We suffered our first losing day in MLB betting tips in some time last Thursday, hitting on just one of three bets to take our season tally to 25-16. We’ll look to get back on the winners list this week as we preview some of the key games of the day this Thursday, the 9th of August.
MLB Betting Tips Thursday 9th August
Atlanta Braves at Washington Nationals (9.05am AEST)
Washington captured an 8-3 win in the first game of their three-game series against the Braves and will be looking for another win on Thursday. Tommy Milone will be on the mound for the Nats, making his third start while filling in for the injured Stephen Strasburg. He has a 1-0 record in his two starts and is maintaining a healthy 3.0 ERA.
Milone will be up against Mike Foltynewicz Thursday, who has been the epitome of an average MLB starter so far in 2018. He has an 8-7 record through 21 starts so far this year and is maintaining a 3.04 ERA.
It’s a big game between two NL Easy rivals, and Washington can draw one game closer to Atlanta with a win here. They currently sit 4.5 games behind the Braves but have are arguably the most in form NL East team at the moment, having won their last three and seven of their last 10. We like them to win this one at home on the back of some dominant offence.
Boston Red Sox at Toronto Blue Jays (9.05am AEST)
Red Sox ace Chris Sale will miss yet another start on Thursday as he recovers from an inflammation in his shoulder. This means that Brian Johnson will make his 8th start of the season, having been fairly serviceable through the first seven. He has a 2-3 record with a 3.74 ERA but should be supported by a dominant Red Sox batting line-up on Thursday.
The Red Sox have scored 29 more runs than the next best team in all of baseball heading into Thursday’s games and they also boast the most combined hits and the highest team batting average. As of Wednesday, the Sox have won their last four games in a row and eight of their last 10 and are the hottest team in baseball.
Mike Hauschild will be making his first start for the Blue Jays Thursday after an impressive six innings relief performance last week. Still very raw and has spent most of 2018 in Triple A. Sox should get a hold of him here.
Los Angeles Dodgers at Oakland Athletics (12.05pm AEST)
Three-time Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw will be on the mound for the Dodgers this Thursday but has been down on form in 2018 by his lofty standards. He has a 5-5 record through 16 starts this season and has battled some injury, but was dominant in his last start, striking out seven and allowing just two runs through six innings.
He’ll be up against Brett Anderson of the A’s on Thursday, who has struggled through his nine starts in 2018 so far. He has a 2-3 record with a 4.64 ERA so far in 2018 but was good in his last start, pitching seven shutout innings against the Tigers last week.
The Dodgers start as $1.60 favourites here and are starting to make a run at the NL West division. They currently sit just 0.5 games behind the Diamondbacks and I cant see them dropping this game with their ace on the mound.
