Boston at Los Angeles Angels MLB Odds & Betting Pick – April 18th

The Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Angels meet for the third game of their midweek series on Wednesday night. The Red Sox carry a 14-2 record into this matchup and delivered a rout of the Angels on Tuesday, rolling to a 10-1 victory and sending two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani to the showers after just two innings. Boston’s Mookie Betts led the game off with a home run, as Ohtani had problems with a blister that had first plagued him nine days ago and kept him from finding the plate with his splitter. Check out our MLB odds preview of this tilt between two of the American League’s contenders.

Boston at Los Angeles Angels MLB Odds & Betting Pick – April 18th

A team in New England is 14-2 and it’s not the @Patriots. #WinningTogether pic.twitter.com/h0TQ3mKphP

— MLB (@MLB) April 18, 2018

When: Wednesday, April 18, 2018, 10:07pm ET Where: Angel Stadium, Anaheim TV: FSW / NESN Radio: WEEI 93.7 FM Boston / KLAA 830 AM Anaheim Live Stream: MLB.tv MLB Odds: Redsox -200 Projected Pitching Matchup: Rick Porcello (3-0, 1.83 ERA) (BOS) vs Tyler Skaggs (2-0, 1.69 ERA) (LA)

Why should you bet on the Red Sox?

Rick Porcello pitched reasonably well in his first two starts, going 12 ⅔ combined innings and permitting just four earned runs. However, in his last start, back on April 12 against the Yankees, Porcello was dominating, giving up just a pair of hits in seven shutout innings, striking out six while walking none. He took a no-hitter into that seventh inning, sitting through a rain delay to do it. He held the Pinstripes to a BABIP (batting average on balls in play) of just .118. The Red Sox would end up getting three home runs on Tuesday night from Betts, and one each from Brock Holt, Rafael Devers and Jackie Bradley, Jr., and the Red Sox continue to have the best start in the American League since 1987. The Angels are leading the American League West with a record of 13-4, but with Porcello on the mound and with the way the Red Sox are pounding the ball, it’s hard to argue with a pick for Boston to prevail.

Why should you put your money on the Angels?

Tyler Skaggs threw five innings of one-run ball against Texas on April 10, as the Angels rolled to an 11-1 laugher over the Rangers. Skaggs fanned seven batters, but he walked four, and he needed 114 pitches to get through those five innings, which means that he used a lot from the bullpen. His previous start only lasted 4 ⅔ innings, and while he permitted just a pair of runs, it took him 103 pitches to get that far against the Tribe. He has a strand rate of over 80 percent, and eventually those baserunners are going to come around to score — especially against a team raking like Boston is right now. The Angels were riding a seven-game winning streak before falling to Boston on Tuesday, but all seven of those wins came against teams that are clearly in rebuilding mode: one over Oakland, three at Texas and three at Kansas City. If you like the Angels, you think that their offense can get to elite pitching the same way they’ve gotten to the subpar American League West competition that they have gotten to face so far this season. With Ohtani unlikely to DH the day after his start (particularly with the blister issue), the Angels will have to look elsewhere to get big swings. Ohtani already has three home runs and a .367 average in part-time DH action between starts.

Expert Pick and Final Score Prediction

The Angels will definitely contend in an AL West that gets really soft after themselves and the Astros this season, but this series against Boston is an early test as to how far they will go after that. Adding J.D. Martinez has made Boston’s lineup fearsome, and they are swinging the bats well right now. I see the Red Sox wearing out Skaggs and riding Porcello’s arm to a 6-2 win.