Case of the Mondays: Brewers, Dodgers Making National League More Interesting

by Ricky Dimon - 7/24/2017

Less than two weeks into the proverbial second half of the season, things are-and maybe continue to be-tightening up in the National League. The Brewers are ice cold and the Dodgers are dealing with an injury to ace Clayton Kershaw. Meanwhile, headlines are still flooding in fast and furiously in basketball and football even though it's the offseason.

All odds provided by BetOnline Sportsbook .

Milwaukee Brewers . Milwaukee led the Cubs by 5.5 games in the NL Central at the all-star break. Lead: gone. In just about the blink of an eye, the Brewers have seen their advantage evaporate by compiling 3-7 second-half record so far. That has coincided with a surging Chicago club going 8-1 in its last nine outings. The defending World Series champions swept Baltimore and Atlanta before taking two of three games against division rival St. Louis. Milwaukee is 1-7 in its last eight contests and slugger Eric Thames (23 home runs) has not gone deep since July 4. Thames is +3300 to lead the majors in home runs.

Clayton Kershaw . Kershaw left after two innings of Sunday's start against Atlanta due to tightness on the right side of his lower back. The three-time Cy Young Award winner, who is 15-2 with s 2.04 ERA, is heading to the disabled list-already occupied by teammate and fellow starter Brandon McCarthy (blister). Los Angeles held off the Braves 5-4 in extra innings in the series finale but still went just 2-2 in the four-game set. "Obviously I'm not optimistic, just because I got taken out of the game," Kershaw admitted. "But at the same time, it's not as bad as it could be." The Dodgers are +125 favorites to win the National League Pennant and +275 favorites to win the World Series .

Cleveland Cavaliers . The offseason has gone from bad to worse in Cleveland. It already included the departure of general manager David Griffin, a failed trade attempt for Paul George, and an unsuccessful attempt to bring Chauncey Billups into the front office. Now Kyrie Irving is demanding a trade, hoping to go elsewhere to emerge from the shadow of LeBron James while being the No. 1 offensive option for some other team. Irving, however, is even money to play his first game of the 2017-18 season with Cleveland.

Hugh Freeze . Freeze is out as head coach at Ole Miss. Even though his tenure with the Rebels was a tumultuous one, the end came suddenly last Thursday. Freeze resigned after school officials uncovered a pattern of questionable behavior that included phone calls to a female escort service. "While coach Freeze served our university well in many regards during his tenure, we simply cannot accept the conduct in his personal life that we have discovered," Ole Miss chancellor Jeffrey Vitter explained. Matt Luke, who has been the co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach for the past five seasons, will be the interim head coach. Current SMU head coach Chad Morris is a +300 favorite to officially succeed Freeze.

Teddy Bridgewater . Although this news is far from unexpected, it's still not good for Bridgewater. The Vikings' quarterback is expected to begin training camp on the physically-unable-to-perform list after missing all of last season with a torn ACL. Bridgewater, who sustained the major knee injury in late August of 2016, has been rehabbing with teammates during organized team activities and has thrown passes in individual workouts. Sam Bradford, whom Minnesota signed when Bridgewater went down, is penciled in as the team's starter for 2017. The Vikings' over/under win total for the regular season is set at 8.5.

Mikel Landa . Landa was on the Tour de France winning team (Sky) with overall individual champion Chris Froome, and he came close to landing a spot on the final podium. Close but no cigar. The Spaniard almost overcame Romain Bardet in last Saturday's time trial, but he came up one second short and settled for fourth place. "It's a shame that after so many kilometers and many uphill finishes, in which you are never trying to get one second, today by a second I had to say goodbye to the podium. Maybe it is my lack of experience. I can think of many moments in which I could have won that second.... I'm very happy for the team, but I feel very angry about that second."

Matt Kuchar . When Jordan Spieth found the green on 12 at the Masters during an offseason practice round less than a year after collapsing on that hole in the final round, he exclaimed, "demons gone!" But only now are the fully gone. Fifteen months following his meltdown at Augusta National and with no more major titles to his credit, Spieth ended his relative slump by triumphing at the British Open on Sunday. And he did it in perhaps the best possible way: recovering incredibly well on the heels of what looked like another collapse. The 23-year-old responded to a wild bogey on the 13 ^th to go birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie and erase Kuchar's hopes of lifting the claret jug. Kuchar, who was seeking his first major, did little wrong en route to a final-round 69 and briefly came back from three shots down to take the lead with five holes left. But he could do nothing amidst Spieth's amazing onslaught from holes 14 through 17 and the 39-year-old ultimately lost by the same three-shot margin. Spieth is a +800 co-favorite with Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy to win next month's PGA Championship.

Want free sports betting picks? Doc's Sports has you covered - get $60 worth of picks free from any of Doc's Sports expert handicappers. Click here for free picks (new clients only) .

Start:	November 22, 2024 @ 11:59 PM
Expert:	Arun Shiva (Indian Cowboy)
Free $60 Account Sign Up

Case of the Mondays: Brewers, Dodgers Making National League More Interesting

Most Recent Weekly Sports Betting and Handicapping