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The San Francisco Giants (66-54) will try to end a four-game losing streak behind ace Madison Bumgarner (11-7, 2.11 ERA) when they host the New York Mets (60-60) on Thursday.

The Giants are listed as -160 betting favorites (bet $160 to win $100) at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark against the Mets, who will lean on ace Jacob deGrom (7-5, 2.30 ERA) to get them back on track.

Bumgarner ended a five-start winless streak last time out against the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday, pitching seven scoreless innings and allowing just three hits with three walks and eight strikeouts in a 6-2 victory.

The 27-year-old southpaw had not earned his previous win since before the MLB All-Star break, even though he gave up two runs or less three times in those five games, getting two runs of support or less four times.

For New York, the chances of a repeat run to the postseason look bleaker with each game, as the team is coming off a 13-5 road loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday. The Mets lost two of three at Arizona to fall back down to the .500 mark.

The good news is that they have won in the last three games deGrom has started, along with seven of the past nine. He is 4-1 during that stretch but owns a 2-3 mark away from home with a 2.83 ERA in nine starts and opponents hitting .268 against him.

The lanky righty has already beaten San Francisco once this season, surrendering no earned runs in six innings of a 6-5 home victory back on April 30.

Bumgarner has also defeated the Mets this year, throwing six scoreless frames in a 6-1 road win on May 1 with three walks and seven strikeouts. However, that is only one of two times the Giants have won in the past seven meetings following a 9-1 run in the series dating back to 2014, according to the Odds Shark MLB Database.

The over also cashed in the first three meetings between the teams this season in New York after going under in the previous three, all of which took place in San Francisco.

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The next time someone tells you that baseball is boring, kindly point their attention to the stretch run, which promises to be far more exciting and entertaining than any meaningless NFL preseason game could ever hope to be.

Three divisional races are tight, with less than five games separating first and second place (and in some cases, third place). Things are even more hectic in the wild-card race, with 11 teams within six games of a playoff berth.

With the waiver trade window open for only another two weeks, contenders are looking to bolster their rosters, trying to gain an advantage over the competition. Of course, contenders aren’t the only teams making noise in the rumor mill.

Are two former All-Star closers capable of helping their former teams embark on deep playoff runs? Is defense the only thing teams care about when the chance to add a veteran catcher presents itself? Is a top prospect ready to take the baseball world by storm?

We’ll hit on all that and more in this week’s edition of Fact or Fiction. 

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Monday saw Major League Baseball’s first trades of the waiver period, with former top-100 infield prospect Luis Sardinas traded from Seattle to San Diego in exchange for a player to be named later or cash, per the Mariners, while Atlanta catcher Michael McKenry to Milwaukee for what figures to be a similar return, per the Brewers.

Such is life during the waiver trade window, with the bulk of the deals made involving teams trading expendable pieces in exchange for nothing of significant value. For a refresher on how the whole process works, click here.

With more teams falling out of contention by the day and untimely injuries stretching the rosters of teams still in the playoff hunt, we can expect things to pick up over the next two weeks. What follows are trade ideas based on the latest chatter from the rumor mill.

Keep in mind that these proposed deals are pure speculation. Unless otherwise noted, there’s no indication that any of them have actually been discussed.

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The Boston Red Sox (65-52) bring a four-game winning streak into the first game of a two-game series with the Baltimore Orioles (66-51) on Tuesday at Camden Yards.

The Orioles lead the Red Sox by one game for second place in the American League East, and they are listed as small -108 favorites (bet $108 to win $100) at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark with veteran Yovani Gallardo (4-4, 5.17 ERA) on the hill.

Baltimore is just 15-15 since the MLB All-Star break and opens a key eight-game homestand with this game against a Boston team that has gone 16-14 during the same stretch.

Gallardo is 1-3 in the second half for the Orioles with two no-decisions, both of which eventually resulted in wins. This will be Gallardo’s first home start since July 25, when he allowed two runs and five hits in 6.2 innings of a 3-2 victory against the Colorado Rockies.

