Monday around the MLB comes along with nine games to dive into, with not a single afternoon game. With nine night games to dive into, let’s highlight some of my favorite bets.

The difference in baseball compared to other sports is how the spreads (run lines) are measured. Unlike other sports where the size of a spread can vary, baseball’s spreads are defaulted to 1.5 runs, with the odds juiced one way or another. This makes targeting games before all of the odds are up a bit easier, especially for the sake of these articles.

Below are two of my favorite bets for Monday.

New York Yankees at Texas Rangers The pick: Yankees -1.5 (-165, PointsBet)

This feels like cheating when you pick the best ace on the slate, but even with odds that may feel juiced at -165, you can argue that they should be at least -200. The Yankees’ offense hasn’t been quite what people have expected this season, ranking 23rd in runs per game (4.0), but against a gas can in Jordan Lyles (6.63 ERA, 2.13 HR/9 innings — a career-worst rate), they should have plenty of chances to pile on runs.

Add that to the fact that they’re backed by Gerrit Cole on the mound, the second-leading strikeout pitcher in baseball who is also posting a 1.37 ERA, and there should be plenty of confidence in the Yankees covering a 1.5-run spread here.

Washington Nationals at Chicago Cubs The pick: Cubs ML (-140, PointsBet)

The Cubs have dropped four of their last six games, but step into a favorable matchup against former teammate Jon Lester. While Lester has only pitched 16 innings so far this season, he’s posted a career-low strikeout rate (15.2%) and career-high walk rate (10.6%) while posting an opponent batting average north of .250 for the fifth consecutive season.

He’s been the poster child for regression over the last few seasons and while it hasn’t hit him like a train yet, competent offenses have been able to knock him around. With so much power in the Cubs’ lineup, they should have no problem sneaking out a win here.