MLB Odds and Lines for Top Games of the Week 1 in 2024 Season

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Most of the MLB division races have been long decided. While there aren’t too many playoff positions yet to be determined, there are still a few spots up for grabs. When it comes to the Cleveland Guardians, Atlanta Braves, New York Mets, and Milwaukee Brewers, there is a lot left to play for. Here is the complete preview for your MLB bets.

Milwaukee Brewers vs. New York Mets

The Brewers, who were favorites to win the NL Central, have faded in the second half of the season. That has left Milwaukee treading water a few games behind the third NL Wild Card spot. The Brewers will have a big three-game series with the New York Mets, who are playing good baseball and clinging to a one-game lead in the NL East.

Milwaukee has won seven of its past 10 games and hopes Philadelphia, which has now lost four straight, can continue to struggle. The Mets, who are coming off a three-game sweep of the hapless Pittsburgh Pirates, have now won four straight. This season will feature a dynamite pitching matchup in the first game of the series.Milwaukee’s Corbin Burnes, who is 10-7 with a 2.97 ERA and 219 strikeouts, will take on Mets ace pitcher Max Scherzer, who is 9-4 with a 2.26 ERA and 153 strikeouts. New York leads the season series 2-1.

Atlanta Braves vs. Philadelphia Phillies

The Braves have won three straight and will take on the Phillies starting Thursday. Atlanta completed a three-game sweep of Philadelphia this week and will be looking to pile up more suffering. The Phillies are just hanging on in the NL playoff chase and can’t afford too many more dud series with the Brewers in hot pursuit.

While Atlanta has a deep pitching staff, which makes it difficult to pick out an ace pitcher, the highlight of this series may come Friday night. That game of the four-game series will feature a battle between Spencer Strider (11-5, 2.67 ERA) and Aaron Nola (9-12, 3.38) on the mound.

The sweep last week notwithstanding, Atlanta and Philadelphia have played a number of close games this season. The Braves lead the season series 9-6.

Cleveland Guardians vs. Chicago White Sox

The Guardians have successfully fought off adversity this season, persevering, losing a few starting pitchers to ascend to the top of the American League Central. Starting Tuesday night, Cleveland will start a series with the Chicago White Sox that can allow them to start putting to rest the idea any other team can win the division.The Guardians, who have won eight of their past 10 games, have a 3.5-game lead. Chicago’s had a bizarre season. The White Sox saw manager Tony La Russa leave the team following the All-Star break due to personal reasons. While Chicago has managed to climb into second place and get close to Cleveland a few times, the White Sox haven’t made the Guardians sweat too much. Should Chicago take two of three or sweep, things could get interesting down the stretch.

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It’s the penultimate weekend of the 2022 MLB regular season, and most of the divisions aside from the NL East are all but clinched. Even the wild card teams are fairly clinched, but with positioning, seeding to be determined. Here are some of the best weekend series’ that still matter at least a little bit. Let’s get right to it so you can bet against their MLB Odds.

Must-Bet Major League Baseball Games for the Upcoming Weekend (Sep. 17th – 18th)

Red Sox at Yankees

Red Sox – Yankees is always a classic rivalry, even late in the season when one of the teams doesn’t have much to play for. Boston is the next team up in the A.L. to get mathematically eliminated in the postseason, and you have to think the Yankees would love to be the team to do just that.

An interesting thing to watch in this series is New York’s Aaron Judge’s quest for the A.L. home run record. Judge currently has 60 HRs, one away from tying former Yankee Roger Maris. Judge has five HRs vs. the Red Sox this season.

Braves at Phillies

This series got underway on Thursday night, with Atlanta losing 1-0. The Braves have clinched a playoff berth; now they’re just trying to find out whether they’re going in as the division winner or through the wild card. With Thursday’s loss, the Braves are 1.5 GB of the Mets in the NL East.

The Phillies would take a big weekend as they continue to try to stave off the Brewers, who are 2.5 GB in the quest for the third wild card spot. Milwaukee has a pretty easy matchup on paper this weekend with the 59-91 Reds, so we’ll see if they can pick up some ground.

Blue Jays at Rays

The American League wild card seedings will get a little clearer this weekend with Toronto and Tampa Bay squaring off at the Trop. The Blue Jays currently have a one-game lead over TB for the top wild card spot but did lose the opener 10-5 on Thursday. The Rays hold a slight 9-7 edge in the season series.