Gallardo was a tough-luck loser last time out on the road against the Oakland Athletics, giving up only one run and four hits in six innings of a 1-0 defeat.

The Red Sox will look to 23-year-old southpaw Eduardo Rodriguez (2-5, 5.43 ERA) to try to get them their fifth win in a row after a fairly solid month. Since getting pounded for nine runs and 11 hits in 2.2 innings of a 13-7 road loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, Rodriguez has surrendered three runs or fewer in each of his last six appearances.

Rodriguez’s last victory came on July 16 against the New York Yankees, as he has gone 0-2 with three no-decisions in his past five outings. He pitched great versus the Yankees in his last start on Thursday, allowing one run and three hits in seven innings of an eventual 4-2 loss.

Boston has lost four of the previous five meetings with Baltimore after winning three straight in the series, according to the Odds Shark MLB Database. In the 10 meetings overall this year, the over has a slight edge at 5-4-1.

The Red Sox closed last season with three consecutive shutouts of the Orioles, all of which went under the total.

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It’s been a busy week in baseball—and most of the action has come away from the field.

New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira announced that 2016 will be the last year of his professional career. Shortly thereafter, his teammate Alex Rodriguez let the world know he will be released by the club following Friday’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Finally, Texas Rangers slugger Prince Fielder revealed that, due to neck injuries, doctors won’t clear him to play baseball again, forcing his career to be cut short at the age of 32. 

There’s plenty to digest in those three events, but of course, that’s not all the news and chatter that made its way across the rumor mill in Week 19.

Was there a noticeable absence (no, not Derek Jeter) from A-Rod’s press conference? Should a player always go back home when given the chance? Is a contender’s injured star going to take the field again in 2016?

We’ll hit on all that and more in this week’s edition of Fact or Fiction.

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The St. Louis Cardinals (60-54) and Chicago Cubs (71-41) are both coming off wins heading into the opener of a key four-game series between the National League Central rivals on Thursday at Wrigley Field.

The Cubs are listed as -170 home favorites (bet $170 to win $100) at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark after getting swept by the Cardinals in a three-game series at Wrigley in late June.

Chicago, the clear NL pennant favorite, is a much different team now compared to then, though, riding a nine-game winning streak into this matchup. The Cubs started a skid of 15 losses in 21 games in that previous series against St. Louis, and they are 18-6 since the All-Star break following a 3-1 victory against the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Cardinals are 12 games behind Chicago in the NL Central and dropped three of four prior to defeating the Cincinnati Reds 3-2 on Wednesday. Their last four wins have all been decided by one run, including three over the Reds.

Three of their past four meetings with the Cubs have also been decided by a margin of just one run, including two of their three victories between June 20 and 22, all as underdogs.

Carlos Martinez (10-7, 3.29 ERA) will toe the rubber for St. Louis, and he has been hit hard in each of his last two starts. He went 0-1 in those two outings after surrendering 11 runs (10 earned) and 14 hits in 12 combined innings of work against the Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins, both of which resulted in losses.

Jon Lester (12-4, 2.93) will oppose Martinez, and the Cubs have won each of the previous four games he started. Lester went 3-0 during that stretch, with two of the wins taking place at home.

Lester has been a much better pitcher at Wrigley this season, going 6-2 with a 1.99 ERA. Opposing batters have hit only .194 against him there, which is a stark contrast to last year, when he was 7-9 with a 3.60 ERA at home. Lester’s last three outings have finished over the total along with five of his past six.

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October will be here soon. Do you know where your playoff teams are?

It’s only August, so we don’t either. All we know is which clubs we think are going to make it into the postseason, and we’re more than glad to share.

Having already offered awards predictions at the three-quarter mark of the 2016 Major League Baseball season, it’s on to predicting which 10 clubs are going to be playing in October. To do this, we’ll need to weigh the standings and the state of each contender and then take a somewhat educated, somewhat wild guess.

