Sports Reporter | Capper
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We've got a packed day of baseball ahead on Saturday, beginning in the early afternoon and burning on into the late hours of the day. I've picked out three bets on tonight's slate which should present some great betting value.
We'll be heading to Chicago to back a Cubs offense down on its luck, and then moving out west to play two totals which may raise an eyebrow but are quite indicative of where the teams in those respective games are at.
Let's run through our best bets for Saturday.
MLB Betting Resources:
The Chicago Cubs are better than this. Yes, they've had a terrible go of it over the last month, but this team has talent up and down the order and was missing three key players for different parts of the month. They returned all of those injured stars late in the month and I think the turnaround is imminent after this group started the season as one of the best in the league in strikeouts and walks.
Chicago is simply lacking power at the moment, dealing with windy conditions at home and heading out to some spacious ballparks. Even then, it has managed to find success late in games against talented relievers to come up just a run short on a number of occasions.
That leads me to Saturday, where this team will take aim at Hunter Greene and the Reds. The righty has been fantastic this year with a 3.06 ERA and 26.7% strikeout rate through 64 2/3 innings, but as a heavy fastball pitcher he's entering a tough situation against a team which has crushed fastballs all season long.
On top of that, the wind should start off blowing out to left field at Wrigley before settling down tonight in wet conditions.
The conditions for home runs should be favorable at long last, and against a power pitcher the longball is always a threat. On the flip side, Justin Steele has been excellent at limiting well-struck fly balls this season and is starting to round into form after missing most of the season with a hamstring injury.
He's coming off a brilliant eight-strikeout performance in hitter-friendly Milwaukee over seven scoreless and I trust him to stay hot against a slumping Reds offense.
Best Bet: Cubs ML (-132 at BetRivers)
Looking to bet this one as the action unfolds? Check out our MLB Live Betting Guide.
The Yankees aren't slowing down, posting an insane .220 Isolated Power over the last two weeks and maintaining a high walk rate and hitting at the same .255 clip they've produced all season.
They should be in an excellent spot here against Logan Webb, who struggled a bit last year and carried those issues into Spring Training as well as the first part of the 2024 season.
He's long been a ground-ball pitcher, but with a drop in balls coming back on the ground and a rise in hard-hit balls, he can't be said to be in a good spot on Saturday against a Yankees team that is clobbering the ball when they do make contact.
On the other side of the coin, I'm not ready to anoint Cody Poteet the next success story for a team that's turned into a pitching factory over the years. He owns a 4.05 ERA in the minors this year and is coming off an injury, so even if he's effective here his outing shouldn't last all that long.
He made one start this year, in Cleveland, and while he pitched well against an ineffective offense he lacked strikeouts and gave up six hits next to some poor expected numbers.
The Giants may be without some solid players like LaMonte Wade, Jr. and Jung Hoo Lee but their crop of youngsters has come up huge in the wake of injury, and that's amounted to the sixth-best wRC+ in baseball over the last two weeks and I don't see any signs of them slowing down here against a pitcher who's allowed a ton of contact this year.
Best Bet: Over 7.5 (-105 at DraftKings)
Not sure where to place your bet? Be sure to check out the Best MLB Betting Apps in 2024.
Believe it or not, Cal Quantrill is not only still employed by a major-league team but has actually found a way to pitch effectively. He's worked on a splitter over the last two years, and in debuting it at a high volume this year he's found a .188 Expected Batting Average on the pitch.
The Dodgers are still coming up with some sporadic power around a dreadful two weeks at the plate, but in hitting .235 they've certainly seen better days. Most concerning of all is a 5.7% walk rate during this time -- something that we haven't seen in many years out of LA and a number that should excite Quantrill, who's battled with control issues over the years.
Colorado, meanwhile, did find four runs early against embattled Dodgers starter Walker Buehler on Friday but quieted down after that and even with slight improvements on offense in the last two weeks have not scored runs at a very high clip.
It lacks power and still finds itself struggling to make contact, two things that should be tough against Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Even in a tough month of May, he managed to keep his xBA and xSLG level and just lacked a few strikeouts.
The Rockies should help him out there, and in a meeting between two slumping offenses I like both of these very effective arms to do their jobs.
Best Bet: Under 7.5 (-113 at BetRivers)
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