Mets at A’s

New York should be huge favorites in all three games in Oakland, and it’s looking like anything less than a sweep is going to be a disappointment. The Mets have a 1.5-game lead over the Braves in the NL East and this weekend have Chris Bassitt, Jacob deGrom, and Max Scherzer lined up to be their three starters.

Cardinals at Dodgers

While Aaron Judge goes for 61 HRs, Albert Pujols is on the quest for 700 as he currently sits at 698 long balls all time. Pujols is on a six-game homerless streak, and St. Louis as a team had been shut out for three straight games prior to Thursday’s 5-4 win in San Diego. The Cardinals have a 7.5 game lead over the Brewers in the NL Central with 11 games to play.

Other important series this weekend include the Brewers visiting the Reds, aiming for a sweep as they try to climb into the final wild-card spot. The Mariners also visit Kansas City with Seattle, Toronto, and Tampa Bay, all within 1.5 games of each other in the AL wild card seeding.

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The MLB season is coming to an end, and there’s not much drama left in the standings. The race for the NL East is the only division still up in the air. There is also some uncertainty about which team will clinch the third NL Wild Card. Here’s a look at the series that will help determine which teams are headed to the postseason, for your MLB bets.

Top Series to bet during the week MLB 2022

Battle for NL East

The Braves and Mets will have one more series against each other. Atlanta trails the Mets by 1.5 games. New York holds a 9-7 edge in the series so far this season. The Mets and Braves will open their season Friday with a good pitching matchup.

New York will send Chris Bassitt (15-6, 3.27 ERA) to the mound to face off against Max Fried (13-7, 2.5). Fried pitched against the Braves twice in August, putting together a 1-1 record. He threw 13 innings between both starts and allowed four earned runs. Both teams don’t lack for starting pitching.

The matchup on Saturday should be strong. Jacob deGrom (5-3, 2.93) will lead the Mets against Braves right-hander Kyle Wright (20-5, 3-18).

Win and get help

The Milwaukee Brewers will end the season with a nine-game home stand. That’s convenient for the Brewers, who are 1.5 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies for the final NL Wild Card spot. However, it may be the first two games of that stretch that are the most important.

The Brewers will open with a pair of games against the rival Cardinals, who won the NL Central division crown. Milwaukee and St. Louis have had a number of intense battles against each other. The Cardinals lead the series 9-8.

Monday’s matchup will be especially important because the Brewers will be throwing Adrian Houser, who is 6-9 this season with a 4.62 ERA, and has been pitching better as of late. The Brewers have won the last five games Houser started. St. Louis will be throwing top pitcher Miles Mikolas.

Keeping cool

The Phillies have to feel good about their lead in the National League Wild Card. Philadelphia closes the series with 10 straight games on the road, but seven of the 10 games are against teams nowhere close to postseason contention. Especially important for the Phillies will be their series early in the week against the Cubs.

If Philadelphia can win at least two of three, it sets the Phillies up for a four-game set against the Nationals. What the Phillies will be desperate to avoid is the season coming down to a three-game set against Houston to end the season. While it is possible the Astros won’t be playing for anything, they could still be battling for the No. 1 seed in the AFC.

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There are less than 20 games left in the 2022 regular season for a lot of MLB teams, and this past week the Dodgers became the first team to clinch their division.

The Astros will be following suit soon, but it looks like the NL East and the AL Central are coming down to the wire. Here are some of the best series to bet on this weekend. Let’s get right to it so you don’t miss your chance to bet against the MLB Odds.

Must-Bet Major League Baseball Games for the Upcoming Weekend (Sep. 17th – 18th)

Colorado Rockies at Chicago Cubs

The Rockies are absolutely atrocious on the road once again at 22-47, but on the flip side, the Cubs are playing well despite being out of playoff consideration for some time now. Chicago just completed the sweep of the Mets at Citi Field, even though New York is in a dogfight for the NL East crown.

The Rockies are 18-46 in their last 64 road games, and they’ll be facing Marcus Stroman in the series opener. Saturday and Sunday’s games are toss-ups (Jose Urena vs. Wade Miley, Ryan Feltner vs. Javier Assad) which should provide some valuable odds for the home team.

Minnesota Twins at Cleveland Guardians

Cleveland can extinguish the flame of at least one of the teams following them in the AL Central, as the Twins are currently four games back in the division. The Guardians swept three games at Target Field last weekend, but Minnesota did have a nice bounce back, taking all three contests from the Royals this week.

