what my readers have come to expect of me and I don’t expect that to change that now. Hold faith in the Cubbies. Chicago wins it in a dog fight that might not eclipse 3 runs total amongst both teams.