The NL West is one of the tightest races in baseball, with just 1.5 games separating the top three teams. Arizona holds onto that top spot for now, with a 66-55 record and 1.5 game lead over both the Dodgers and Rockies. Arizona begins a four-game set with the Padres tonight and looks to increase its lead in the division. The D'backs will start Clay Buchholz tonight with a 5-2 record and 2.25 ERA in his 11 starts. Buchholz hasn't allowed over two runs in 10 of his starts and just three runs in the other start. The Padres have lost three straight and four of the last five. They were just swept by the Angels at home. Jacob Nix makes just his second start of the season tonight. In his first, Nix went six innings and gave up just four hits and no runs. While Nix looked good, the Padres are still bad. Arizona needs games against the bottom NL West team if they want to win the division. Take Arizona tonight.

The St Louis Cardinals continue their playoff run with eight straight wins and three in a row over the Nationals. They have also gone over in four of the last five games, scoring six runs or more in each. Luke Weaver starts today for the Cardinals with a 6-10 record and 4.81 ERA. Weaver has been much better of late, allowing three runs or less in six straight games. Washington has fallen bellow the .500 mark now at 60-61 and is watching its playoffs hopes fade fast. Tanner Roark starts today for the Nats with a 7-11 record and 4.00 ERA. Roark has also pitched better of late, allowing two runs or less in the last four starts. Still, both these pitchers have losing records and the Cardinals bats have been hot. I'm taking the OVER today.

The Steelers look to be missing quite a few starters as they will sit with nagging injuries. Ben Roethlisberger, Cameron Heyward, Landry Jones, Ramon Foster, Vance McDonald and Antonio Brown to name a few. The Packers had a pretty easy week 1 win over the Titians, 31-17. The Packers have now scored at least 20 points in four of the last five preseason games. In addition, they have won six straight at home in preseason and eight of the last nine. The Packers are laying 5.5 here in preseason which is a lot, but considering how few starters we will see for the Steelers, I'm going to lay this number. Play the Packers.

Rematch of the Super Bowl here as the Patriots take on the Eagles. The Patriots play their second straight home game in the preseason, beating Washington in week 1, 26-17. The Patriots trailed 0-17 in the first half before rallying for 26 unanswered points, 16 in the fourth quarter, for the win. The Patriots have a winning record in preseason ever since Robert Kraft purchased the team, with a 54-45 record. Bill Belichick is 40-34 in preseason as the head coach of New England. The Eagles lost their preseason opener at Pittsburgh, 31-14. The Steelers built a 22-14 halftime lead and shut out the Eagles in the 2nd half. Some thing there is a QB controversy in Philly, but Carson Wentz is the No 1 QB right now with Nick Foles second. That means Nate Sudfeld, Joe Callahan and Christian Hackenberg will share the rest of the duties. Wentz likely won't be ready until week 1 of the regular season, that leaves Foles, Sudfeld, Callahan and Hackenburg to rotate duties here in game 2. The Eagles will also be without WR Alshon Jeffery for an extended period of time. Jeffery, one of the top receivers in 2017 will start the season on the PUP list. Patriots likely still have a bad taste in their collective mouths from their Super Bowl beat. I look for them to get a slight bit of revenge here today. Play New England.