MLB Baseball Betting for June 27, 2016
Short but interesting card in Monday’s MLB betting:
MLB BASEBALL BETTING FOR JUNE 27, 2016:
LOS ANGELES DODGERS AT PITTSBURGH PIRATES:
The Los Angeles Dodgers will be glad to get out of Pittsburgh. They dropped the first two games of this four game series and were losing 4-3 in the 8th at the time this article was written on Sunday night. For a team that was on the verge of making the NL West race interesting things are suddenly going awry. Adrian Gonzalez is in a horrible slump and was given a couple of days off to get his head right. Pending the outcome of Sunday’s game the Dodgers are now 7.5 games back of the San Francisco Giants who just keep winning games. The Giants are 8-2 in their last 10 games meaning the Dodgers simply can’t afford to have a downturn, at least not right now.
The Dodgers other problem besides the Adrian Gonzalez slump is a lack of rotation depth. When the local media is reporting that the team is ‘having trouble finding someone to start on Wednesday‘ that’s not good. Here’s who won’t be starting: Nick Tepesch (started Friday, designated for assignment on Saturday), Brandon McCarthy (still rehabbing an injury), Hyun-Jin Ryu (ditto), Frankie Montas (rib injury), Carlos Frias or Ross Stripling. Right now, the two most likely scenarios are Ross Stewart who is currently pitching with Triple A Oklahoma City or a ‘bullpen day’. Of course the bullpen day is contingent on their workload per manager Dave Roberts:
“That Wednesday, we’re trying to figure out where we’re at in the pen and how we will be at that point and time. But it’s a conversation that everything should be on the table to win that day.”
The Pittsburgh Pirates, meanwhile, have been able to stop the bleeding from their recent slump. They’ve lost 7 of 10 and are just two games up on the fourth place Milwaukee Brewers. They’ll start Francisco Liriano on Monday and while he’s struggled this year don’t forget that the Dodgers’ weak-against-lefthanders offense made slumping Jeff Locke look like a Cy Young candidate on Saturday. LA is averaging just 3.1 runs per game against southpaws (1.1 runs fewer than their overall RPG output) and hitting just .218. They’re 7-9 -4.6 units against LHP on the season. Pittsburgh, conversely, has hit lefthanders well averaging 5 runs per game and a .270 BA. Steve Kazmir has struggled this year particularly on the road where he’s got a 5.16 ERA.
BET PITTSBURGH PIRATES +105 OVER LOS ANGELES DODGERS
NEW YORK METS AT WASHINGTON NATIONALS:
The Washington Nationals ended their seven game losing streak on Sunday but they can’t be happy about their current form with second place New York coming to town. The Nationals have gone through a stretch where it seemed that nothing was going their way, punctuated most recently by the weight room back/rib injury to ace Stephen Strasburg. Adding insult to injury (or injury to insult?) Strasburg was just re-signed to a 7 year $175 million contract. Strasburg was originally scheduled to start on Sunday before he had a ‘flare up’ of his injury and on Sunday was placed on the 15 day DL.
The Mets have been ‘treading water’ of late going 5-5 in their last 10 games but generally the mood around the team is upbeat heading into the series with Washington. The fans reacted with enthusiasm to Jose Reyes’ return to the organization (albeit with the team’s Single A affiliate Brooklyn) and despite mediocre play they’re still within striking distance of first place just three games out. They did pick up some company as they’re now tied with the Miami Marlins (who have gone 7-3 in their last 10) but all is generally well.
Unlike Washington, the Mets just got some good news about a potential injury to beast-like starter Noah Syndergaard who will start here. Syndergaard pulled himself from his last start after experiencing elbow pain but it was nothing serious. The hirsute Syndergaard who lists Hulk Hogan as his ‘hair role model‘ showed a ton of promise in his rookie year last year and has become downright monstrous this year. The Mets have won 10 of Syndergard’s 14 starts including 5 of 6 on the road and three straight. He’s got a 2.10 ERA and a 1.000 WHIP overall with 108 strikeouts against 12 walks in 90 innings of work. That’s good. On the road, he’s got a 2.02 ERA and 1.050 WHIP. He’s also got 42 strikeouts in 40 innings pitched. He’s as intimidating as any pitcher in baseball right now.
Washington will start Joe Ross who has been capable this year with a 3.21 ERA overall. The Nationals have won 9 of his 14 starts but he’s not the type of ‘stopper’ that they need at the moment. Just don’t know if the Sunday win cured what ails the Nationals. Syndergaard has owned them during his brief career with a 1.33 ERA and 0.926 WHIP in 3 starts. 22 innings pitched and 29 strikeouts while we’re at it. If Syndergaard’s development continues he won’t be available at a near ‘pick’em’ price for long.
BET NEW YORK METS -105 OVER WASHINGTON NATIONALS
TORONTO BLUE JAYS AT COLORADO ROCKIES:
Pretty simple premise here. The Jays are treading water at this point and have actually lost ground to Baltimore in the AL East. Toronto is now five games back of the O’s though they remain one game back of the second place Red Sox. They split four games with the White Sox over the weekend and they’ve got to pick up the pace if they’re going to get back in the divisional race. Tough interleague matchup for them here. Both teams hit the ball well and hit right handed pitchers especially well. Given their current form, Toronto doesn’t deserve to be a -140 road chalk.
BET COLORADO ROCKIES +130 OVER TORONTO BLUE JAYS
BET COLORADO/TORONTO OVER 12.5