Welcome to the start of a new week in baseball. This past weekend was an interesting one with plenty of upsets and excitement (aka Paul Skenes’ first start), and tonight should be no different with a huge slate of games. I’ve taken three of my favorite picks from today’s slate to create a 9/1 parlay from FanDuel Sportsbook.
Tampa Bay Rays ML (-102) over Boston Red Sox
The AL East is'starting to turn'into a heavyweight battle between the Yankees and Orioles. A few games back and fighting to stay above .500 are the Rays and Red Sox, and they meet tonight for the start of a 4-game series. While the Red Sox come into this series opener with the better record, the Rays appear to have more momentum because of their starting lineup. Josh Lowe has returned to the lineup'and'Brandon Lowe'is expected'to return any day'while'Yandy Diaz and Randy Arozarena have caught fire after a slow first month.
Boston is coming off a series win against the Nationals at Fenway, but it wasn't'too'convincing. The Red Sox scored just'8'runs in the series and heavily relied on their excellent starting rotation. That's the case for tonight'too'since'Kutter Crawford will take the hill in Boston. Crawford has been one of the best pitchers in baseball so far'and'the Rays will counter with an ace of their own in the form of Zach Eflin. The pitching matchup is'ext remely'close, but the Tampa Bay lineup has the advantage. Take the Rays at near even money.
Chicago Cubs ML (+126) over Atlanta Braves
If'you're looking for a battle of aces, you've come to the'right'game.'The Cubs and Braves begin a mid-week series tonight, and the pitching matchup has set the stage for a phenomenal matchup: Shota Imanaga and Reynaldo Lopez.'Both of'these aces have a sub-2 ERA and have had as good of a start as you could ask for. However, Imanaga is'being undervalued'in this spot. The lefty has incredible accuracy as he owns one of the best strikeout-to-walk ratios of any starting pitcher and'also'has limited hitters to a stunning .210 xBA.