MLB Baseball Betting: Seattle Mariners at Toronto Blue Jays

I’m not telling Canadian baseball fans anything they don’t already know but the Toronto Blue Jays have been a maddening team this year. They opened the season in poor form and struggled in the first month. They’ve played well since but it seems that every time they have a chance to make a move on first place they fall flat on their collective faces. They entered this weekend just 1.5 games out of first place and 1/2 game out of second place. They’re facing a Seattle team that has been right around .500 in every situational breakdown imaginable this year. So what do they do? They lose the first two games of this series and will be trying to avoid the sweep on Sunday. They’ll welcome the San Diego Padres to town on Monday for a three game Interleague Series before they host the Baltimore Orioles in a very important series next weekend. In theory, they can redeem themselves for their showing this weekend over the next week but will they?

In any case, the Jays are now 2.5 games out of first place and could very well be 3 games out if the Orioles and Red Sox win on Saturday night (both teams are leading midway through their games). They’d also be 2.5 games out of second place should these scores hold. Seattle is now just 2.5 games back of the second place Houston Astros (pending the outcome of Houston’s Saturday night game) but they’ve opened up a 6.5 game lead over the Los Angeles Angels in fourth place.

Seattle will start lefthander Wade LeBlanc who has been good but not great this season–at least at home. Overall, the Mariners are 3-1 in LeBlanc’s 4 starts this season with the veteran southpaw putting up a decent 3.63 ERA and a 1.120 WHIP. He’s only started one road game and that was a disaster–he went 3 1/3 innings at Houston allowing 4 ER for a 10.81 road ERA with a 2.102 WHIP. He’s fortunate that Toronto doesn’t hit left handed starters well. The problem is that neither does Seattle–the Mariners average 3.9 runs per game against LHP just like Toronto. Toronto has a more capable lefthander starting in J.A. Happ–they’re 14-5 in his starts overall including 8-1 in his starts at the Rogers Centre. They’ve won his last three starts with Happ in excellent form–a 1.96 ERA and 0.981 WHIP in 18.3 innings pitched along with 25 strikeouts and 2 walks.

BET TORONTO BLUE JAYS -155 OVER SEATTLE MARINERS