Newsletter

Baseball bettors will be looking to start the weekend on a high note with 15 games on Friday. Fourteen of them will be under the lights, as the lone day game features the Pirates and Cubs. Our focus will be on the latest of the 15 games, as the San Francisco Giants get together with the San Diego Padres at beautiful Oracle Park.

The Giants are a home underdog here in this matchup between Blake Snell and Anthony DeSclafani. San Francisco is in the +125 range and San Diego is in the -145 range at <a href="http://bangthebook.com/sportsbooks/bookmaker/">Bookmaker Sportsbook</a> with a total of 7. We’ve seen a lot of low totals in baseball this season and this one certainly makes sense given the pitching matchup.

Let’s see what this NL West rivalry has in store for Friday night.
<h2><strong><u>San Diego Padres</u></strong></h2>
Getting a day off before a Blake Snell start is a very important thing. Snell has not been working deep into games, which means that the bullpen is called upon to get some big outs. Snell has only worked 25.2 innings over his six starts. They’ve been good starts with a 3.51 ERA and a 3.61 FIP, but a high strikeout rate and a high walk rate have led to a lot of deep counts.

Snell has struck out 37 and walked 15 on the season. He’s only allowed 23 hits, though his contact management numbers have gone down a bit. He’s already allowed seven barreled balls. He allowed 12 last season and that was a lot, given that he allowed 13 in 107 innings in 2019. Snell’s Hard Hit% is up to 37.5%, which is disappointing to see after such a big bump from 2019 to 2020 in that department.

Remember that the Tampa Bay Rays traded Snell, seemingly in his prime. Many felt it was financially motivated, but they may have seen these decreases in command coming.

The Padres offense has actually been bad this season. Despite a boatload of talent, San Diego entered Thursday’s off day sitting 23rd in wOBA at .298. They’ve actually walked a lot and have one of the lower strikeout rates in baseball, but have not hit for any power. They’ve only hit 30 home runs and have a .355 SLG on the season.

Manny Machado is off to a slow start. Tommy Pham is off to a horrible start. Ha-seong Kim is having issues adjusting to MLB pitching. Jurickson Profar has been bad. All of that has overshadowed good starts to the season from guys like Trent Grisham with a .361 wOBA and a 149 wRC+ and Fernando Tatis Jr., with a .401 wOBA and a 134 wRC+.
<h2><strong><u>San Francisco Giants</u></strong></h2>
Regarding offensive struggles, I present the San Francisco Giants. The Giants are actually 10th in wOBA and have a 99 wRC+, so they’ve been right around league average, but the one-year blip at Oracle Park seems to be a thing of the past. The Giants have a .313 wOBA at home with a .235/.332/.380 slash. San Francisco batted .272/.352/.485 at home last season with a .356 wOBA.

The baseball is playing way different than it did last season, but the Giants are back to normal at home now, so that proved to be a one-year outlier. While the Giants have worked around it this season and have spent more days in first place than anybody thought possible in a division with the Dodgers and the Padres, it is still something to think about as we go forward with this season.

Anthony DeSclafani is off to a fantastic start for the Gigantes. He’s worked 36 innings over six starts with a 2.00 ERA and a 3.10 FIP. There are some clear regression signs in the profile, like a .229 BABIP and an 87.2% LOB% to go with a 44.4% Hard Hit%, but hard contact has not been nearly as hurtful to pitchers this season as it has been in the past. DeSclafani is inducing a lot more ground balls than normal, a byproduct of some pitch location adjustments made by the Giants.

DeSclafani is on track for a career year in the swinging strike department and he’s also pumped in more first-pitch strikes than ever before. As long as he keeps pitching ahead and getting those whiffs, he should be able to mostly sustain this early-season start.
<h2><strong><u>Padres vs. Giants Free Pick</u></strong></h2>
The Giants have been able to win a lot of games in spite of a bottom-five bullpen. The Padres are fourth in bullpen FIP and the Giants are 27th. The Padres are fifth in bullpen ERA. Be aware of that if you are betting the full game here.

As erratic as Snell has been this season, and as short as his starts have been, he’s only allowed more than two runs once, including his two starts against the Giants. DeSclafani has not allowed more than three runs in a start. With the way Oracle Park is back to playing this season, the under looks like the way to go here.

