'Mozart of Chess' a big fave at World Championship

Wednesday MLB Free Play from Doc’s Sports Take #919 Seattle Mariners over Texas Rangers (Wednesday, 8:05pm EST) Two aces do battle in Arlington where the Texas Rangers host the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday. Felix Hernandez and Yu Darvish are two of the top pitchers in baseball, and if you were rating them it would normally be a tough task determining which is better. But nobody is pitching better than King Felix right now. The 28-year old right-hander is 3-0 with a 2.11 ERA and 0.75 WHIP to go along with an insane 30-2 K/BB ratio in 21.1 innings. It’s the best start to a season of his career and I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that he’s now throwing to one of the best defensive catchers in baseball – Mike Zunino. Seattle has had some really bad catchers over the last few years and it’s certainly cost the M’s, but Zunino is a rising star behind the plate. He helps out his pitchers a ton whether it’s framing pitches, blocking potential wild ones and calling a solid game. Personally, I think Zunino is going to help Felix Hernandez earn the Cy Young in the AL this season and he’s well on his way after the first three outings. Darvish is throwing the ball pretty well right now too, but he’s also dealing with a cut on his thumb that could be problematic in this game. The Rangers are without leader Adrian Beltre, which hurts just as much defensively as it does offensively. They’re also without starters Jurickson Profar and Geovony Soto to make matters even worse. It’s been a slow start to the season for Texas offense and King Felix isn’t the guy you want to face to turn things around. Take the Mariners to get the win here behind the hottest pitcher in baseball.