We hit on one out of two bets in last week’s MLB Thursday preview as our other game was washed out. That takes our season tally to 9-4 in 2018 so far and we’ll be looking to carry on the good momentum this week as we preview some of the key games this Thursday, the 24th of May below.
Cleveland Indians at Chicago Cubs (10.05am AEST)
The 2016 MLB World Series combatants will go at it on Thursday after both securing fairly competitive starts to the season so far. The Indians currently lead the AL Central division with a 22-23 record and will be looking to improve on that in the short two game series against the Cubs which gets underway Wednesday.
Adam Plutko will be on the mound for the Indians after being called up from Triple A through the week. The start will be just the second in his career in the major leagues after he was fairly impressive in his first, pitching 7½ innings for three runs in a win against Toronto.
Plutko couldn’t be up against a more experienced pitcher on Thursday as he faces Jon Lester, who has been impressive to start the 2018 season, going 4-1 through nine starts so far with a 2.52 ERA. Too much to like about the Cubs here with the home field advantage and Lester on the mound.
Chicago Cubs to win
$1.75
New York Yankees at Texas Rangers (9.05am AEST)
The Yankees have been rolling of late, winning seven of their last 10 games to move ahead of Boston in the AL East standings. They currently have a 7-3 record in 2018 and will have star pitcher CC Sabathia on the mound on Thursday, who prior to his last start against Kansas City, had been unbeaten in 15 straight starts.
There’s been plenty of no decisions for the talented left hander this season, however, as run support from the Yankee batting line-up has been limited. He currently holds a 2-1 record through 8 starts with a 2.40 ERA and will be up against Doug Fister on Thursday.
Fister has been gallant this season but the run support just hasn’t been there for the Rangers at all. They are currently a bottom 12 team in both runs and hits and although they have the home field advantage, I like the Yankees to earn the win here on the back of some hot form.
New York Yankees -1.5
$1.82
Boston Red Sox at Tampa Bay Rays (9.10am AEST)
Boston have won six of their last 10 games and have a fantastic +75 run difference throughout their opening 47 games of the season. They currently have the most hits in all of baseball and the second most runs, behind only the Yankees. Tampa Bay have also been slaying out on offence, currently the 7th ranked hitting team in the majors, but they have had trouble converting those hits into runs as they rank 19th in total runs.
Its been a bit of a fall from grace for David Price over the last few years. When he was traded to Boston, he was arguably the best pitcher in the league. He has never really hit his straps in Beantown and has struggled in 2018 so far with a 4-4 record and a 4.38 ERA.
Still like the Red Sox to win here though, as their offence has been on another level of late and should be able to take hold of Tampa Bay pitcher Chris Archer (5.01 ERA) fairly comfortably.
Boston Red Sox to win
$1.70
