Early revenge spot here for Phoenix. The Mercury were buried by the Sparks, 94-71, on the road in their opening game on May 19. It was Brittney Griner's first game back after being detained in Russia.

Griner has played in three games now and is regaining her considerable skills as one of the league's elite players. Diana Taurasi still is good, too. She scored 23 points helping the Mercury go 1-2 on the season with a 90-81 win against Minnesota in Phoenix's last game. That was on May 25 so the Mercury should be well rested and prepared having had ample practice time.

The Sparks may have received some home cooking in their win against the Mercury in Los Angeles. The Sparks made an astounding 27 of 29 free throws in that game for 93 percent. Phoenix, despite having Griner in the middle, shot nine fewer free throws.

The Sparks are dealing with multiple injuries and are in transition under new coach Curt Miller.

I don't like to go against the Astros. But I'll do it when I can get a plus price on Shohei Ohtani.

Ohtani is having another MVP-caliber season. He's 5-1 with a 2.91 ERA. He leads the majors in opponent batting average at .155, ranks No. 2 in WHIP at 0.95 and has the fourth-most strikeouts.

The Angels are in a frustrating, mad mood after losing to the Astros, 5-2, yesterday. They stranded 13 runners and got hosed by the umpires on certain calls.

Lefty Framber Valdez will be on the hill for Houston. He's good, but his statistics are padded because of his last three starts. Those starts came against the A's twice and Cubs. The Angels rank in the top-seven against southpaws in batting average, slugging percentage and on-base percentage.

The Rays are either first or second in runs, batting average, homers, OPS and steals. And now they get to play at Fenway Park facing Garrett Whitlock, who is 2-5 with a 5.14 ERA.

The Red Sox nearly got swept by the Reds. They are mentally down, too, after southpaw Chris Sale left yesterday's game with a sore left shoulder.

I expect the Rays to pound the Red Sox. I also expect Tyler Glasnow, one of the better pitchers in the American League when healthy, to be in better form making his second start this season.

The Rays were idle Thursday. So their bullpen is rested. Tampa Bay is 10-1 the past 11 times following an off day.

It's chalky. But I'm going to ride a hot pitcher, Michael Wacha, against one of the more overpaid, bad starters in the league, Jameson Taillon.

The Padres have been one of the biggest underachievers in baseball. Lately, though, they are showing signs of getting their star-studded offense turned around. San Diego is 4-3 in its last seven games. The Padres are averaging 5.9 runs in their last 10 games.

The Cubs have to be regretting spending $68 million to sign Taillon to a four-year deal. He's been terrible with a 8.04 ERA in eight starts. The Cubs have lost in every one of his starts. Taillon was especially bad in May with a 10.90 ERA and 1.96 WHIP in five starts.

By contrast, Wacha was 3-0 in five May starts with a 0.84 ERA and 0.72 WHIP.

The Cubs are not playing nearly as well as they did early in the season. They have dropped five of their last seven games.