Betting: Can you find value on the Blue Jays team total?
Minty Bets and Ariel Epstein give their best bets for the MLB slate on Friday April 22nd.
Video Transcript
MINTY BETS: I'm Minty Bets and joining me is Ariel Epstein on this beautiful Friday, April 22. And we're here to give you our best bets in the MLB today. Ariel, why don't you start things off for us.
ARIEL EPSTEIN: I'm going with the team total under for the Toronto Blue Jays at 3.5. The Blue Jays have only gone over this number in two road games. They've played seven. So five out of their seven road games have gone below 3.5 runs on their team total.
The Blue Jays also have to go up against the Houston Astros' starter, Justin Verlander. Verlander hasn't allowed more than 1 run in 2 games to start the season. Even if Verlander leaves the game, the Astros have a top-five bullpen ERA.
I also saw this line move about $0.25 in favor of Houston despite majority of the action coming in on the Blue Jays. That doesn't shock me that the Blue Jays, as road underdogs, are going to be getting all the money from the public.
The Blue Jays, believe it or not, despite all the bats they have in their lineup, with sluggers like Vladimir Guerrero Jr.-- he's one of the frontrunners for the American League MVP-- this team has struggled with runners in scoring position. Toronto's bottom five in OPS and batting average with runners in scoring position. Give me the team's total under on the Toronto Blue Jays at 3.5 runs, Minty.
MINTY BETS: Oh, I like that one. All right, I'm going to be looking at the Mets-Diamondbacks game. Now, I love both starters today. We have left-handed pitcher David Peterson for the Mets and righty Zac Gallen for the D-backs.
Now, Peterson has been pretty good in his starts so far this season, not allowing a single run in his eight innings pitched. On top of that, Arizona is one of the worst hitting teams against lefties. Then on the other side, we have the Mets, who are one of the best teams offensively, ranking third in batting average and fifth in OPS.
But I like Zach Gallen to hold it down. He was solid against the Mets just the other week, and I expect the same performance today. So although I do like the Mets to win, my bet will be the first 5 under 4.5 runs.
Now to recap our picks, Ariel has the Blue Jays team total under, and I've got the Mets and the Diamondbacks first 5 under. Bet $10 and win $200 in free bets by signing up at BetMGM.com/YahooVIP. New customers only. Must be 21 and older. Terms apply.