August 4th, 2015 Betting Tips: MLB

Baseball is in full swing right now and the New York Mets just continue to stay hot. Last night they grabbed sole possession of first place after destroying the Marlins and a Nationals loss. What’s surprising about all this isn’t the fact that they won, but how they won. They managed to score 12 runs last night and their offense suddenly looks competent. The addition of Yoenis Cespedes was a huge help as he added four RBIs, but this team has just looked different lately and they are absolutely dangerous going forward.

In other baseball action, we saw Adrian Beltre hit the third cycle of his career. This is an amazing accomplishment that has only been done one other time in history. It’s sounds crazy, but Adrian Beltre is absolutely a Hall of Fame level player. He’s one of the greatest third baseman of all-time and it’s a shame that he’s never really been on a team that could make a deep postseason run.

For today’s picks we have even more baseball. While the sheer amount of games can seem daunting at times, there is a certain peaceful bliss to the baseball season. The more numbers we get, the less it feels like gambling and it starts to feel like we truly know what these teams will do before they do. It’s magic.

MLB Betting Tips:

The Chicago Cubs have been hot lately (mostly thanks to a series against the lowly Brewers) and go against the Pirates tonight in Pittsburgh. This is a big series as it is potentially a preview the one-game NL Wild Card playoff. For the Cubs they send Jake Arrieta to the mound who has been their ace all year long. While Lester gets much of the fanfare, Arrieta is the ace of this staff and if the one-game playoff were to happen today he’d be the Cubs choice. The Pirates send newly acquired JA Happ to the mound tonight who would not be their choice for the WIld Card playoff. The Cubs hit a tick better against lefties and JA Happ will likely miss the friendly confines of Safeco Field. In starts away from Safeco Field this season he holds a 5.98 ERA. While PNC Park favors pitching a bit, it still could be a rude awakening for Happ while the offense will struggle to support him against Arrieta. Bet Cubs -132.

The marquee pitching match-up tonight is Chris Sale of the White Sox going against Chris Archer of the Rays. These are two power pitchers who like to strike people out who are going against teams with weak offenses that strike out often. Sale is coming off a tough start, but that’s just proves that he is human and prone to a bad day. It is not indicative of future performance. I think this pitching duel will live up to the hype and the total will go under 6.5 runs.

In our half-unit bet today we like the Red Sox +190. They are debuting 23-year old former first round pick Henry Owens tonight in Yankee Stadium. It is not a great match-up for a first time starter, but Owens is one of the best pitching prospects in the game. Over his last nine starts in Triple-A he has a 2.64 ERA and just a .190 BAA. He goes against Masahiro Tanaka who has been solid, but homer prone this season. He’s allowed 11 HRs in 8 home starts this year and has some slight implosion potential. Let’s give the rookie a chance.