If you’re thinking that the weather outside seems a little hot for Opening Day in Major League Baseball, you’re absolutely right. We’re about 3 ½ months behind schedule, thanks to the COVID-19 hiatus and the planning that had to take place for baseball to take place safely, but Thursday and Friday will mark the first regular season games in the 2020 campaign, which will run just 60 games (instead of the normal 162) before the playoffs begin. Teams will face their own division as well as their geographical counterparts in the other league, so the AL East teams will face one another as well as the NL East team. The Boston Red Sox start their abbreviated season at Fenway Park, welcoming the Baltimore Orioles in for three games. Don’t miss our sports betting preview of the opener, along with their MLB odds of the game.
MLB: Baltimore Orioles at Boston Red Sox (July 24)
- When: Friday, July 24, 2020, 7:30 pm ET
- Where: Fenway Park, Boston
- TV: MASN / NESN
- Radio: 105.7 FM The Fan Baltimore / WEEI 93.7 FM Boston
- Live Stream: MLB.tv
- MLS Odds: Boston Red Sox -235 / Total 8½
Projected Pitching Matchup: Tommy Milone (BAL) vs Nathan Eovaldi (BOS)
Why should you bet on Baltimore?
Baltimore will start Tommy Milone in this game. His career record of 50-47 and a 4.47 ERA are not awful. However, since 2016, he has fallen off the table, going 9-19 with a 5.67 ERA over 64 games, including 30 starts. He has washed through five different teams last year. As a Seattle Mariner in 2019, he went 4-10 with a 4.76 ERA over 23 games, including six starts, in which he posted a 1-3 record and a 4.65 ERA.
This is a Baltimore team that is still rebuilding; one face of the franchise’s future is the youngster John Means (read more about him below). He came in second in Rookie of the Year voting in 2019. At this point, the Orioles are all about developing players and finding the core of their next contender. Austin Hays came up in September of 2019 and hit .309 with 10 extra-base hits over 75 plate appearances. He will start in center field and could be the everyday leadoff hitter. But do the Orioles have enough to stop the Red Sox?
Why should you put your money on the Red Sox?
The Orioles were expecting to start lefty John Means in the season opener. However, he went through arm fatigue this past weekend, so the Red Sox may have dodged a bullet. Means was an All-Star in 2019, going 12-11 with a 3.60 ERA. Against Boston, he posted a 3-1 record with a 2.89 ERA in five starts. The Red Sox will counter with Nathan Eovaldi, who became a Boston hero in the 2018 postseason but had a rough 2019, fighting through injuries and uneven performance. He did look sharp during spring training and the recently completed summer camp.
Why is Eovaldi starting for Boston on Opening Day, though? Chris Sale is gone for the year. David Price is now a Dodger. Martin Perez is a band-aid at the back of the rotation. Collin McHugh, coming from Houston via free agency, would have helped, but he opted out due to COVID-19 concerns. The offense is playoff quality, though. They still have J.D. Martinez, Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers and Andrew Benitendi, and Alex Verdugo joined the club. However, you can’t outscore bad pitching in this league. I do think Eovaldi can hold down the fort on Opening Day, but after that…
Final Score Prediction
After Opening Day, we should see some big scores in the last two games of this opening series, as both teams will still have pitchers rounding into regular season stamina. Eovaldi should be able to keep the Orioles in check long enough for the Red Sox to open up a lead against Milone. I predict a final score of Boston 6, Baltimore 3.