<strong>Pick: Under</strong>

San Francisco Giants vs San Diego Padres Betting Pick 05/07/21

BetDSI

Bookmaker

Bet US

BetOnline

Bovada

<p>The 2021-22 NHL season continues Thursday, April 21, with the Atlantic Division showdown at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida, so we have prepared the best Maple Leafs vs. Lightning betting pick and odds.</p>



<p>According to <a href="https://www.bangthebook.com/sportsbooks/betonline/"><strong>BetOnline Sportsbook</strong></a>, the Lightning are small home favorites, while the totals are listed at 6.5 goals. Toronto and Tampa Bay wrap up their four-game regular-season series, and the Maple Leafs look to clinch it after winning two of their previous three meetings with the Bolts in 2021-22. </p>



<h2>The Maple Leafs eye their fifth straight victory                 </h2>



<p>The Toronto Maple Leafs (51-20-6) are coming off a 5-2 home victory over the lowly Philadelphia Flyers last Tuesday. Five different players found the back of the net for the Maple Leafs, while Jack Campbell posted 37 saves to improve to 30-9-5 on the season.</p>



<p>Toronto extended its winning streak to four games, and Campbell has started three times in that span. The 30-year-old netminder owns a 2.69 GAA and .913 save percentage. He should get another starting call Thursday when Toronto visits the reigning champions.</p>



<p>The Maple Leafs are sitting at the second spot in the Eastern Conference. They trail the top-seeded Florida Panthers by huge eight points, while the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Rangers are only a couple of points behind the Maple Leafs.</p>



<h2>The Lightning just failed to beat Detroit       </h2>



<p>The Tampa Bay Lightning (46-22-8) are coming off a surprising 4-3 defeat to the Detroit Red Wings this past Tuesday. Playing as massive -550 moneyline favorites on the home ice, the reigning champs failed to extend their winning streak to three games. Also, it was their sixth defeat in the last nine outings at any location.</p>



<p>The Bolts outshot the Red Wings 41-31, and Steven Stamkos accounted for three assists, but Andrei Vasilevskiy had another bad day in the office. The 27-year-old goalie yielded four goals on 31 shots, and Vasilevskiy has recorded only one victory in his last six starts. He owns a 35-18-5 record, 2.49 GAA, and .916 save percentage.</p>



<p>Vasilevskiy is projected to guard the cage against the Maple Leafs. The Lightning hope to get back to winning ways and stay alive in the race for the No. 3 seed in the East. They are six points behind the Rangers and Hurricanes.</p>



<h2 id="h-toronto-maple-leafs-vs-tampa-bay-lightning-pick">Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Tampa Bay Lightning Pick</h2>



<p>The Maple Leafs have won 11 of their last 13 contests. They’ll try to stay on the winning track even though Auston Matthews is questionable to play after missing the previous two games due to an injury. On the other side, the Lightning have struggled a lot in the second half of the season. The reigning champions will try to bounce back in this tough matchup, and they can count on all their key players.</p>



<p>I’m expecting a tight contest, and despite the teams’ current form, give me the hosts to win straight up. Andrei Vasilevsky will do a much better job than he did against the Red Wings, and the Lightning certainly possess enough offensive firepower to deal with the Maple Leafs. Toronto is yielding 3.06 goals per game (18<sup>th</sup> in the NHL).</p>



<p><strong>Pick: Take Tampa Bay Lightning at -110&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</strong></p>



<p><strong>The Total:</strong></p>



<p>The first duel of the season between Toronto and Tampa saw only three goals on the scoreboard, while the previous two produced eight goals in the total each. The total has gone over in eight of Toronto’s last 12 outings and eight of Tampa Bay’s previous 11, so you won’t have a dilemma if you like to follow the betting trends.</p>



<p>I don’t feel comfortable with a 6.5-goal line, and if Andrei Vasilevskiy finally puts on a strong performance, we won’t see a proper high-scoring affair. On the other hand, Toronto could easily struggle to defend. The Maple Leafs have allowed 27 goals in their last eight outings.</p>



<p><strong>Pick: Go over 6.5 goals at -120&nbsp;</strong></p>

Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Tampa Bay Lightning Odds, Pick, Prediction 4/21/22

BetDSI

Bookmaker

Bet US

BetOnline

Bovada