How’s your MLB Betting? The New York Yankees have moved into first place in the American League East, thanks in large part to two sluggers – Juan Soto and Aaron Judge.
On Wednesday night, the Chicago White Sox opted to give Soto an intentional walk (which made sense – Soto had hit home runs in four straight at-bats).
That motivated Judge to launch a long ball of his own once Soto got to first base, giving him 300 home runs in only 955 games, the fastest in MLB history.
He demolished the previous record (1,087), which had belonged to Ralph Kiner.
Judge only needed 3,431 at-bats to get to 300 long balls, breaking another record (3,831) which had belonged to one George Herman Ruth.
Going into the weekend, don’t miss our top sports betting picks from the national pastime.
MLB Betting Analysis: Weekend Betting ATS Picks | MLB Odds
Toronto Blue Jays (-1.5) at Chicago Cubs (O/U 10.5)
Pitchers: Yariel Rodriguez (1-5, 3.60 ERA) (TOR) vs Kyle Hendricks (3-10, 6.60 ERA) (CHI)
When: Friday, August 16, 2:20 pm ET, Apple TV+
If you look at Rodriguez’s ERA, you can see that he’s pitching well, so the issue might just be run support.
He has only allowed more than two runs in any appearance once since June 21; on July 29, the Orioles got to him for four runs (three earned) on a hit and four walks over just ⅔ of an inning in an 11-5 loss.
Other than that, his stuff has been solid, but the Blue Jays have still lost five of his last seven starts, including a 1-0 loss to Oakland on Saturday.
If the Blue Jays can get the bats going for once, Rodriguez should be able to manage the Chicago offense.
Kyle Hendricks has pitched more effectively since the calendar turned to July. He’s only given up more than three runs in any start once since then, but the Cubs have not been hitting for him.
The Cubs have lost four of his last six starts, and they’ve been shut out in all of them. To say that the Chicago offense has come to a grinding halt is not an understatement.
In fact, dating back to June 14, the Cubs have scored either zero or one runs in every start that Hendricks has lost.
MLB Pick: Blue Jays to win and cover.
^Minnesota Twins (-1.5) at Texas Rangers
Pitchers: Simeon Woods Richardson (3-3, 3.78 ERA) (MIN) vs Andrew Heaney (4-12, 4.05 ERA) (TEX)
When: Friday, August 16, 8:05 pm ET, MLB Network
Woods, Richardson, has only gotten decisions in three of his last ten starts. In some cases, he didn’t last long enough (five innings) to get the win, like on August 4, when the Twins hammered the White Sox, 13-7, but he only threw four innings.
In other cases, either the team came back after he left the game or the bullpen blew the lead, but his stuff has been decent.
Since June 14, he’s only allowed more than three runs in one start, back on July 29 against the Mets.
The Twins’ bullpen has done a solid job of converting Woods Richardson’s leads into victories after he leaves.
For much of the season, Andrew Heaney has been bedeviled by poor run support. One example came on July 6, when he threw 5 ⅓ innings of shutout ball against Tampa Bay in a game the Rangers would win, 4-3, but the offense failed to kick in until after Heaney had left the game.
In his last four starts, though, he’s been taking on some water.
He did have a nice six-inning outing against Houston on August 5, throwing six innings of one-hit, one-run ball in a game the Rangers would win in extra innings.
His other three most recent starts, though, against Toronto, St. Louis and the Yankees, have lasted a combined 14 innings and have seen him permit 14 runs (13 earned) on 18 hits and four walks.
He’s an accurate pitcher, but when he finds too much of the plate, bad things happen. Given his recent track record, I see him finding too much of the plate against the Twins.
MLB Pick: Minnesota to win and cover.
^Let these homers carry you into Friday 😎 pic.twitter.com/w3p9scHq0l
— MLB (@MLB) August 16, 2024
Bet World Series Today
Xbet Betting Lines for the Game
MLB Betting Analysis
Love betting on baseball, like in the MLB? | Xbet Sportsbook offers up to date MLB betting Odds for all Regular Season, Playoffs, and World Series games.
