Andrew Ortenberg
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Olympic baseball is back for the first time since 2008. Group play is underway from Tokyo, and the games so far have been thrilling. Team USA dominated Israel 8-1 in their first game, and will look to follow it up here against South Korea very early Saturday morning. I cashed my best bet for the USA/Israel game, and now we’re going to make it two in a row.
You can view all of our Olympics picks here, but right now we’re talking baseball. Let’s dive in:
Olympic baseball Day 4 best bet: USA -1.5 (+100) vs South Korea
Team USA clearly entered these Olympics with a chip on their shoulder. Oddsmakers made Japan a solid favorite to win the gold medal, and that didn’t sit well with the Americans. They made a statement in their opener against Israel with a domination, and should build on that success.
For a clue as to how this game will go, look no further than to how South Korea fared against that same Israel team. They won 6-5, and the game was about as close as it possibly could have been. South Korea won in extra innings on a walk-off hit by pitch. Contrast that with the beatdown Team USA just laid on Israel.
South Korea also got pretty lucky in that one-run victory, as Israel’s starter was forced to leave the game in the first inning due to injury. Israel hit three home runs against South Korea, while they mustered only a single run against Team USA.
The Americans will have Nick Martinez on the mound here, who has several years of major league experience. Giving him an extra edge is the fact that he’s been pitching in the NPB the past few seasons, so he’s used to the time zones and to pitching in Japan.
Just because they don’t have current MLB players doesn’t mean Team USA doesn’t have a lot of talent. Young-Pyo Ko will start for South Korea, and this is a guy who has a career 5.01 ERA in the KBO. He didn’t even play in the KBO in 2019 or 2020. I’m not expecting this one to be particularly close.
