August 2nd, 2020 MLB Betting Tips: Cubs-Pirates, Astros-Angels



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A 2-1 record last night.

The Twins came through for us last night as they now command first place in the AL Central. Kenta Maeda had a solid outing and the Indians managed just two hits in this one. Cleveland has a pretty good team, but the offense is just not going to get it done as currently constructed. It’s always going to be a grind for this team.

We also took the Braves over the Mets. This is a game that we thought there might be fireworks in and the Braves provided them. They tagged Michael Wacha for five runs in the first two innings and never looked back from there. The system was really down on Wacha and for good reason while we believed there was some upside in Touki Toussaint. He threw four innings of shutout baseball with five strikeouts.

The Padres were our only loss on the season as they ran into the good version of Kyle Freeland. The Padres only had three hits in this entire game which is way below what we would expect from them/any team playing in Coors Field.

Today/tonight has to be one of the ugliest slates that I have ever seen. The starting pitchers up and down don’t inspire much confidence and the overs are set pretty high for nearly every game.

Best Odds for MLB:

Type of Bet / Prop: Where To Bet:
R + H + E BetOnline
MLB Grand Salami (Total Runs That Day) Bovada
World Series Futures SportsBetting.ag
5 Inning Run Lines BetOnline
1st Inning Moneylines Bovada
Total Team Runs Over/Under Bovada

All tips based on the starting pitchers listed. Tips should be considered void if any pitching changes are made unless otherwise noted.

Pittsburgh Pirates at Chicago Cubs Betting Tips:

Pirates: Steven Brault 5.16 ERA/4.76 FIP (2019)
Cubs: Jon Lester 4.46 ERA/4.26 FIP (2019)

This feels to me like one of those Wrigley Field slugfests where ball after ball hits the bleachers. Both of these pitchers are capable of giving up the long ball and we’ve seen both of these teams go over more often than not thus far this season.

Jon Lester is a guy that I am just down on as he gets older and the homerun rate increases while the strikeouts go down. Steven Brault just isn’t all that good and his high walk rate could be dangerous against this deep lineup.

I was a little worried about rain here, but it seems like it is going to be okay. Let’s bet the over.

Bet Cubs/Pirates Over 9 Runs

Houston Astros at Los Angeles Angels Betting Tips:

Astros: Josh James 4.70 ERA/3.98 FIP (2019)
Angels: Shohei Ohtani 3.31 ERA/3.57 FIP (2018)

The Ohtani numbers are a bit misleading as they took place back in 2018 and then he missed all of 2019 with injury. He made his 2020 debut and did not record a single out, allowing five runs on three hits and three walks. The velocity was down from what we’ve become accustomed to and it’s a big question mark how he does here today.

I also have my reservations about the Angels offense. Mike Trout is out on maternity leave and Shohei Ohtani is obviously out of the lineup as he is pitching today. Josh James is nothing special, but the Astros offense is and if they can get to Ohtani then it’s hard to see them mounting a comeback of any kind with Anthony Rendon and the bones of Albert Pujols.

I like Ohtani a lot and would really like to see him bounce back here, but I just don’t think that is a smart move based on just how disastrous his first start was. The Astros offense would make this difficult in any scenario, but with the obvious risk this one could go very bad, very fast.

Bet Astros -136

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