Detroit at Toronto
Monday, May 16th, 7:05 PM
(matchup)
The two hottest teams in baseball betting right now are the Toronto Blue Jays and Detroit Tigers. Winners of five and seven in a row respectively, the two clubs begin a short two-game set against one another Monday evening. Looking to remain perfect on the current homestand, Detroit is a $1.45 favorite at most online sportsbooks. The posted total is eight runs.
The MLB schedule is a little bit different than usual this week as every team will be involved in a pair of quick two-game sets to take us through Thursday. For Monday’s series opener between these teams, there has been an overnight pitching change for the Tigers as Max Scherzer, originally supposed to start in Sunday’s rainout vs. Kansas City, will get the baseball. He’s opposed by Kyle Drabek, who was the prize acquisition for the Jays in the Roy Halladay trade.
Detroit received some quality pitching in its two victories over the Royals on Friday and Saturday. Justin Verlander, who was coming off a no-hitter in his previous start, didn’t allow a hit through six innings for a second straight start as the Tigers won 3-1. Saturday saw the bats start out hot with three first inning runs and that proved to be enough for starter Brad Penny, who was the winner in a 3-0 shutout victory.
The string of quality starts is likely to continue for Detroit on Monday as Scherzer has been the strongest arm in the rotation. He’s 6-0 in eight starts with a 3.20 ERA and here at Comerica Park, he’s 3-0 with a 0.96 ERA. His last outing came against this same Toronto team as he allowed two runs in five innings, good enough to pick up the decision in a 10-5 victory on the road.
After taking three of four from Toronto in that series, the Tigers have not looked back. They swept Minnesota and then took two more from Kansas City. They now trail the first place Indians by 3.5 games in the American League Central.
Toronto is coming off a dominant three-game sweep of Minnesota over the weekend to reach .500 for the season. They outscored the Twins 22-6 in the series and have scored seven runs or more in four of their last five victories.
These are two of the top five highest run producing teams in the American League with Detroit tied for third (187) and Toronto not far behind in fifth (185). The Tigers’ number is fairly remarkable when you consider they are averaging only 3.8 runs per game at home.
Blue Jays’ starter Drabek has not lived up to his advanced billing with an 8.31 ERA and 2.462 WHIP in his previous three starts. He did not receive a decision in the team’s 7-6 win over Boston last Tuesday.
Toronto has proven to be a profitable team in night games this year, going 15-7. They are also 12-6 as a road dog of +150 or less.
