Kevin Davies
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And it all comes down to this. The final series of the regular season is here as all 30 teams will play their last few games on their schedule before heading home or to the postseason. The Wild Card spots have still not been officially decided which means we could see some movement depending on which teams win this weekend. I’ve made a 3-leg parlay that pays out at 10/1 odds at FanDuel Sportsbook for tonight’s big games.
Mets -1.5 (+136)
Orioles ML (+144)
Padres ML (+102)
Parlay odds: +1063
New York Mets -1.5 (+136) over Milwaukee Brewers
The NL Wild Card is nearly set as the final weekend series of the regular season is upon us. At the moment, the Padres, Mets, and Diamondbacks hold the 3 Wild Card spots, but the Braves are just 1 game back of New York and Arizona. That means the champagne has stayed on ice and the Mets and Snakes have still not clinched a postseason berth. Both teams will need to take care of business this weekend in order to remain in the postseason picture, and it begins with the Mets in Milwaukee. Sean Manaea has been fabulous in 2024 and is hoping that today’s start won’t be his last of the season. The lefty has been great down the stretch with a 2-0 record and 2.36 ERA in 5 starts in September and has limited hitters to a stunning .133 batting average with a 27% strikeout rate in that span. He’s being countered by Frankie Montas, who just had a blowout outing against the Diamondbacks last time out. His outing before that wasn’t much better as he’s surrendered 11 runs, 12 hits, and 5 home runs in his last 8.1 innings. The Mets need this win, and I think they get it by multiple runs.
Baltimore Orioles ML (+144) over Minnesota Twins
What a collapse by the Twins. Minnesota was in the running for the AL Central for most of the season, but when the Guardians started to pull away, the Twins were still in a great position to get a Wild Card spot. In fact, the Twins had a 95% chance of making the postseason when September started. As of this morning, it’s down to 3%. They only have themselves to blame because they lost 3 out of 4 to the Guardians, 2 out of 3 to the Red Sox, and just lost 2 out of 3 to the Marlins. When they needed it most, the Twins couldn’t come through. Their only postseason hope relies on sweeping the Orioles, the Royals sweeping the Braves, and the White Sox sweeping the Tigers. I don’t expect that to happen since I think the Orioles will crush those dreams tonight. Minnesota’s bullpen is absolutely exhausted right now considering they’ve gone into extra-innings in 4 of their last 8 games. And as great as Pablo Lopez has been, he was just shelled for 7 runs, 9 hits, and 2 home runs in 4 innings in his last outing. Expect another disappointing effort from Minnesota tonight.
San Diego Padres ML (+102) over Arizona Diamondbacks
The Padres had the chance to steal the division from the Dodgers, but a series loss sealed the deal for the Dodgers. So while the Dodgers celebrated with champagne and beer in the locker room, the Padres had to travel to Arizona for their final series of the year against the Diamondbacks. San Diego has secured a postseason berth through the Wild Card and the only thing they have left to play for is to ruin their divisional rival’s postseason aspirations. The Diamondbacks, Mets, and Braves are fighting for 2 spots and this weekend’s series will decide which teams continue. The Mets are taking on the Brewers and the Braves are battling the Royals, so none of the 3 teams have an easy series. The Snakes will have to try and take at least 2 of 3 from the Padres, but that might not be easy with Yu Darvish on the mound for the series opener. After missing nearly 4 months of the season, Darvish has looked great in his return to the mound as he’s posted a 3.15 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP in 4 starts. He’s held hitters to a .217 xBA with just a 28% hard-hit rate in those outings. I’m not so sure that the Padres should be underdogs in this game, so I’ll take the plus odds and side with them.
