Back Shohei to Shutdown the Mariners

Angels vs. Mariners, 4:10 ET

It is a getaway day for the Angels and Mariners as they wrap up a three-game set between the division rivals. Mark this day as the Angels are actually above .500 and you won't see that very often during a season. I have already put a couple of plays on the Mariners and we won the last one as they lost to the Guardians in extra innings.

Well, it is Shohei Ohtani day. That means something spectacular is likely to happen in the game today. There is no doubt, Ohtani is the most unique player in all of baseball and gets a ton of attention and excitement from the media. The majority of it is deserved as well. He has already had one start on the year and it was a beauty. He was able to go six innings and allowed just two hits over those innings and no runs allowed. It was embarrassing though as the Angels couldn't even muster two runs to get Ohtani the victory. Having pitched against the Mariners quite a bit, I like the same size and they are just 22-for-96 against him. Last season he was stellar against them over three starts. In those outings, he allowed just two earned runs over 19 innings. There was a lot of traffic on the basepaths, but he seems to get strikeouts when he needs them.

On the other side, the Mariners are stumbling a bit out of the gate. At just 2-4, and all six games coming at home, you'd have to think this is a bit of a disappointment. It is early so we can't be too upset about this. However, you don't want to get too far down to start the year and have to make all sorts of adjustments. Their hitting has been the issue this season, not their pitching. On the year, they have a .218 batting average but their pitching staff has a 3.27 ERA. Now they send Chris Flexen to the bump today. Flexen had a short but good outing against the Guardians as he went four innings and allowed just one earned run. He came in relief of Robbie Ray who stumbled through three innings and needed 91 pitches. Flexen pitched 18 innings over four appearances, three starts, against the Angels last season. In those 18 innings, he allowed 10 earned runs and 18 hits.

I think the Angels should have no trouble in this game. I think that they probably are going to win this game by two or three runs. I'm going to back them to win on the run line here at +100. They have the better pitcher and the Mariners hitters are not in a good spot right now. I like this play, but I wouldn't play it if the juice gets much lower.

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