Player Prop As Sale Looks To Mow Down Pirates

Braves vs. Pirates, 1:35 ET

I'm still stewing from the other day about a the Pirates. I lost a bet on Paul Skenes to record his second win. Why did that happen? Glad you asked. It certainly wasn't Skenes' fault as he went a solid six innings and allowed just one earned run. The problem is that the Pirates bullpen had a full on meltdown and allowed the Giants to score five runs in the eighth costing the Pirates, and Skenes the game. So, today, instead of betting on the game, I'm actually just putting out a player prop in the game between the Braves and Pirates. 

Let's start with the Pirates as a team before we get into the Braves and the player I'm looking at for today. The Pirates are one of the most strikeout prone teams in baseball right now. They are in the top-5 to be specific. The roster is filled with young hitters, and ones that don't have a great ablilty to make contact. As a team, they are only hitting in the .220's, so that should tell you a bit about how they are approaching the dish. Things aren't all bad for them, though as they are also somehow one of the most walked teams in baseball. Usually, that is not a combination you normally will find. Typically if a team strikes out a ton, they don't walk much. The Pirates have struck out at least nine times in five games against the Cubs and Giants just before this series started. That doesn't leave me with much confidence in this roster as they go against one of the better strikeout pitchers the game has seen over the past decade. 

Andrew McCutchen #22 of the Pittsburgh Pirates is 0-for-7 against Sale with one strikeout in his career. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)

Speaking of that pitcher, you may not remember him, but Chris Sale is still alive and well. His career started great with the White Sox and slowed down on the Red Sox as injuries started to pile up while he was with both clubs. He is healthy right now and looks as good as he ever did. This is a matter of the Braves taking a chance on a guy and it working out for both of them. Sale currently has a 2.22 ERA, good for 10th in the league. He is sporting a 0.86 WHIP, 3rd best mark in the Majors, and is tied for 9th in strikeouts. Essentially, the man is putting together a Cy Young campaign. It appears that he is getting better now as well. In the month of May, he has allowed exactly one earned run over 25 innings. He has issued one walk and 19 hits in that span as well. What's more important for today is that he has struck out at least nine hitters in each of the games he has pitched this month. He has only faced a handful of Pirates hitters over his career, and he has only struck out two hitters over 14 at-bats. 

If you've made it this far, you probably know where I'm going with this bet today. I'm going to do a strikeout ladder for Sale. The official bet will be to take the over on his strikeouts for today, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him get 10 - 12 strikeouts in this one. Feel free to have a bit of fun and sprinkle on some of the higher numbers and see what he can get. 

For more sports betting information and plays, follow David on X/Twitter: @futureprez2024