Mike Maher encouraged gamers to treat Hunter Brown as both a speculative Cy Young wager and an emerging fantasy ace. Maher noted that sportsbooks have Tarik Skubal as a massive favorite (-260 at DraftKings, ‑420 at FanDuel) while Brown sits at +1200, tied with Jacob deGrom. Maher sees a realistic path for Brown to close the gap: 1) the Astros own the second-easiest remaining schedule, 2) Detroit may protect Skubal’s workload down the stretch because the Tigers are coasting in MLB’s softest division, and 3) Houston’s race should stay competitive, allowing Brown to keep piling up wins and innings. Brown is already SP-6 in FantasyPros’ rest-of-season ranks (SP-5 after you remove Shohei Ohtani’s placeholder line), yet he was drafted outside the top-100 overall last spring. Maher expects a meteoric ADP leap—into the top-20 overall by 2026 drafts—based on Brown’s 97 mph fastball, 29 % K-rate, and league-best 17.9 % swinging-strike mark since May 1. Maher suggested grabbing Brown futures now before the soft schedule and a potentially throttled Skubal tighten the race, and he is comfortable building redraft staffs around the Houston right-hander as a bona-fide fantasy SP-1 the rest of the way.

Kenny G gave a slight betting lean to the Rangers at +110 in Houston. Jacob deGrom (9-2, 2.29 ERA) gets the ball after a rare hiccup versus the Angels (5 IP, 3 ER) but earlier blanked the Astros over eight innings in May. Texas owns MLB’s 4th-best bullpen ERA (3.37) and has erupted for 7, 11, 8 and 13 runs in its last four despite ranking only 23rd in season-long scoring—evidence, Kenny says, that the bats are finally catching up. Houston counters with Framber Valdez (10-4, 2.90) yet is reeling from four straight losses; Valdez just surrendered four earned to the Dodgers and allowed three in seven frames the last time he saw Texas. The Astros bullpen (3.30 ERA) remains elite, but an offense that is first in batting average has produced just 3-2-6-5 runs during the skid. With Houston still priced –130 and the total parked at 6.5, Kenny prefers grabbing the live dog and also mentioned the NRFI as a viable add-on, though he admitted the play is not a full-unit "hammer."

Matt Perrault urged listeners to lay the modest -125 with Houston behind Framber Valdez versus Jacob deGrom and the Rangers. The Astros have won every Valdez start since May 2, ripping off an 11-0 streak that includes victories over the Dodgers, Phillies, Rays, and Brewers. Perrault expects the left-hander to act as a stopper for a club riding a four-game skid after three straight losses to Cleveland and a current 7-3 deficit to Texas. With Valdez’s trend and Houston’s desperation for a win before the break, Perrault is staking 1.25 units on the Astros to prevail.

Eric Lindquist recommended taking separate shots on Isaac Paredes to homer AND to steal a base Friday against rookie Jack Leiter. Lindquist likes sprinkling quarter-unit plays on each prop because Leiter’s 5.02 xERA, sub-20% strikeout rate and 10% walk rate create two different paths to profit. Paredes is a pure pull hitter whose 40-degree average launch shots translate well in Minute Maid Park; he also owns a double-digit walk rate that should put him on base when Leiter’s command wanders, giving him a chance to swipe a bag against a Texas battery that has allowed the fifth-most steals this season. With the Rangers coming in on travel and Houston rolling out a makeshift outfield, Lindquist sees Paredes’ power-speed combo as a sneaky plus-money exploit.

On the BettingPros futures segment, Chris Welsh advised pulling back on Houston Astros pennant and World Series tickets. He argued the club cannot make a deep run without Yordan Alvarez, who still "has yet to resume hitting," and noted Jeremy Pena has not even begun baseball activities. Welsh pointed out that he already wagered the Astros to taper off in the AL West and thinks the recent spate of injuries strengthens that position. Even though Houston has strung together a few wins, Welsh expects a second-half slide, opening value on division rivals in outright markets and win-total unders on Houston.