At the beginning of the season, the algos were underrating the strikeouts, which have come at a record-setting pace – and the overs were the overwhelming winning bet. The past week, however, the unders are tracking up – why is that? Are pitchers getting scared about getting caught with their fingers in the sticky substance jar? Only time will tell.
Now on to the K-Props…
Giants @ Nationals, 7:05 pm ET
The Nats Max Scherzer has already topped 100 strikeouts for the season, has a measly .82 WHIP, and an ERA of 2.22 – yet his record stands at 5-4. Bottom line? The Washington Baseball Team isn’t very good. Lucky for us K fans, Scherzer is. Against the Giants my projections have him hitting 9 or 10, so I’m comfortable taking the over 8.5 K line and -130 from FanDuel.
Blue Jays @ White Sox, 8:00 pm ET
Hyun Jin Ryu, pitching for the Blue Jays tonight, had a stinker of a game his last time out against the Astros. How bad was it? 5.2 innings, 7 runs (6 earned), and only 1K bad. We know this is an anomaly. His 5 starts prior he consistently struck out 6/7 a game. Against these White Sox I see a bounce back game. The line is set at 5.5 and I’ll take the over and +115 from the Barstool Sportsbook team.
Royals @ Athletics, 9:40 pm ET
The Kansas City Royals have Mike Minor starting this evening, and I think it’s a tough matchup for him. Minor isn’t having a great year and these Athletics like to put the ball in play. Minor’s K numbers aren’t bad – 73K in 67IP, but I don’t see him getting more than 6 tonight. The line is tight with the over/under set at 6.5 – but I’m going with the under at -121 at BetRivers.
Come back again — same bat-channel — Batman out!