We went 2-2 yesterday with our baseball plays. The Pirates stayed hot by beating up on the Reds. The Mets also had no trouble taking down the Giants in the late nightcap.
Unfortunately, the Red Sox blew the Twins out early to start our day yesterday off on the wrong foot. The Phillies also laid down on us and lost to the lowly Rockies. Oh well, 2-2 is never the end of the world.
That brings us to 10-7 on the year. Let's roll with 3 MLB Best Bets for Friday, April 21. Best of luck!
Best Bet: Yankees (-130)
The Yanks have won 4 of their last 5, and the offense seems to be coming around. The Boys in Pinstripes rank 4th in home runs but just 16th in runs scored so far. We're expecting a solid performance from New York against Toronto in this series.
The Yankees will be facing Yusei Kikuchi, who's one of the most inconsistent starters in Toronto's rotation. Sure, he's 2-0 this year, but his FIP is 5.95, and his hard-hit rate is at a whopping 48.8%.
Aaron Judge, Gleyber Torres, and Jose Trevino have all homered against Kikuchi in their careers. That's enough for us the lay the moderate price with the Yanks in this one.
Best Bet: Braves (-110)
Atlanta may have lost on Wednesday to San Diego, but they're still one of the hottest teams in all of baseball. The Braves have won 14 of their first 19 games and are an impressive 10-2 on the road. They'll send one of their best young hurlers to the hill tonight in Bryce Elder (2.60 FIP).
Houston, on the other hand, has been scuffling a bit. The defending world champs are just 9-10 on the young season, even though they just took 2 of 3 from Toronto. The Astros will send another nice young arm to the mound in Hunter Brown (2.80 FIP).
This one all comes down to price. With Atlanta's current hot streak and Houston's inconsistency, we think this line should be around -130 or so. Look for the Bravos to win a close, low-scoring game.
Best Bet: Rangers -1.5 (+100)
As a lifelong A's fan, it pains me to see Billy Beane and this franchise trot out such an overmatched team. As a bettor, however, I'll gladly bet against Oakland all year long. The poor A's are just 3-16, and we don't see them turning things around anytime soon.
We don't want to lay -200, so we're playing Texas on the run line. We tend to shy away from playing home teams on the run line, but we're comfortable enough with this Rangers offense to do so. Texas ranks 2nd in runs scored, while Oakland ranks 27th!
Jon Gray is a decent starter for Texas, but the Rangers' big advantage is their bullpen. Their relievers have an ERA of 2.71 and a WHIP of only 1.03. Oakland relievers have an ERA of 6.78 and a WHIP of 1.64. That's enough for us to back Texas on Friday night.