We’ll start in the American League with the wildest pennant race of them all.

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Roughly three-quarters of the way through the 2016 Major League Baseball season, plenty of things are coming into focus. That includes awards season, so let’s take a fresh look at who’s in line for hardware.

Ahead lie our latest predictions for the five major awards in the American League and National League: Comeback Player of the Year, Manager of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Cy Young and Most Valuable Player.

We’re covering who we think will win, not who we think should win. That means taking individual performances into account, as well as whatever preferences the voters tend to have. There’s muddy water in that pond, but we’ll do our best.

Starting with the Comeback Player of the Year awards, let’s take it away.

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The Boston Red Sox (60-50) will begin a key three-game series against the New York Yankees (56-55) on Tuesday trying to move closer to the lead in the American League East standings.

The Red Sox trail the Baltimore Orioles and the Toronto Blue Jays in the division and will send Rick Porcello (14-3, 3.46 ERA) to the hill hoping to bounce back from his first loss in 13 starts and stay perfect at Fenway Park as -175 betting favorites (wager $175 to win $100) at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark.

Porcello went 5-0 in five July starts with a 2.57 ERA, but he gave up three runs and four hits in eight innings of a 3-1 road loss to the Seattle Mariners last Wednesday with one walk and eight strikeouts.

Boston had scored four runs or more in the previous 15 games he started, with the last instance of less than that taking place back on May 6 in a 3-2 loss at New York.

Porcello‘s most recent loss before that setback against the Mariners happened on May 17 versus the Kansas City Royals on the road. Porcello has gone 10-0 in 11 starts at Fenway so far this season with a 3.21 ERA.

The Yankees will counter with Luis Severino (1-6, 6.02 ERA), although he has worked primarily out of the bullpen lately. His last start came against the Chicago White Sox on May 13 and resulted in a 7-1 home loss after he surrendered seven runs and seven hits in 2.2 innings with four walks and two strikeouts.

Severino is 0-3 on the road with a 6.00 ERA.

The Red Sox have won six of the nine meetings played between the teams this year, according to the Odds Shark MLB Database, including all three of the games played at home from April 29 through May 1. New York has split the past six with Boston at Yankee Stadium, with the under cashing five times, including four straight.

The last five meetings have all been decided by two or more runs after the previous two were both one-run games won by the home team.

Betting information courtesy of Odds Shark.

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The Texas Rangers had the best record in the American League prior to the MLB trade deadline on Monday, but they made some key moves to put themselves in prime position to be the American League favorite on the odds to win the World Series.

The Rangers picked up Carlos Beltran from the New York Yankees and Jonathan Lucroy from the Milwaukee Brewers before the deadline passed and moved to +650 (bet $100 to win $650) to win the World Series at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark.

Texas has sat atop the AL West division standings for most of the season and will try to hold off the AL Central-leading Cleveland Indians, among others, for the best record in the American League the rest of the way.

While the team’s hitting definitely got a boost with the additions of Beltran and Lucroy, the starting pitching remains a concern due to a shaky rotation that has seen members go on and off the disabled list this year. If Yu Darvish and Colby Lewis are healthy enough come playoff time, they could join Cole Hamels to form one of the AL’s best three-man rotations in the postseason.

The Rangers moved up slightly from +700 odds following their trades, while the San Francisco Giants have dropped from +550 to +650 to tie them as the second choice to win the World Series behind the Chicago Cubs at +350.

The Giants had the National League’s best record heading into the All-Star break but then dropped 11 of 15 games to fall behind the Cubs and the Washington Nationals. Chicago has the best mark in baseball overall and also leads MLB in run differential.

The Nationals and Indians are two other legitimate World Series contenders based on their future odds at +750 each. The Orioles have tough competition in the AL East and are listed at +1600 to win the World Series behind both the Toronto Blue Jays (+900) and Boston Red Sox (+1200), with the three teams in a dogfight for the division.

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