The Twins are 5-9 vs. the Guardians this season but have dropped five straight. Both teams have TBD for Saturday and Sunday’s pitchers, so Bailey Ober vs. Triston McKenzie on Friday will set the tone for the weekend.

Baltimore Orioles at Toronto Blue Jays

Baltimore’s playoff hopes may be on life support as they are 4.5 games back from the third spot in the AL. A good weekend in Toronto changes things, though, as the Orioles trail the Blue Jays by five games in the wild-card hunt.

The problem for the Orioles is that Toronto is red hot right now, going 11-4 so far in September. The Blue Jays haven’t named any of their pitchers for the weekend, so if Jordan Lyles can get Baltimore in the win column on Friday, the season series would be evened up 7-7.

Chicago White Sox at Detroit Tigers

The Twins and Guardians will be beating up on each other at Progressive Field this weekend, so it’s a great time for Chicago to make their move in the AL Central. The White Sox are three games back right now and have a three-game home set with the Guardians next week. With Lucas Giolito – Johnny Cueto – and Michael Kopech lined up to pitch this weekend for the South Siders, anything less than a sweep would be considered a disappointment.

Pittsburgh Pirates at New York Mets

The Mets were just swept by the Cubs, dropping them to 7-7 this month. They’ve still held on to a one-game lead over Atlanta in the East but need a sweep over the lowly Pirates this weekend as the Braves have a tough series with the Phillies. With Taijuan Walker, Chris Bassitt, and Jacob deGrom going for the Mets, they have the horses to take all three.

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Some people still don’t like interleague play in Major League Baseball. And it is odd that now there is at least one interleague series always going on because there are 15 teams in each league. And it’s still rather stupid the American League has a designated hitter and the National League doesn’t meaning interleague game in an NL park don’t include the DH but those in AL parks do. But for all of interleague play’s faults, it also brings us fantastic matchups we might not otherwise see. And that’s the case in a quick two-game series in San Francisco starting on Tuesday night in a potential World Series preview with the Boston Red Sox in town. The Sox are +400 favorites on betting odds to win the AL pennant and the Giants are +535 to win the NL. Of course it’s an even-numbered year and San Francisco has won the pennant and World Series each even-numbered year this decade. Boston leads the AL East and the Giants are atop the NL West so we might see this again in October.

Top MLB Series of the Week

The teams last met in August 2013, and the Red Sox took the series, winning two out of three games with a high run margin. That was the last year the Red Sox won the World Series.

What will Boston do with designated hitter David Ortiz? The future Hall of Famer is 40 years old and will retire after this season yet amazingly is having perhaps the best year of his career. But Ortiz isn’t a very good defensive first baseman, which is the only other place he could play in order to keep his bat in the lineup. It’s expected that Ortiz will only start one of the two game and then be able to pinch-hit in the other. Ortiz is still recovering from some foot soreness and with no DH available in the series, the Red Sox will use it as an opportunity to give him one day of rest. He leads the American League in on-base percentage (.424), doubles (26, a record pace) and runs batted in (54).

Boston is a slight favorite on betting picks for Tuesday’s opener behind Rick Porcello. The sinkerballer has struggled of late, giving up four runs or more in three of his past four starts. In his last start against the Orioles, Porcello gave up three home runs and took a no-decision. He is opposed by Albert Suarez. The 26-year-old rookie right-hander had his moments in his first big-league start last Wednesday, retiring the first nine batters and demonstrating decent velocity with a fastball that reached 96 mph.

Wednesday’s matchup is the one to circle as it’s former Cy Young winner David Price against former World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner in a showdown of two of the best left-handed pitchers in baseball.

Price has gained some momentum, posting five consecutive quality starts in which he’s lowered his ERA from 6.75 to 4.88. This will be Price’s first career start at AT&T Park. In two starts against the Giants, he is 0-1 with a 3.06 ERA. Bumgarner has won six consecutive decisions over a span of eight starts. Overall, the Giants are 9-3 this season in his outings. Lifetime, Bumgarner is 7-7 with a 3.76 ERA in 17 Interleague starts. Don’t rule out Bumgarner going yard. He has two homers this season and his 13 career homers top all active pitchers. Bumgarner wants to be the Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game, but the team isn’t about to let its ace do that and risk injury.