MLB Best Bets for Thursday, May 19, 2022

Welp, we go 1-1 yesterday for a slight loss because we have yet another postponed game. The amount of postponed games seems higher than normal this season. Nonetheless, we can use yesterday's play today if you'd like. It is a shorter slate today though, so not as many plays.

Padres at Phillies

Yu Darvish can strike fear into the opposition's lineup. Yu Darvish on the road, however, has batters licking their chops. In just 19 innings, he's allowed 17 earned runs. Take out his superb starts against the Diamondbacks to start the season, he's at 13 innings and 17 earned runs. Darvish has been successful against Phillies hitters, but these drastic splits are giving me pause. Another pitcher with drastic splits is Kyle Gibson, but he is throwing at home, where he has a 1.93 ERA. Padres hitters are hitting .261 against him. Of those 39 hits he's allowed, only nine have gone for extra bases, so he is limiting them a bit. I'll take historical trends into consideration more than the current splits and play Darvish and the Padres to win the game at +102.

Diamondbacks at Cubs

We talked about Zac Gallen last week when he faced the Cubs last. He went six innings, allowed two hits, one of which was a solo home run. The Cubs ended up winning the game, though. Marcus Stroman is pitching for the Cubs and he has struggled at home, and during night games. There is reason to believe he might have rebounded though. He had a nice start his last outing, and most Cubs free agents seem to struggle when they first come to the team. So, maybe this is him settling in and being ready to pitch the way he is capable of. The other advantage the Cubs have, is that they just saw Gallen a week ago, and get to face him again, while the Diamondbacks haven't faced Stroman this year. I'll take my shot with the Cubs at -112.