PHILADELPHIA – Throughout the playoffs, I’ve been taking the time to thank players when they come through on our picks. We’ve been very successful and a lot of that thanks has gone to the likes of Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, Alex Bregman and Framber Valdez.
This time around, however, I’m going to shame someone. We were right there. We were just one out away from securing the win with under seven runs in Game 2 and Yuli Gurriel booted a grounder, allowing a run to score and moving us to a push. It’s not a loss, but the win was right there for the taking and all he had to do was keep the ball in front to prevent the run from scoring. For shame!
Let’s get back on track. All lines courtesy of Caesars Sportsbook.
Featured Game | Philadelphia Phillies vs. Houston Astros
OVER 8 runs (-105)
This is a friendly ballpark for hitters and the aces are all off for Game 3. Lance McCullers, Jr. is very good, but he’s also been much worse on the road than at home throughout his career. Noah Syndergaard is, at this point, a backend starter and won’t be saddled with going through the Astros’ lineup more than once. The Phillies bullpen isn’t deep, either. I really like some offense.
Kyle Schwarber OVER 0.5 runs (-108)
Once again in this series, there’s very little meaningful head-to-head data on the hitters vs. starting pitchers. That’s pretty fun to have fresh matchups. Something we do know if Schwarber is one of the best hitters in baseball when it comes to slugging percentage against breaking balls. McCullers will heavily feature his curve. Whether Schwarber hits a home run or gets on base in front of his dangerous teammates from the leadoff spot, the chances of him scoring a run are high.
Jose Altuve OVER 1.5 total bases (+133)
It’s been heavily noted that Altuve was 0 for his first 25 this postseason and 1 for 28 through Game 3 of the ALCS. He got two hits in Game 4, but they were kind of cheap. Still, he’s too good to stay down for long and he came through with three hits, including a double, in Game 2 of the World Series. It’s time to jump on board and ride him. He’s going to hit the rest of the series.