The Major League Baseball Trade Deadline is now in the rearview mirror, which means that the stretch run of the 2024 regular season is officially here.
Here are two predictions for the rest of the way with updated MLB futures odds.
Yankees win AL East
As of this writing, New York is a half-game behind Baltimore in the AL East, but I don’t think the Orioles got enough starting pitching before the deadline to hold off the Yankees.
Baltimore aimed for the likes of ace Garrett Crochet of the White Sox and Tarik Skubal of the Tigers, but neither was traded.
Instead, the O’s settled for the likes of Zach Eflin from Tampa Bay and Trevor Rogers from Miami. Rogers, 26, is 2-9 with a 4.53 ERA and cost two good prospects.
That was a questionable trade. The southpaw has gotten better results over his past nine starts, generating a 3.17 ERA.
The Orioles have had a glaring need for rotation help because of a series of devastating injuries to their rotation.
Baltimore did make one interesting move in trading for White Sox slugger Eloy Jimenez – and the Orioles are clearly going to have to hit their way to the AL East title.
The 27-year-old Jimenez is hitting .240 with just five home runs and 16 RBIs this season.
Those numbers aren’t great, but he has 40-homer potential when healthy. Jimenez just is hardly healthy. Maybe playing for a contender changes that.
The Yankees frankly didn’t much address their rotation, either, but will get Clarke Schmidt back from the IL at some point.
And New York did beef up its bullpen ahead of the deadline with a few moves, led by acquiring Mark Leiter Jr. from the Cubs.
Leiter’s 2.61 expected ERA and .197 expected batting average rank in the 96th and 94th percentiles, respectively, according to Stat cast.
He also has elite swing-and-miss stuff that has resulted in a 36.7% whiff rate and 34.9% strikeout rate, both of which rank in the 98th percentile.
Last weekend, New York acquired infielder/outfielder Jazz Chisholm from Miami, and that might be the difference in the division.
He is clearly energized as a contender, having gone 6-for-15 with four homers and eight RBI in three games since he was traded.
The Yankees are -134 East favorites, with the Orioles at +106.
^MyBookie MLB Wager Lines to Win Today
Paul Skenes wins NL Cy Young
The only rookie pitcher to ever win the Cy Young in the same season was former Dodgers‘ lefty Fernando Valenzuela in 1981.
Pirates right-hander Paul Skenes, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft, was as high as +20000 to win the NL Cy when the season began because no one was sure when he would be called up.
That happened in early May, and Skenes has been outrageously good ever since. He’s down to a +172 second favorite for the NL Cy Young behind Atlanta Braves lefty Chris Sale (-101), who used to be a Cy Young candidate all the time back in the day in the American League with the White Sox but never won it.
Paul Skenes Stats
Skenes is 6-1 with a 1.90 ERA, 103 strikeouts and 0.90 WHIP in his first 13 big-league starts and has allowed three earned runs or fewer in all of them.
On Monday in Houston in a no-decision, Skenes got the 100th career strikeout of his career when Jon Singleton whiffed on a second-inning change up. Skenes became only the sixth MLB pitcher to reach 100 strikeouts in just career 13 games, joining:
- Hideo Nomo (achieved June 29, 1995)
- Herb Score (June 9, 1955)
- Kerry Wood (June 15, 1998)
- Jose DeLeon (Sept. 21, 1983)
- Masahiro Tanaka (June 11, 2014)
Skenes had struck out at least seven batters in nine straight starts entering Monday, tied with Dwight Gooden (1984) and Brandon Beachy (2011) for the longest such streak for a rookie. That came to an end Monday, where he struck out only six.
The only concern with Skenes is if the Pirates limit his workload, as he’s not scheduled to start again until next Tuesday vs. San Diego. He has the fifth-lowest ERA (1.90) through the first 13 starts of any pitcher since 1934.
If Skenes can get the Pirates a wild-card spot, he hugely deserves the Cy Young. As of this writing, Pittsburgh is two games out of the final NL spot.
Skenes is a lock for the NL Rookie of the Year Award as a -5000 favorite. The Pirates have had just one winner of that: Outfielder Jason Bay in 2004.
^Top 10 to Win the World Series
- Los Angeles Dodgers +310
- Philadelphia Phillies +530
- New York Yankees +580
- Baltimore Orioles +640
- Atlanta Braves +1100
- Houston Astros +1400
- Cleveland Guardians +1450
- Minnesota Twins +1925
- Milwaukee Brewers +2100
- Seattle Mariners +2400
A lot of prospects were on the move around the Trade Deadline, but which teams got the best hauls?
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) August 1, 2024
Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo have their own ideas about that: https://t.co/dZiNYcCzCh pic.twitter.com/evlr3rvS6S
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2018 Last Two Months of the Regular Season
With two-thirds of the 2018 MLB regular season now in the books and just two months remaining in the regular season, now is a perfect time to spit out some insightful MLB betting predictions that could help you cash in consistently up until the start of the postseason playoff period.
MLB Predictions for Last Two Months of the 2018 Regular Season
The Red Sox continue to dominate the MLB Power Rankings and it doesn’t look like anyone will catch them.https://t.co/kQeiY9HaCr pic.twitter.com/VVhCC34iha
— Yahoo Sports MLB (@MLByahoosports) August 8, 2018
AL East
The Boston Red Sox have just been bonkers this season behind sure-fire AL Cy Young winner Chris Sale (11-4, 2.04 ERA). Boston has won nine of their last 10 games and a blistering 23 of their last 30 games overall. The BoSox have opened up a 9-game lead on the New York Yankees and I just don’t see them relinquishing it at all. The prediction here is that the Red Sox are the pick to win the AL East. I’m also going to predict that Boston reaches the ALCS opposite Houston where….
AL Central
There’s not much of a prediction to make as far as the AL Central is concerned, The Cleveland Indians are just 62-50 this year, so they’re not playing outstanding baseball or anything, but they’re the easy pick to win the pitiful AL Central, seeing as how Minnesota is just 53-59 and Detroit is a awful 47-67. My prediction for the Tribe however, is that they will be a one-and-done playoff participant.
AL West
The AL West is a tight race, but I’m expecting the division champs and reigning World series champion Houston Astros to win the division for the second straight season. I’m also going to predict that the Oakland A’s beat out the Seattle Mariners for second place in the division and a berth in the playoffs where they will dispatch the Indians!
NL East
The Philadelphia Phillies (64-49) and Atlanta Braves (61-49) have been in a back-and-forth battle for first place all season long, but I’m going with Philly to get it done. The Phils are 20 games up in the win column at home (38-18) and just look like a completely different team when they’re playing in the City of Brotherly Love. Yes, Atlanta has a winning home and road record while the Phils are five games below .500 on the road, but I like Philadelphia’s home cooking to lead them to the division win this year!
NL Central
The Chicago Cubs (66-47) are just 2.5 games up on the Milwaukee Brewers (65-51) at the time of this writing, but I’m thinking the lovable Cubbies are going to stretch that lead a bit more before the end of the regular season to claim a division title that really shouldn’t be as difficult to win as it has been this season. I’m also going to predict that the Brewers get one of the two wild card berths in the NL and that anything could happen once they get in.
NL West
The Los Angeles Dodgers have rebounded from a horrific start this season and now sit in first place in the NL West just a half-game ahead of Arizona. Still, I’m going with Clayton Kershaw and company to get the division win again this season. While the Dodgers could very well go on to challenge for overall supremacy in the mediocre National League, my prediction is that whoever represents the American League in this year’s World series, will go on to win it all, whether it’s Houston, Boston or New York.
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