MLB Baseball Betting for June 24, 2016
Friday baseball action with a full card of 15 games:
MLB BASEBALL BETTING FOR JUNE 24, 2016
LOS ANGELES DODGERS AT PITTSBURGH PIRATES
You don’t have to be Peter Gammons to understand that when your local newspaper says things like ‘skid continues with no end in sight‘ that things aren’t going well for your baseball team. Not even the Pirates’ hideous camouflage uniforms could help them. No matter how you slice their recent metrics they’re downright ugly. They dropped their fourth consecutive series against San Francisco. They’ve lost three straight and eight of their last ten. Their record for the month of June is pathetic at 5-17 -13.4 units. They’re not playing well and even worse they’ve got a ton of injuries. Not a good situation.
The Dodgers have been playing very well over the past couple of weeks. They’ve recently signed veteran Nick Tepesch from his minor league contract with Oklahoma City to try and fill the fifth starter rotation position in an effort to keep their top line starters from getting overworked. Mike Bolsinger was the previous 5th starter but just didn’t get the job done. Tepesch has pitched well at the Triple A level this year so he could be a pleasant surprise for Los Angeles.
The Dodgers have won six straight and eight of their last ten but so far that’s just allowed them to keep pace with red hot San Francisco atop the NL West. The Giants have won 14 of 20 games in the month of April including 9 of their last 10. The Dodgers have cut their advantage to six games but haven’t been able to get any closer. That puts a lot of pressure on them since they’ve got to excel just to stay within striking distance.
Just can’t think of a good reason to play on the Pirates at this point and particularly having to lay a favorite price for the privilege of doing so.
BET LOS ANGELES DODGERS +120 OVER PITTSBURGH PIRATES
SAN DIEGO PADRES AT CINCINNATI REDS:
These are two teams trying to get out of last place in their respective divisions. The Reds are currently at the bottom of the NL Central 20 games out of first place and four games back on the fourth place Milwaukee Brewers. The Padres are in last place in the NL West 16.5 games behind the first place San Francisco Giants. They’re 3.5 games behind the fourth place Arizona Diamondbacks but the D-Bax have been playing well of late winning 7 of their last 10.
Neither team is showing a whole lot of urgency about getting out of their divisional basement. The local media is talking about the importance of the Padres ‘building for the future’ which is code for ‘they’re not going anywhere this season’. The Cincinnati media is saying the same thing in a different way, providing daily speculation about the best trade opportunities for the Reds. Oddly enough, the mood in Cincinnati isn’t completely hopeless although it probably should be. The Reds have had a lot of injuries–their bullpen has been a mess all season–and getting some players back should help. Then again, they’re in the same division with the Chicago Cubs who have set a brisk pace. So far, St. Louis has been the only divisional team able to stay within double digits of the Cubs.
Just see more upside with the Padres and they hit left handed pitching well enough to make rookie Cody Reed’s second start a tough one.
BET SAN DIEGO PADRES +105 OVER CINCINNATI REDS
CHICAGO CUBS AT MIAMI MARLINS:
Don’t look now, but the Chicago Cubs have lost four straight games. It’s the first time this season they’ve lost four straight. This isn’t the Chicago media’s ‘first rodeo’ but they’re already getting a bit nervous . There’s probably no cause for alarm. St. Louis was brutally underrated by the mainstream sports media and the betting marketplace. Thursday’s game was a ‘hangover loss’ which often happens after a team gets swept in a big series.
Tom Koehler gets the start for Miami on Friday and although the Marlins have won his last three starts and he’s put up good numbers they weren’t exactly against offensive powerhouses–try at San Diego, at Minnesota and home against Colorado. Miami has lost 8 of his 14 starts this season with Koehler posting a 3.92 ERA. They’re 2-4 in his home starts with Koehler’s ERA at 3.58. It wouldn’t surprise me to see a pissed off Cubs’ team really tee off on Koehler here.
Chicago will start Kyle Hendricks who is nominally the ‘weak link’ of their pitching rotation. Chicago has lost 5 of his 6 road starts though he’s a decent 5-2 at home. Overall, his ERA is 2.82 but it’s 4.86 on the road.
One thing that this ‘slump’ by the Cubs could do is bring their inflated prices back to earth. Losing streak or no losing streak, I’m pretty happy getting the best team in baseball at this price.
BET CHICAGO CUBS -150 OVER MIAMI MARLINS
NEW YORK METS AT ATLANTA BRAVES:
The New York media has portrayed this series as the Mets’ chance for ‘redemption’ after being swept by the Atlanta Braves last week. Or not. On Thursday it was more inexplicable late inning magic for the Braves who have now 7 of their last 8 games. I have no clue what has happened with the Braves. To some extent, they were due some of what hockey fans would call ‘puck luck’. They’ve had nothing but bad luck during the early part of the season and now that’s evening out. That can’t explain the fact that a team that two weeks ago was by far the worst team in baseball is starting to a) play hard and b) win games.
The Braves aren’t going anywhere this year and there’s nothing to suggest that they won’t be in ‘fire sale’ mode come the trade deadline. One thing they can do is get out of last place. The Philadelphia Phillies have claimed the Braves’ mantle as the ‘worst team in baseball’ and have lost 9 of 10 as they’ve put up a record of 5-17 -11 units in the month of June. Playing hard can take you a long way in baseball and as long as the Braves do it we’ll back them.
BET ATLANTA BRAVES +140 OVER NEW YORK METS