It's rare to get Chris Sale as an underdog especially when facing a past-his-prime, inconsistent Justin Verlander, whose ERA is 4.68 compared to Sale's 2.20. Detroit has lost four of the past five times when Verlander has pitched following a quality start during his last appearance.

Sale is 7-1 in day games this season with a 1.96 ERA. Verlander has a 4.67 ERA in day action.

Verlander did pitch well in his last start holding the Royals to one run in 7 1/3 innings this past Friday. Previous to that, though, Verlander had a 6.05 ERA in three September starts.

Sale wasn't sharp in his last outing giving up five runs and nine hits in five innings in a 6-2 loss to Kansas City last Wednesday. However, Sale had seven quality starts in a row prior to that. Sale had yielded just four earned runs in his last four starts before facing the Royals last week with 33 strikeouts in 27 innings during that span.

Sale is battling Felix Hernandez for the ERA title so he and the White Sox should be motivated. Chicago has displayed recent resiliency going 5-1 following a loss,. Sale has a 2.93 career ERA mark versus the Tigers in 20 games. He should be strong with extra rest.

This is Rice's lone September home game and I expect the Owls to perform well. After losing to Texas A&M; and Notre Dame on the road, the Owls not only finally get to play at home but step way down in class. Rice has covered seven of its past 10 home contests. Rice is 5-2 ATS as home chalk. The Owls, by the way, outgained Texas A&M; and had five more first downs than the Aggies.

I respect Old Dominion's offense, but the Monarchs are new to Conference USA moving up to Division I level. Rice has some rebuilding, but the Owls won the league title last year earned a bowl bid for the second consecutive year. There's a certain confidence level that goes with that.

It raises a red flag about Old Dominion that the Monarchs struggled to beat Eastern Michigan, a terrible MAC team, last week.

UMass is much improved offensively from last season. The Minutemen have put up 69 points and more than 700 yards combined during their last two games.

Penn State is tough versus the run, but the Minutemen can test the Nittany Lions through the air. UMass quarterback Blake Frohnapfel and wide receiver Tajae Sharpe have proven to be a good combination. Sharpe has hauled in 15 passes for 246 yards.

Penn State quarterback Christian Hackenberg has thrown for 1,082 yards while completing 62.2 percent of his passes. He is an emerging talent. He can correct Penn State's red zone difficulties against such a weak defense as the Minutemen are giving up 35 points per game and more than 417 yards per game.

The Saints have been invincible at home going 17-0 SU and 16-1 ATS the past 17 times at the Superdome when Sean Payton is the coach.

The Saints are in an ugly frame of mind, too, after blowing late leads to the Falcons and Browns on the road to start 0-2.

The Vikings gave up the most points last year. Drew Brees can take advantage with Jimmy Graham, Marques Colston and other weapons he has.

New Orleans averaged 34 points at home last year. The Saints' defense is better than it has looked this year and will get to tee off on journeyman Matt Cassel.

The Packers' defense remains disappointing lucky not to have surrendered at least 31 points at home last week to the offensively-challenged Jets. Green Bay has surrendered at least 26 points in 10 of its last 13 games. Last year, Green Bay gave up an average of 30.8 points on the road and already yielded 36 in a Week 1 loss to Seattle.

The Lions have a lot of weapons, including Calvin Johnson. The Packers haven't been able to match up to him.

The Packers have plenty of weapons of their own and have a huge revenge motive to pile up points after the Lions embarrassed them, 40-10, on Thanksgiving. Green Bay was missing Aaron Rodgers in that game. The Packers losing James Jones in the off-season has been offset by the emergence of rookie Davante Adams. Rodgers should have no problem lighting up a Detroit secondary that has multiple injuries and was thin to start.

Green Bay has played in six dome games since 2012 and gone over in five of them. The setting is perfect here for a shootout between Rodgers and Matthew Stafford.

Baltimore no longer is an elite team, but the Ravens still have the better talent and have had extra time to rest and prepare. Their swagger is back, too, after destroying the Steelers.The Ravens are 12-2, including 9-5 ATS, under John Harbaugh when having more than seven days between games.

Baltimore's offensive line has improved significantly both against the run and in pass protection. I'm not a big fan of Joe Flacco, but he's in the right role of game manager and is a level higher than Brian Hoyer.

