Yesterday was very likely the worst day in this Best Bets series’ short history. An absolute “burn the tape” moment for us. Let’s recap the plays. In the first play of the day, things started extremely well. The Cleveland Guardians lineup jumped on Jon Gray from the start, making it to the halfway point with a 4-2 lead. Gray was pulled with only four strikeouts, cashing this leg of the parlay. However, the Guardians bullpen allowed the game to completely fall apart, coughing up 10 runs in the remaining three innings of play. In our second play, half of the plan went smoothly. Sandy Alcantara upheld his end of the bargain, allowing three runs to cross the dish, but Dean Kremer had other plans. Kremer came out and pitched a six-inning, eight-strikeout gem, only allowing a single run during his outing.
It feels bad in the moment, but at the end of the day, we are still squarely in the black for the series. On to the next.
Best Bets for July 15th
Best Bets Recap: July 14th
Day 6 Recap:
Officials: 0-2
Jon Gray u4.5 Ks & Guardians +3.5 ❌❌
Marlins @ Orioles F5 o4.5 ❌❌
Fun plays: 1-1
Willy Adames 1+ RBI ❌❌
Guardians F5 ML ✅✅
Best Bets Record
Overall: 20-15-0 (+4.74U)
Official Plays: 9-4-0 (+3.36U)
Fun Plays: 11-11-1 (+1.47U)
*** Added the Home Run Derby plays to the tracking. This is the reason for the big jump in the number of plays.
On to Today’s Best Bets!
Red Sox @ Cubs
For our first play of today, we are rolling with the red-hot Boston Red Sox. They will be taking on Marcus Stroman and the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field for the second game of this three-game series. The Sox came out swinging last night, recording a season-high six home runs, and taking home their sixth win on the trot. I like them to continue this trend even against Stroman, who has been stellar up to this point.
The Play: Red Sox F5 ML (-110) 1U
Fun Play: Rafael Devers 1+ RBI (+130) .5U
Brewers @ Reds
Over the last 2 games, @Brewers pitchers have struck out 32 Reds batters while allowing 0 runs.
That’s the most strikeouts without allowing a run by any MLB team over a 2-game span in the modern era.
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) July 15, 2023
Today’s second play takes us to Great American Ball Park, where the Cincinnati Reds host the Milwaukee Brewers. Last night, the first game of this series, ended up being a bit of a rock fight. The Reds struck out an incredible 18 times, and the Brewers didn’t fare much better, taking home a 1-0 victory. I like the young Reds’ roster to turn things around in today’s matchup, and take advantage of a struggling Freddy Peralta. The home team will have the pitching advantage with stud rookie Andrew Abbott getting the start, so it will all be on the Reds’ offense to pull this one out.
The Play: Reds F5 -0.5 (+110) 1U
Fun Plays: Joey Votto 1+ RBI (+145) .25U
Elly De La Cruz 1+ Stolen Base (+155) .25U
Photo Credit: Kareem Elgazzar/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK
Players Mentioned: Jon Gray, Sandy Alcantara, Dean Kremer, Marcus Stroman, Rafael Devers, Freddy Peralta, Andrew Abbott, Joey Votto, Elly De La Cruz
