We wrap up another week of baseball with a jam-packed slate full of exciting games. The division races are getting tighter, and the AL West is becoming a full-on sprint to October. Oh, and make sure to check out the series finale between the Braves and Dodgers today as we could be seeing an NLCS preview!
Let’s get into my MLB best bet for Sunday, and be sure to also visit our MLB predictions and YRFI/NRFI best bets for today.
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Tampa Bay Rays ML (-142) over Cleveland Guardians
Available at DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publishing.
Taj Bradley was having a fine rookie season until July came around. The 22-year-old made his MLB debut in early April and remained a part of Tampa Bay’s starting rotation due to numerous injuries to their staff. However, Bradley went 0-3 with a 7.89 ERA in 5 outings in July, which led to the Rays sending him down to Triple-A for a month to work on his mechanics. The right-hander posted a 2.91 ERA with 24 strikeouts in 21.2 innings with the Durham Bulls, which was good enough for him to get called back to the show. His first start back will come against the Guardians, and I like this matchup for Bradley. Since the All-Star break, the Guardians rank 24th against fastballs and 26th against curveballs and those two pitches make up about 60% of Bradley’s arsenal.
Turning relievers into starters can lead to some incredible results such as Seth Lugo and Matt Strahm, but it can also backfire. Xzavion Curry made 23 appearances out of the bullpen before he made his first start of the season a few weeks ago. At first, the strategy seemed to work. Cleveland was stretching Curry for 4-5 innings and taking the brunt of the work off of their bullpen. However, he’s struggled recently. Curry has made it only 2 innings in his last 2 starts but has surrendered a total of 9 runs and 11 hits in that short time. He finished August with an 0-2 record and a 7.06 ERA, so while Curry is on the downswing, Bradley is ready for his comeback. Both bullpens are exhausted after yesterday, but Tampa Bay’s arm barn is deeper, so I’ll back the visitors for the series win.
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