Ricky Dimon
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We have a 12-game Major League Baseball schedule on Thursday as most teams are wrapping up their penultimate series of the season. There are a whole host of division races and wild-card chases still to be decided, so it’s another huge day on the diamond. Here is our 3-team mega parlay for the festivities.
St. Louis Cardinals -1.5 (+170)
San Francisco Giants -1.5 (+100)
Los Angeles Dodgers -1.5 (-120)
Parlay odds: +904
For this parlay we are going with three favorites on the run line. Here is a breakdown of the three legs one by one.
St. Louis Cardinals -1.5 over Milwaukee Brewers (+170)
Just a few weeks ago, the St. Louis Cardinals were barely even in the playoff picture. Since then, a 17-game winning streak has launched them into the postseason with a wild card in the National League. Their offense has been on a tear with a .296 batting average and .914 OPS in the last 15 days, which rank first in both categories. Prior to Wednesday’s loss at the hands of the Milwaukee Brewers, the Cards had scored at least 4 runs in 7 consecutive contests and averaged 8 runs per game during that stretch. With an offense that good, the pitching doesn’t necessarily need to be amazing. JA Happ has been inconsistent, but he has delivered 2 scoreless outings in his last 3 starts. For the Brewers, Brett Anderson (4.30 ERA) allowed 6 runs on 6 hits in 1.2 innings in his most recent appearance, against none other than St. Louis a little more than a week ago.
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San Francisco Giants -1.5 over Arizona Diamondbacks (+100)
Arizona is the worst team in baseball, so it is no surprise that this club has lost 3 straight games and 8 of its last 10. San Francisco, on the other hand, has won 5 in a row and 8 of its last 10. In the series finale, the Diamondbacks will send Madison Bumgarner to the hill. In his 13th MLB season, Bumgarner has been a below-average pitcher with a 4.58 ERA, 4.28 xERA, and a 4.64 FIP. He has been especially bad in his last 6 trips to the mound, posting a 6.17 ERA and a 6.42 FIP. The Giants appear to be going with a bullpen day, beginning with Scott Kazmir. A combination of solid reliever work and a stellar lineup should be enough to handle Bumgarner and the D-Backs without too much trouble.
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Los Angeles Dodgers -1.5 over San Diego Padres (-120)
Due to a disastrous second-half collapse, the Padres have already been eliminated from postseason contention. The Dodgers trail the Giants by 2 games with less than a week remaining in the regular season. After winning each of the first 2 games of this series, LA will send Tony Gonsolin to go for a 4th consecutive victory. San Diego will counter with Vince Velasquez, who has been one of the most hittable pitchers in the league in 2021, (6.22 ERA, 5.15 xERA over 89.2 innings of work). He has been even worse since the beginning of July with an 11.22 ERA and a 7.91 FIP in his last 8 starts. The Dodgers have been mediocre at the plate for the most part since the trade deadline, but as they demonstrated with 11 runs yesterday they are more than capable of hanging crooked numbers at the expense of sub-par pitching.
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