MLB Playoffs Preview: Expert Betting Insights and Predictions

Okay, let's talk baseball. Major League Baseball playoffs. It begins tomorrow, Phillies against the Braves, White Sox against the Astros, Red Sox against the Yankees, and the Cubs against the Padres in the wildcard round. Those odds are from Beck Chris, Arizona. I am shocked that the Braves are only a minus 133 favorite against the Phillies. Give me that all day long for Atlanta at home to knock out the Phillies, who were lucky to make the postseason, who bungled their way into the playoffs. Mike, I mean, I saw that and I was like, wait a minute. I know the offense is great for Philadelphia. Okay. I know you have Schwarber. I know you have Harper and company and whatnot. And I know there's a couple of good pitchers, obviously, but the Braves at home, give me the Braves at home. Like that is 100%. Give me that. Chris sale starts game one. Chris sale this year at home for the Atlanta Braves has a 1.66 era, an eight and three mark and opposing batting average of 202 in 87 innings worth of work. He gave up 16 earned runs. I mean, we got Chris sale in game one against the Phillies. Yeah. Look at winning game one and a best of three is so vitally important, but I think that price is awesome for it to take the Braves. I like Atlanta to win that on the other side of the national league. The Padres have been so red hot. The Padres ended the year up 20 games over 500. That's like, where did that come from? And look, the Cubs, not that they bungled their way in, but the Cubs didn't dominate. You got Michael King starting game one. We don't know who's starting game one yet for Chicago, a six and four record with a 2.74 era at home for Michael King. The team end of the year winning for the last five games started by Michael King. But you've got to get to the bullpen. If you're the Padres, you just get into the bullpen, right? The best clothes are in baseball. You have one of the best home field advantages in baseball. This is this is tough. This is to me. This is really, really tough from a Cub perspective to have to go on the road. I think for all the teams, frankly, I'm not sure which road team actually wins in advances, to be honest. Maybe the White Sox have the best chance to advance, and they're the biggest of second biggest dog. I don't give the Red Sox much of a chance against Yankee pitching. I just don't think the Red Sox offense is good enough. I think their pitching is great. I think they're I think unders on every game. But I just don't think the Yankees are going to lose to the Red Sox at home. I don't think the Braves are losing to the Phillies at home. I don't think the Padres are losing to the Cubs at home. And then I think you're going to have the Astros most likely, but maybe not. I don't know. I've got that 25 to one ticket on the White Sox. I was banking on them to win the division, and they didn't win the division. They fell apart down the stretch, unfortunately, ran out of gas, and they allowed the Guardians to get the buy. And that stinks in my mind on this. So I will agree the best of three is dumb. It's not how baseball goes. But yeah, the Cubs did not finish strong by any means. The Padres are red hot. The Cubs are not. And it's just the bullpen for the Padres. I mean, it's just get four innings and get five innings out of your starter, hand the ball off to the bullpen and let them do work and score four to five runs, be leading after five or six. And it's pretty much lights out. So you get Miller on the mound for whatever you need them for eight, you know, go get six outs, go get three outs, whatever it is in the eighth or ninth. And Mason Miller is just ridiculous. So the Padres have a huge weapon at the back end of that game that they can deploy how they need. And so I think that's a huge advantage for San Diego. So I like the Padres to win. I think you can bet it. I like the price. I think the Braves to win again, you can bet it. I don't love the price of the Yankees. It's a little expensive and rightfully so. I mean, but, you know, 155, that's a right price. I mean, they should be that that big of a favorite against the Red Sox just because their offense is so bad you're going to throw, you know, in game one, you got an MVP candidate and the AL Cy Young Award winner pitching for the Yankees. So, you know, the Red Sox are going to have to match that. And I don't think that's possible. And then you get into the fact that, you know, the Red Sox need to get it to a game three. Can they win game one or game two? Because getting into a game three Sox have a shot, but in game, but it feels like a two game sweep for the Yankees against the Red Sox. The Cubs probably win a game to force a game three. But I like the Padres and I don't know the Phillies hang around all that long. I have no real feel. I'm going to be betting. I don't know if I'm betting the Yankees. I haven't decided that yet, but I've already bet the Padres and I've bet the Braves to win the division to win their series. The American League, I'm a little bit less sure of. I'm a little more shaky on it. But I think we're going to see that. Yeah. And a lot of your right. The Red Sox have the left handed pitching to shut down the Yankees. That's why it's a straight under series. The most confident bet that I've got in that entire series is bet the under on all three games. K props in general in the postseason is good. I will agree in these series, in particular, in the Cubs series, Cubs Padres with the power arms coming out of both teams bullpens. Yeah, I would agree with that on the on the K props. But I think you're going to see low scoring games with the Red Sox and the Yankees. I do think the Red Sox have the pitching to keep them in the games. I just don't think they have the offense to win like two to one, three to two. OK, I mean, but the Yankees are going to win those games two to one, three to two. So low scoring games, Sonny Gray for the Red Sox been tremendous. Ranger Suarez is a lefty. Obviously, you've got guys like that, you know, whether or not they throw crochet, it's still kind of up in the air, whether or not Garrett Crochet is going to be available, probably not for the Red Sox in the divisional round.