{"id":60813,"date":"2023-08-18T11:10:59","date_gmt":"2023-08-18T15:10:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=60813"},"modified":"2023-08-18T11:16:24","modified_gmt":"2023-08-18T15:16:24","slug":"spencers-best-bets-baseball-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2023\/08\/18\/spencers-best-bets-baseball-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Spencer&#8217;s Best Bets for Baseball: August 18th"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Best Bets series couldn&#8217;t catch a cold at the moment. Things have been ice cold on the betting front since the dog days of summer. However, this can mean only one thing&#8230; WE ARE DUE! Even better than that, we have a full 15-game slate to get the job done.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Best Bets Aug. 18th<\/span><\/h3>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Phillies @ Nationals, 7:06 PM EST<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Today&#8217;s first play targets a rematch between\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2023\/08\/18\/nationals-and-phillies-set-to-face-off\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Philadelphia Phillies<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0pitcher\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/l\/lorenmi01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Michael Lorenzen<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0and the\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2023\/08\/17\/showdown-at-nationals-park\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Washington Nationals<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">. In Lorenzen&#8217;s last outing against the Nats, he made history by throwing a no-hitter in his home debut. Only the second time this has ever happened in MLB history. Long story short, Lorenzen is now president and owner of the Washington Nationals.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Additionally, the Phillies need to keep winning. They have opened up a three and 1\/2 game lead in the NL Wild Card race but have five strong teams nipping at their heels, ready to take their spot.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Pick: Phillies -1.5 (-115) 1U<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Nick Castellanos 1+ RBI (+120) 0.5U<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Giants @ Braves, 7:21 PM EST<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Our second play takes us south to Georgia, where the Atlanta Braves is the only thing hotter than the sun. They play host to the slumping\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2023\/08\/16\/rays-vs-giants-clash-at-oracle-park\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">San Fransisco Giants<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, who have won three of their last ten. They will likely struggle in the opener of this weekend&#8217;s series, having to contend with the MLB&#8217;s strikeout leader\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/stridsp01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Spencer Strider<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">. The Clemson product averages 14 strikeouts per nine and will have plenty of targets on this Giants&#8217; lineup.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Pick: Spencer Strider Over 8.5 Ks (+104) 1U<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">PPD Spencer Strider 9+ Ks \/ Braves to Win (+160) 0.5U<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<h3><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Mariners @ Astros, 8:11 PM EST<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Today&#8217;s final matchup is between the\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2023\/08\/17\/mariners-vs-royals-witt-jr\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Seattle Mariners<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0and the\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2023\/08\/16\/houston-astros-vs-miami-marlins\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Houston Astros<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">. Let&#8217;s start with the visitors. After a so-so start to the season, they have made a strong playoff push after the All-Star break. This is mainly due to the re-emergence of reigning AL ROTY\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/rodriju01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Julio Rodr\u00edguez\u00a0<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">catching fire in the past few weeks. I like their good fortune to continue tonight against their AL West rivals. However, the team still has a strikeout problem, and I like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/f\/francjp01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">J.P. France<\/a>\u00a0to take full advantage.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Pick: J.P. France Over 4.5 Ks &amp; Mariners +3.5 (-101) 1U<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Julio Rodriguez 2+ Bases &amp; 1+ Run (+145) 0.5U<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<h3><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Best Bets Record<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Overall: 67-78-8 (+1.89U)<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credits: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Best Bets series couldn&#8217;t catch a cold at the moment. Things have been ice cold on the betting front since the dog days of summer. However, this can mean only one thing&#8230; WE ARE DUE! Even better than that, we have a full 15-game slate to get the job done. Best Bets Aug. 18th [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4668,"featured_media":60833,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6171,1071],"tags":[48,246,4308,126,1094,268,91,158,3820,38],"class_list":["post-60813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports-gambling","category-mlb","tag-atlanta-braves","tag-houston-astros","tag-julio-rodriguez","tag-michael-lorenzen","tag-nick-castellanos","tag-philadelphia-phillies","tag-san-francisco-giants","tag-seattle-mariners","tag-spencer-strider","tag-washington-nationals"],"modified_by":"Troy Brock","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4668"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60813\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}