A night after being held to only two runs, the Astros exploded with seven runs and nine hits in Game 2, jumping out to a 5-1 lead after just two innings. Houston has now crossed the plate at least five times in all but two of its 12 postseason contests. I have an over/under pick on this game. Read on to find out if I'm going over or under in this game.

They swarmed all over them and stung them time and time again. It was a major eye opening event. Read on for Dennis Stagliano's free college football pick.

Atlanta is coming off a weekend matchup versus the Buccaneers. The Falcons fell by 23 points in that one to fall to 0-2 on the year. As for the Giants, they played Washington last Thursday, losing by just one point. Who does Dennis like in this matchup.

The Dallas Cowboys hope to avoid their first 0-2 start since the 2010 NFL season. The Los Angeles Chargers look for their first 2-0 start since the 2012 NFL season. The Cowboys are 3-8 ATS in their last 11 road games. The Chargers are 5-0 ATS in their last 5 games overall. The over is 6-2 in Cowboys last 8 games overall. The under is 5-2 in Chargers last 7 games overall. The Cowboys are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 meetings. All the trends point toward the Chargers. So who is Dennis picking in this game.

The San Jose State Spartans have lost five of their last eight road games. The Hawai’i Rainbow Warriors have won four of their last six home games. It’s not easy to play in Hawaii with the drastic time zone difference, and it’s no coincidence why the Rainbow Warriors have had solid success at home over the years. So who is Dennis picking in this matchup in paradise.

What's killing the Heat is the fact that the Lakers have turned 25 offensive rebounds into 37 second-chance points during the first two games of the series. That alone is way too much to overcome. The Heat just couldn't get a stop defensively or get a rebound and a lot of that had to do with Bam Adebayo being out. I think the Heat gets Bam Adebayo back for this game. But I doubt starting guard Goran Dragic can come back from that fasciatis tear. I personally had the same and couldn't even walk. Even with a cortisone shot he will be ineffective. Miami outscored Los Angeles by 17 points in the eight minutes that the trio of Jimmy Butler, Adebayo and Dragic played together in Game 1 of the Finals before Adebayo and Dragic went down with injuries during that contest and missed Game 2.

Even without Adebayo and Dragic, the Heat turned in its most efficient offensive performance of the playoffs in Friday’s Game 2 loss. Miami scored 114 points on an efficient 50.7 percent shooting from the field and 11-of-27 (40.7 percent) shooting on threes, and also finished 31 of 34 (91.2 percent) from the foul line.

The Miami Heat had their chances to win game two. If Bam plays, that's a major boost to this Heat lineup at both ends of the court. The Heat are 0-2 and this game is a must win to get back in the series. Miami will put forth their best effort, especially on defense and the boards. The Heat are very hungry and will attack the Lakers like a junkyard dog on a XMAS ham. I'll take the 10 points with the Heat here, assuming Bam is in the lineup.

Sixto Sanchez vs. Yu Darvish: Interestingly, the superior pitching matchup might come in Game 2 when these two talented hurlers go at it.
Darvish, of course, crafted a sensational 2020, even being one of the frontrunners for this year’s NL Cy Young Award. He led the league in wins with eight and finished in the top five in ERA (2.01) and WHIP (0.96). His usual excellent strikeout rate (11.0 K/9) wasn’t too shabby, either.
Miami will likely counter with their young starter in Sanchez. The 22-year-old rookie can actually match Darvish’s heat, firing up an eye-opening average fastball velocity of 99 mph. Although he struggled a bit after his outstanding first five starts in the big leagues, Sanchez looks like he can handle this Cubs lineup. TAKE: UNDER TOTAL RUNS as soon as line is posted.

The Royals had won six in a row until losing to the Tigers on Tuesday. The price certainly is reasonable to back the Royals in a pitching matchup of Brady Singer versus Tarik Skubal. Royals Brady Singer is coming off his best outing wen he shut out the Indians on one hit in eight innings with eight strikeouts last Thursday. Singer is fresh after five restful dayss. The Tigers main threat, injured second baseman Jonathan Schoop, who was leading the team in homers is out. Furthermore, their starter Skubal has been throwing up gopher balls this season with a 7.27 ERA. TAKE: KANSAS CITY - 125

The starting pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates has been terrible in five starts this season, Joe Musgrove lost four of those starts.The Reds is not even close to intimidating. but the Pirates are even worse. Pirates just simply find it very hard to score on anyone.

Mike Lorenzen who has been primarily used as a reliver this season gets the start tonight. Lorenzen is a good enough pitcher to beat the Bucs. Take the Reds on the moneyline - 130.

Free MLB Pick: Milwaukee at Detroit (1 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 9)
The Milwaukee Brewers send Corbin Burnes to the hill for this game. Burnes went back to the Milwaukee starting rotation three weeks ago, and he's been excellent since then. In fact, the hard throwing right-hander is coming off back-to-back 6 inning performances where he posted no earned runs allowed in the two outings combined.