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That’s what I’m talking about. A nice little 1-2 how do ya do on Tuesday. A rare Dylan Cease no-show kept it from being a perfect day. Regardless, it was a huge night, and I’m looking to keep this gravy train rolling on Wednesday. A lighter MLB slate has persuaded me to keep it to only a couple plays, but I am drawing up another write up with more college looks. Let’s lock in.
*Each play will be labeled (1 through number “X”) to determine how I rank my plays on a daily basis.
Oakland Athletics (+154) @ Seattle Mariners (-184) | Over/Under 7 (1)
About that time, kid. One of the better days of the week, Paul Blackburn day. After Paulie B’s “subpar” outing against the Angels over the weekend his ERA now sits at a bloated 1.91. Brutal. Nevertheless, Oakland not only came through with the first five (+0.5) play, but won outright at basically +140, which brings the A’s to 7-1 in the F5 when “Baby Back” Blackburn is on the hill. Traveling to my preseason darling disappointment Seattle Mariners, can he do it again?
Having just mentioned what Paulie B has done in the first half thus far, let’s flip to his opponent in reigning AL Cy Young winner Robbie Ray. While the strikeout stuff has come back to life for the sparky lefty, he sits at only 3-5-1 on the F5 this year, and has lost three of the last four in that regard. Despite the fact that the A’s are batting only .226 with a .658 OPS against Southpaws, it’s a considerable jump to how they have fared against right handed pitchers. Ray has yielded at least four runs and five runs in three of his four May starts. With Oakland’s offense coming to life this series plating 13 runs in the first two contests, this price is way too favorable to ignore.
Let’s have Blackburn get back to business and stay hot in the first five.
PREDICTION: A’s F5 (+138)
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Robbie Ray O/U 7.5 Strikeouts vs. Oakland Athletics (2)
SAME GAME SLATE!? I’m Chet Ubetcha! After I just got finished talking about how Robbie Ray has been less than stellar in mostly every regard, I did mention his swing and miss/strikeout stuff has reemerged after a brief hibernation. Battling an Oakland team that has been sat down the fifth-most times (372), Ray draws a favorable matchup.
The strange thing is that despite the number of K’s for this lineup, they only have one player with more than 20 K’s (Sheldon Neuse with 41). Regardless, Oakland has managed to punch out a ton. That’s good news for the Mariners’ ace that has now registered three consecutive outings with at least eight strikeouts (four in the last five). Having ventured at least six innings in all but two of his nine outings this season, we have a better than not probability that he notches six plus innings with about 95 pitches or so. Despite the aforementioned success for the A’s against LHP over RHP, it’s still not enough of a factor to deter me.
After hitting a handful of Robbie Ray under K props this season, I’m switching teams. Let’s go over!
PREDICTION: OVER 7.5 K’s (-106)
Enjoy the taste, cuzzadeech.
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