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Going into seasons, we form opinions based on last season and whatever they did during the offseason. As the season progresses, we need to figure out if those opinions are valid or not. Sometimes it can be a challenge to let it go, but as a sports bettor, we absolutely cannot hang onto thoughts and be stubborn. Two teams on different ends of my opinions are the Chicago White Sox and the San Francisco Giants, who play Friday night.
Coming into this year, I did expect that the White Sox would be better, but I didn’t expect that they would be this good. They are above .500, which isn’t exactly going to launch them into the playoffs, but for a team that has been awful the past few years, this is progress. There is still work to be done, but the good news for them is that they have assets to trade or bring guys in if they want. Additionally, they are in a very winnable division.
I’d still be surprised if the team wins 80-plus games this season, but I suppose it is okay for Chicago fans to be happy for now. They’ve found some very good pitching in the past few seasons, and this year they have another in Davis Martin, tonight’s starter.
Martin is 29 years old in his fourth season. He has been phenomenal this year. For the season, Martin is 6-1 with a 1.61 ERA and a 0.98 WHIP. He hasn’t allowed more than two earned runs in his past eight starts, and what really impresses me is that he doesn’t allow a ton of hits in games. The Giants are 4-for-15 against Martin in his career.
I was wrong about the San Francisco Giants. I thought they would be fairly competitive this season, and to this point, that has not been the case. The team is 10 games under .500, and they look lost out there. I knew the division was a complete long shot, but this team should be better. Are they bad because they don’t respect their new manager? That seems a bit unlikely, but whatever the case is, they are not playing great baseball. They don’t score runs. They have a .244 batting average, which is solid and 12th in the league, but the 173 runs are last in the league.
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With Matt Chapman, Rafael Devers and Willy Adames, I’d figure they would eventually start getting some more consistent scoring. Those three have combined for a .236 batting average and 12 homers. On the pitching side, Trevor McDonald has turned in a solid season so far. He is 2-0 with a 2.37 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP. Those numbers have come in only three games this season. He turned in seven innings of two hits and one run in his lone home start.
I think there are two good options for this game – the Giants have lost three straight games and don’t look great at home or on the road. The White Sox are playing better baseball, but they lost their last series against the Mariners. I think they have a great chance to win this game with Martin on the mound, though. I think the best bet here is to take Martin’s earned runs allowed under 2.5 runs.
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I think the overall game should go under as well. I really like what I’ve seen out of McDonald and think he and Martin on the mound could combine to keep the offenses off the board. Give me the under 7.5. The Giants team total under and the White Sox team total under are great looks as well.
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