Oakland came through as the Saturday free play, as the Angels recent woes continued. I’m going the -1 route with the Sunday comp.
BLUE JAYS (Stroman) at WHITE SOX (Sale)
Take: WHITE SOX -135/+155
I suppose an argument can be made that Chris Sale, in spite of the gaudy 12-2 record, probably isn’t dominating to his usual extent. But he’s definitely winning and I think it’s fair to state that the White Sox are playing their best baseball when the big southpaw is on the mound.
Marcus Stroman has been very spotty lately and the truth is he’d have to qualify as a disappointment for the season to date. The problem for Stroman recently has been command in the strike zone. He’s very reliant on his two-seam fastball and he’s just not getting enough sink on it. The result has been too much hard contact, and accompanying ugly numbers. In what could only be described as a shocking note, the Toronto Sun reported yesterday that the Blue Jays might have to consider sending Stroman to AAA to “sort things out.” So I have to question his true confidence level and he’s drawing a very tough adversary today in Sale.
The White Sox did the virtually impossible on Saturday, hitting seven homers in a loss. That’s just the third time that has ever happened in big league baseball history. So while I’m sure it was a very frustrating loss, at least the hitters should be striding to the plate feeling good about themselves, and I can see them having success today against the struggling Stroman. I decided to split this game between the money line and runs line, in effect therefore playing the White Sox -1.
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My Early MLB Best Bet is up for Sunday.