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With basketball season over and the Golden State Warriors taking the title from the Boston Celtics, baseball will rule sports fans’ lives for the next two months as football season approaches.

Tonight, the Chicago White Sox face off against the Houston Astros at 7 p.m. EST on ESPN on “Sunday Night Baseball.”

Michael Kopech is back after appearing to injure his knee on the mound last weekend. His MRI was negative and he’s set to return to the mound Sunday night.

This year, he has been a Cy Young candidate in the American League, with a 1.92 ERA. Let’s see if he is back to full health after not missing a start.

Odds provided by BetMGM

Spread: CHW +1.5 (-165) vs. HOU -1.5 (+120)

Moneyline: CHW (+125) vs. HOU (-150)

Total: Over 7.5 (+100) | Under 7.5 (-120)

Michael Koepech (2-2, 1.92) vs. Cristian Javier (3-3, 3.20)

The Houston Astros have one of the best offenses in baseball, making this a tough start for Kopech. His peripheral stats show that some regression should be coming off of his elite stats (3.15 xERA, 3.12 FIP).

However, last year he had excellent stats as mostly a bullpen arm. His 13.37 K/9 and 2.83 xERA are impressive numbers. It is entirely possible that Kopech is an elite starting pitcher in the league.

He matches up with Cristian Javier, who has turned out to be a solid pitcher himself. Both starting pitchers walk a decent number of hitters, 3.38 per nine innings for Javier vs. 4.18 for Kopech. Neither pitcher has enough innings pitched in order to qualify, but both would be near the top in the league in walks per nine.

With the White Sox bullpen struggling in particular and Kopech’s uncertainty coming into this game, the total is going to be a spot to target for tonight’s game. The White Sox are not worth a bet at +125.

Over 7.5 runs (+100) — BetMGM