Toronto Blue Jays vs. Philadelphia Phillies Best Bet: Can Phillies' Bats Wake Up?
The Philadelphia Phillies have been playing better baseball over the last few months, but their bats have gone cold recently. How will they fare tonight against Kevin Gausman? Let's break it down.
Joey Ruiz - August 16, 2023, 5:09 PM EDT
5 minToronto Blue Jays vs. Philadelphia Phillies Best Bet: Can Phillies' Bats Wake Up?
Ever since Kevin Gausman arrived in Toronto, he has been fantastic. He comes into this start with an ERA just above 3.00 and is currently leading the American League in strikeouts with 183 in just 139 innings pitched. Gausman is mainly a two-pitch pitcher, but they are both plus-plus pitches. He possesses a fastball that he can run up to just under 100 mph and a deadly splitter that has been nearly unhittable for opposing batters to this point.
Blue Jays vs. Phillies Date, Time, and Where to Watch
- Date: August 16, 2023
- Time: 7:07 pm ET
- Where to Watch: MLB.TV
Toronto Blue Jays vs. Philadelphia Phillies Prediction
While Gausman overall is having a fantastic season, he had been struggling a bit over his previous three starts prior to throwing seven scoreless against the Cleveland Guardians. In those three starts against the Baltimore Orioles, Seattle Mariners, and Los Angeles Angels, he allowed eight earned runs in 16 innings, but what was more concerning was that he also walked five batters. Gausman is known for having fairly good control of all his pitches, even while throwing his splitter a large majority of the time, which can have a mind of its own at times.
Gausman’s control was a bit alarming in those starts, but he rectified it a bit in his most recent start against the Guardians, where he tossed seven scoreless while walking none, striking out six, and only allowing four total hits. Tonight he will face a Phillies lineup that looks good on paper, but they have a major issue... which is that they strikeout... a lot.
Even worse for Philadelphia is that they have gone ice-cold over their last three games as a team, as they have lost three games in a row where they only scored two total runs. In their last three games (all losses), they have also struck out 34 total times and 10+ times in each game. Those came against Pablo Lopez, Sonny Gray, and Yusei Kikuchi, who are all fairly above-average pitchers but do not possess the type of swing-and-miss stuff that Gausman has.
I fully expect Gausman to shove at home tonight and expect positive regression from a very dangerous Blue Jays lineup tonight after only scoring two runs in the series opener last night against Zack Wheeler. With that being said, I am rolling with Toronto F5 ML at -138 for 1.5u as my most confident MLB play of the day for tonight’s action, as I think Gausman and the Jays take the lead into the sixth inning.
Toronto Blue Jays vs. Philadelphia Phillies Best Bet
1.5U Toronto F5 ML -138 is currently the best odds. Click here to see which sportsbook has the best odds for this pick
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