MLB Best Bets for Wednesday, September 22, 2021
Solid 2-1 night last evening. I’m looking forward to another day of baseball as we inch closer and closer to the playoffs. Let’s get to it.
Rangers vs. Yankees
The Rangers are really struggling offensively lately. In fact, it is actually very difficult to do what they’ve done over their last 10 games. Over those games, they’ve scored over three runs exactly one time. That one win was an 8-1 victory over the Astros. Tonight doesn’t get any easier as they have to face Corey Kluber who already has a complete-game shutout against the Rangers this year. He’s only allowed six hits to Rangers hitters in 46 at-bats and all of them have come from Brock Holt. Taylor Hearn has been decent aside from his last start where he allowed seven earned runs to the White Sox. He’s only thrown two innings this year against the Yankees, but they were scoreless. If the game gets to be an over, I expect it to be a result of the Yankees mashing Hearn, but I’ll play the under 9 at -120.
Twins vs. Cubs
Last game, Kyle Hendricks was staked to a 7-0 lead over the Phillies. The Cubs ended up losing that game 17-8. Hendricks had been a pretty solid bet as a road starter this year but that game was truly awful. At home, Hendricks is a 5.28 ERA pitcher having allowed 103 hits in 87 innings. The Twins throw Joe Ryan into the game – his fourth start and he’s only faced two teams, the Cubs and the Indians. Against the Cubs, in his debut, he went five innings and allowed only three hits. The problem was that one of the three hits was a three-run homer and that proved to be the only score of the game. I think he gets some run support today against Hendricks and keeps pitching well. Play the Twins to win the game at -126.
Mets vs. Red Sox
Chris Sale has come back from the injured list and basically picked up right where he left off. Sale has started six games and in five of six of them, the opposing team has scored two runs or less. Today the Mets team total is 3.5 runs. Francisco Lindor is the only Mets hitter with any type of success against Sale in the past – he’s hitting .429 against him. I’m going to play the Mets under 3.5 runs in this game at -104. (Upon posting, I’ve seen it shift back and forth between 3.5 and 4 runs on Fan Duel. Four is the better number, obviously, but it comes with a -122 cost. I’d still play it.) I could also sprinkle the Red Sox and under 8.5 runs for the game at +240.