MLB Preview: Schlittler, Sanchez and Freeland Anchor A Full 8-Game Monday Board

Philadelphia opens the week with its best arm on the mound. Cristopher Sanchez has been the National League's most dominant starter this season at 10-3 with a 2.00 ERA, and he draws a Kansas City club that has dropped four of its last five and sits toward the bottom of the American League Central at 35-54. Noah Cameron counters for the Royals at 4-6 with a 4.95 ERA, a gap of nearly three earned runs a game between the starters. Kauffman Stadium's spacious outfield has bailed out shaky Royals pitching before, but a lineup that has scuffled all series long faces one of the toughest assignments on the entire Monday board.

Washington hosts Houston in a matchup of two clubs hovering right around .500, the Nationals a game over at 46-44 and the Astros a game under at 44-47. Mike Burrows takes the ball for Houston against Miles Mikolas, with the Nationals holding a modest edge as home favorites in a game that projects close on paper.

In Atlanta, the Braves at 52-35 look to keep pace in a stacked National League by beating a Mets club that has completely lost its footing at 36-53. Freddy Peralta anchors the Atlanta staff against New York's Reynaldo Lopez in a game where the standings gap is as wide as almost anything else on the board.

Milwaukee, owners of the best record in the National League at 55-33, open a series at St. Louis behind Shane Drohan, who has been sharp in a smaller sample at 3-2 with a 3.12 ERA. The Cardinals counter with Dustin May at 5-6 with a 4.80 ERA, a pitcher who has allowed more traffic than damage this year. Milwaukee's lineup is dangerous enough on its own to make this one of the more competitive games on the board regardless of the pitching matchup, and St. Louis will need a strong start from May to keep pace with the league's most complete team.

Two clubs deadlocked at 44-45 close out the night at one of the most pitcher-friendly parks in baseball. Arizona's Brandon Pfaadt, just 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA in a small sample, faces San Diego's Walker Buehler at 5-4 with a 4.61 ERA. Neither offense has hit much this season, and Petco's marine layer tends to keep even mediocre pitching lines respectable.

Toronto's veteran right-hander Kevin Gausman, 4-7 with a 4.19 ERA that undersells how well he has generally pitched, faces a Giants club at 37-52 that has struggled to score all year behind Landen Roupp, who sits at 5-8 with a 4.55 ERA. The cold night air off the Bay has suppressed offense at Oracle for a generation, and neither lineup Monday night figures to change that trend.