Ricky Dimon
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We have a modest nine games in Major League Baseball on Thursday, as more than a handful of teams are in between series. It includes one businessman’s special between the Texas Rangers and Detroit Tigers, while the rest of the games are at night. Without question the two biggest contests are division rivalry games: the Boston Red Sox vs the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers vs the San Francisco Giants. Be sure to check out our picks on the side and total for all of today’s matchups.
Let’s take a look at our three-team mega parlay for Thursday.
Boston Red Sox ML (-120)
Minnesota Twins -1.5 (+135)
Los Angeles Dodgers -1.5 (+133)
Parlay odds: +900
For this parlay, we are going with two favorites on the run line and one underdog on the money line. Here is a breakdown of the three legs one by one.
Boston Red Sox ML over New York Yankees (-120)
This begins the second head-to-head series since the All-Star break between the two fiercest rivals in baseball. The Red Sox are coming off two consecutive victories over the Blue Jays. Boston should feel good about its chances of staying hot when it looks at today’s pitching matchup. New York’s Jordan Montgomery owns a 4.18 ERA, 4.24 xERA, and a 3.72 FIP through his first 18 turns in the rotation this season. He has especially struggled over his last six starts, posting a 4.54 ERA and a 4.42 FIP, surrendering at least three runs on five occasions. He could be in for a difficult evening against a Boston lineup that ranks sixth in OPS and eighth in ISO in 2021.
For the Red Sox, Tanner Houck has only 30.1 innings of big-league experience but the early returns have been extremely promising. Across two seasons, he has posted a 1.78 ERA and a 2.85 FIP with an elite 30.3 strikeout percentage. The Yankees are still without Aaron Judge and are essentially rolling out a B-team lineup right now due to quite a few key injuries.
Be sure to check out our full game preview for Boston Red Sox vs New York Yankees
Minnesota Twins -1.5 over Los Angeles Angels (+135)
Minnesota and Los Angeles will begin a four-game series tonight at Target Field with Andrew Heaney taking the ball for the Angels and Kenta Maeda getting the nod for the Twins. Heaney has compiled a 5.56 ERA, 4.39 xERA, and a 4.20 FIP across 81.0 innings of work in 2021. Tonight may not be when his luck turns around considering that he has a tough matchup against a Twins lineup that ranks seventh in OPS and third in ISO against southpaws.
Meanwhile, Maeda has posted a 1.69 ERA, 0.99 FIP, and an extremely impressive 25-to-4 strikeout-to-walk ratio over his last 16.0 innings of work. Although not much has gone right for the Twins this year, they should have more than enough to win convincingly at home on Thursday.
Be sure to check out our full game preview for Los Angeles Angels vs Minnesota Twins
Los Angeles Dodgers -1.5 over San Francisco Giants (+133)
The series finale between the Giants and Dodgers presents us with a tremendous pitching matchup as Anthony DeSclafani goes up against Walker Buehler. Both pitchers are putting up spectacular numbers this season, but the edge in this matchup has to go to Buehler. He has faced San Francisco three times in 2021 and he has been extremely effective (two earned runs on 12 hits in 19.2 innings). Buehler is now 6-0 with a 2.17 ERA in 10 appearances (eight starts) against the Giants in his career.
On the other hand, DeSclafani has struggled against the Dodgers. He has faced LA three times this year and has allowed 15 earned runs on 19 hits in 12.1 innings. Additionally, DeSclafani is 1-7 with a 6.32 ERA in nine career starts against the Dodgers. Adding insult to injury, the Dodgers have scored 6.8 runs per game so far since the All-Star break. Don’t be surprised if the defending World Series champions are just one game back in the NL West when Thursday ends.
Be sure to check out our full game preview for Los Angeles Dodgers vs San Francisco Giants
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