Toronto Blue Jays vs. Boston Red Sox Prediction: Can Toronto Continue Their Hot Play?
Toronto Blue Jays vs. Boston Red Sox Prediction: Can Toronto Continue Their Hot Play?
The Toronto Blue Jays made a whole bunch of moves during the off-season to prepare their team against divisional opponents. At 10-6 on the season, the Blue Jays are in a great spot and started off the season as expected. With a new week on the horizon, the Blue Jays will take on the Boston Red Sox in a four-game series. Every game counts in the MLB but divisional games and divisional series' mean just a little bit more. Here are our picks, predictions, and odds for Monday's game between the Boston Red Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays.
Blue Jays vs. Red Sox Start Time and Where to Watch
- Date: April 25, 2022
- Game Time: 7:07 pm ET
- Where to Watch: MLBN
Click here for Blue Jays vs Red Sox Odds
Blue Jays vs Red Sox Injury Report
Red Sox
Questionable: OF J.D. Martinez (Groin)
Out: C Kevin Plawecki (Illness), 2B Jonathan Arauz (Illness)
Blue Jays
Out: OF Dexter Fowler (Knee), OF Teoscar Hernandez (Oblique), C Danny Jansen (Oblique)
Blue Jays vs. Red Sox Line Movement
Toronto Blue Jays vs. Boston Red Sox Prediction
Let's get this out of the way. In Toronto, players must be vaccinated. There will likely be a couple of players that can't play for the Red Sox this week. For now, there are no positional players that we know of who are absolutely unable to play in this series. Just make sure to double-check lineups before submitting a bet for this game.
The one notable player is Tanner Houck, who is definitely not vaccinated and won’t pitch in this series. But his absence shouldn’t affect handicapping knowing Nathan Eovaldi and Jose Berrios will take the mound tonight.
Jose Berrios is a right-handed pitcher who has a 3.93 xFIP with a 25.8% strikeout rate dating back to last year. He’s also limited walks to 6.2%, however, has a 6.35 ERA to start the 2022 season. Berrios tends to give up a whole lot of line-drive contact, giving up 25% of line drives.
Berrios has also struggled with lefties, allowing them to hit a .353 wOBA and ISO of .234 through 371 plate appearances, dating back to last year.
Right now, it seems likely that there will be four lefties in the Red Sox lineup, including Rafael Devers, Alex Verdugo, Jackie Bradley Jr., and Travis Shaw. If I'm Berrios, I'm only really concerned about Devers and Verdugo.
For the Red Sox, Nathan Eovaldi will take the mound. Dating back to last year, he's put together a 3.57 xFIP with 25.8% strikeouts and 4.9% walks. Like Berrios, Eovaldi allows over 24% line drives and doesn’t get many ground balls at 42%. He’s allowed a higher wOBA to righties at .308, but that's just about average.
In the lineup for Toronto, there are really only two consistent hitters that have dominated righties dating back to last season. It's obvious. George Springer and Vlad Guerrero Jr. are the two.
Those guys have inflated ISO numbers and high wOBA dating back to last season. Outside of those two, it's been quiet and inconsistent for this Blue Jays lineup. Lately, Zack Collins has shown off some power after taking over for Danny Jansen at catcher, who is injured. But everyone else has been fairly quiet against righties dating back to last year.
Therefore, I'll take the Under 4 in the first five innings between these two teams. Neither team is going to settle in very fast on the offensive end.
Toronto Blue Jays vs. Boston Red Sox Pick
- Under 4 F5 (-115) (Bet $115 to Win $100)
Article Author
Jason grew up an avid sports fan. His passion for sports writing grew in high school and he developed a blog that was strictly for New York Sports. From his work, you will quickly realize that he loves looking at games from an analytical and numbers perspective and hopes to provide you with that same perspective in his articles.