MLB Baseball Betting for August 29, 2016
Busy Monday in Major League Baseball. Here are our top plays:
MLB BASEBALL BETTING FOR AUGUST 29, 2016:
WASHINGTON NATIONALS AT PHILADLPHIA PHILLIES:
The Washington Nationals need to win some games. That’s not to suggest that they’re in ‘desperation mode’ or anything but they’ve lost 6 of 10 and while they’ve got a good sized lead over their challengers in the NL East it’s not an insurmountable lead. They have an 8 game lead over the Miami Marlins and lead the New York Mets by 9 games. The good news for Washington is that neither of their challengers have been winning over the past couple of weeks and they’re facing a team that they’ve had little problem with in recent years going 20-11 against the Phillies in the last two seasons. This year they’ve won 5 of 6 at Philadelphia.
Right hander Jake Thompson will make his fifth start of the season for the Phillies and he’s been terrible in his first four starts. Thomson has pitched 19 1/3 innings allowing 21 earned runs, 22 hits, 13 walks and 5 home runs though he does have 11 strikeouts. Thompson is a youngster with a lot of promise and was called up by the Phillies after a stellar performance at the Triple A level– Thompson went 11-5 with a 2.50 earned run average including an 8-0 record with a 1.21 ERA in his final 11 minor league starts. He’s got all of the talent to be a very good Major League pitcher but he’s still ‘learning on the job’.
He’ll be opposed by Tanner Roark, a serviceable and consistent right hander. His catcher, Wilson Ramos, is effusive in his praise of Roark: “His numbers have been very impressive this season. I know [the analysts] don’t see him much or put his name up there, but I know he’s a pitcher that can be above a lot of the other names.” It’s not hard to make a case that Roark has been the Nationals’ most dependable pitcher this season.
For the year, Roark has a 3.04 ERA with a 1.205 WHIP, with a 3.43 ERA with a 1.211 WHIP away from home. In his last 3 starts he’s got a 3.93 ERA with a 1.309 WHIP. The Nationals have gone 16-10 in his starts overall this year, 8-4 in his road starts and 2-1 in his last three starts.
It’s never easy to lay a big road price with a team not in peak form but Washington has done well as a big road favorite in the past few season. The Nationals are 6-2 this year as a -175 to -200 road favorite and 11-4 in this price range over the last three years. Thompson might very well become a first rate MLB pitcher but he’s struggling bigtime now.
BET WASHINGTON NATIONALS -200 OVER PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
LOS ANGELES DODGERS AT COLORADO ROCKIES
It took much of the summer but the Los Angeles Dodgers were finally able to run down the San Francisco Giants and take over the lead in the National League West. Now they’re trying to open up a margin over the second place Giants and have a decent opportunity to do that in this early week series against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. The Rockies went through a stretch after the All Star Break where they played very well but have been slumping badly over the past few weeks. The Dodgers, on the other hand, have been playing very good baseball and have won 5 of their last 7 games including taking 2 of 3 from the Chicago Cubs over the weekend.
The Dodgers’ success this year has been somewhat improbable due to injuries and off field issues like the Yasiel Puig situation. Puig was placed on waivers yesterday meaning that the Dodgers can now trade him. The injuries have been never ending but the Dodgers have managed to persevere. They finally got some good news about ace lefthander Clayton Kershaw this weekend–he’ll pitch in a ‘simulated game’ this week. As of Sunday evening, the Dodgers had 14 players on the injury list–all of whom are on either the 15 day or 60 day disabled list. Of these 14 players there are 11 pitchers.
Los Angeles will start right hander Kenta Maeda on Monday. Maeda might not have incredible numbers but he’s been a very welcome bit of continuity in the Dodgers’ lineup for most of the year. Most importantly, they’ve won games when he takes the ball. Overall this season, Maeda has a 3.37 ERA with a 1.101 WHIP, a 3.26 road ERA with a 0.950 WHIP and a 4.50 ERA with a 1.375 WHIP in his last three starts. The Dodgers have won 16 of his 25 starts this year including 9 of 12 on the road and his last six in a row. Colorado will start right hander Jon Gray who hasn’t been in good form this season though he did look good in his last outing at Milwaukee. Gray went 6 innings allowing 2 earned runs, 4 hits, 3 walks and 10 strikeouts in a 6-4 loss to the Brewers. Overall, he’s got a 4.68 ERA with a 1.251 WHIP, a home ERA of 5.25 with a 1.232 WHIP and a L3 ERA of 7.54 with a 1.675 WHIP. Colorado is 10-13 in his 23 starts this year including 7-4 at home and 1-2 in his last three. The Dodgers have also done well against right handers this year with a record of 57-40 +2.8 units. Maeda has faced Colorado three times this season allowing just 12 hits and 3 earned runs while striking out 22 and walking two. Gray did pitch well in his last start against the Dodgers earlier this month but otherwise L.A. has hit him well.
BET LOS ANGELES DODGERS -135 OVER COLORADO ROCKIES