The Browns have the worst skill position players in the league. Their passing problems will be made worse if tight end Jordan Cameron has to miss a second straight game. The Browns caught the Steelers by surprise opening week switching to a no-huddle in the second half. The Ravens now have film on that.

The Ravens have dominated this series winning 11 of the past 12 times, going 8-4 ATS.

The Cubs have become a worthy opponent thanks to their hungry and highly promising youngsters, who have invaded their roster now. Chicago is 32-27 in its last 59 home games and like most seasons have played their long-time rivals, the Cardinals, tough at Wrigley Field splitting the first six games of the season.

The pitching matchup highly favors the Cardinals with Adam Wainwright facing southpaw Travis Wood. However, there are circumstances that make the Cubs a very live 'dog here.

The Cardinal had to play last night instead of during the day. They clinched at least a wild-card spot yesterday despite losing 7-2 to the Reds. A big factor in the Cardinals' home loss to the Reds Sunday night was because of a virus that affected nearly half the team. Leadoff hitter Matt Carpenter and first baseman Matt Adams, who leads the team in batting, were so sick they couldn't even pinch-hit.

St. Louis' starting lineup contained reserves Daniel Descalso, Xavier Scruggs and Randall Grichuk. The Cardinals' bullpen was hit hard, too, by sickness with closer Trevor Rosenthal and setup man Seth Maness ill.

This is what Cardinals manager Mike Matheny was quoted as saying following the game, “Trying to use the pieces that we have. Try and get us through. We had a lot of guys unavailable. Almost as many unavailable as available. We had quite a few that just weren’t an option. Just something that we’re going to have to wade through."

Wainwright appears back on track after a 5.17 ERA in six August starts. He's won four straight starts with a 1.69 ERA. But his bullpen is depleted by sickness and he has a 4.25 lifetime ERA versus the Cubs.

Wood has had a disappointing season, but was sharp in his last start limiting the Reds to three hits in six scoreless innings. The Cardinals also are 20-17 against lefties compared to 67-52 versus right-handers.

In addition to this free selection, Stephen has his MLB Total of the Week going today.

Both teams are loose and playing well showing plenty of offense. The Rockies are averaging 6.1 runs in their last six games batting .375 during this span. San Diego is averaging 5.7 runs in its last four games.

I understand the Rockies hit far less away from Coors Field and are playing at Petco Park, the premier pitcher's park in the league. But I can see each team getting at least three runs, which would be enough to make this total go over.

The pitching matchup is Tyler Matzek against 17-game loser Eric Stults. These two just faced one another on Sept. 5. So the offenses should know what to be expecting. Matzek has a 4.29 career ERA versus the Padres in three starts. Matzek was fortunate to allow just two runs in 5 1/3 innings during his last start this past Tuesday against the Dodgers, who got 11 hits off him.

The left-handed Stults has a 4.88 career ERA against the Rockies in five starts. He was knocked out in the fifth inning during his last start this past Wednesday against the Phillies after surrendering four runs.

The Rockies faced two lefthanders during their just completed series against the Diamondbacks. They scored a combined 15 runs in those games against southpaws Vidal Nuno and Wade Miley, both of whom had been pitching well. Red-hot Justin Morneau, batting .415 in his last 11 games and bidding for a batting title, is expected back in the Colorado lineup after resting on Sunday. Michael Cuddyer, last year's NL batting champ, also should play. He's hitting .448 in his last seven games.

It's rare to get Chris Sale as an underdog especially when facing a past-his-prime, inconsistent Justin Verlander, whose ERA is 4.68 compared to Sale's 2.20. Detroit has lost four of the past five times when Verlander has pitched following a quality start during his last appearance.

Sale is 7-1 in day games this season with a 1.96 ERA. Verlander has a 4.67 ERA in day action.

Verlander did pitch well in his last start holding the Royals to one run in 7 1/3 innings this past Friday. Previous to that, though, Verlander had a 6.05 ERA in three September starts.

Sale wasn't sharp in his last outing giving up five runs and nine hits in five innings in a 6-2 loss to Kansas City last Wednesday. However, Sale had seven quality starts in a row prior to that. Sale had yielded just four earned runs in his last four starts before facing the Royals last week with 33 strikeouts in 27 innings during that span.

Sale is battling Felix Hernandez for the ERA title so he and the White Sox should be motivated. Chicago has displayed recent resiliency going 5-1 following a loss,. Sale has a 2.93 career ERA mark versus the Tigers in 20 games. He should be strong with extra rest.