Blue Jays Will Win Home Opener

Mariners vs. Blue Jays, 7:07 ET

It was an ugly Sunday for me as I dropped both of my plays. After a blistering hot start to the MLB season, I have had a few ugly days and will need to make some adjustments. In one game yesterday, the Oakland Athletics decided it would be the day to break out their bats and finally have an offense. The other game was a close contest that I was on the wrong side of as the Astros took down the Rangers. It is a long season, so I'll get it back and I'm looking to get one of those units back tonight in a game between the Mariners and the Blue Jays as they play in Toronto. 

Seattle has not been the easiest team for me to predict over the past couple of seasons. The Mariners were one of the best teams in baseball last year after the All-Star break, but couldn't ride that success to a postseason birth. So far, they can't seem to get any run going and are only 4-6 on the season. They have lost four of their last five games as well. There is a bit of reason for optimism tonight as they have Luis Castillo taking the ball for the third time this year. Castillo has not pitched great early on as he has allowed four earned runs in both of his starts this season, never completing six innings. Perhaps more concerning is that he has allowed 16 hits over the 10.2 innings he has pitched. I've been a big Castillo supporter, and expected him to compete for the Cy Young again this season, but this is a tough start to the year. He's seen the Blue Jays a reasonable number of times in his career and has allowed 15 hits in 75 at-bats against him. Five of the hits have gone for extra-bases. 

Toronto is off to a similar start to the Mariners as the Blue Jays are also 4-6. This team has a ton of offensive talent, but they are struggling greatly at the dish to start the season. In 10 games, they have just 36 runs (even though that's more than the Mariners have scored) and they are hitting just .193 collectively. The pitching staff has also been an issue as they have a combined 5.46 ERA for the season and are allowing opponents to hit .281 off of them. Perhaps tonight will be a jumpstart they need as the MLB did nothing to help the Blue Jays to start the season. The Blue Jays had 10 straight road games to start the year. Today they have Jose Berrios taking the hill. He's been one of the better pitchers in the early portion of this season for Toronto. He has already posted two quality starts going six innings in each start and allowing a total of three runs over the two games. He has been very good against the Mariners as well over his career with just 10 hits allowed in 55 at-bats. 

Toronto should have the edge in this game. I don't feel like the home-field advantage is always that big in baseball, but I think it will feel good for the Blue Jays to be playing in front of a positive crowd.  We need Castillo to struggle once again in this game. I have a feeling he will eventually rebound, but hopefully we can get one more bad start out of him. I'll take the Blue Jays to win this one at -120. 

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