MLB Baseball Betting: Seattle Mariners at Toronto Blue Jays

The Toronto Blue Jays open a weekend series against the Seattle Mariners at the Rogers Centre just as things are getting very tight in the AL East. Here’s how things stand with the Baltimore Orioles having already played (and won) on Thursday and with the Boston Red Sox leading Minnesota 7-2 midway through their game. At this moment the Red Sox and Orioles are tied for first place though should Boston hold on a win they would hold a 1/2 game lead over Baltimore and a 1 1/2 game lead over the idle Blue Jays. The Red Sox are cruising–heading into Thursday play they were 8-2 in their last 10 games while the Orioles were 5-5. Toronto has also been playing well winning 7 of 10. This weekend Baltimore will have a tough assignment hosting the AL Central leading Cleveland Indians with Boston getting an easier draw as they continue their series against Minnesota.

The Jays will welcome the Seattle Mariners to town–a team that has been not bad this year but decidedly mediocre. Seattle is 48-47 on the season which puts them in third palce 3 games back of the second place Houston Astros and 6.5 games back of the first place Texas Rangers. They’re 23-23 on the road and (surprise, surprise) 5-5 in their last 10 games. They’ve got a 5 game lead on the fourth place Los Angeles Angels but the Angels have won 6 straight and 8 of 10. Should the Halos keep up that pace they could become a problem for Seattle.

Seattle will start lefthander James Paxton who *hasn’t* been mediocre this season–he’s been pretty bad. The Mariners have lost 7 of his 9 starts overall including 3 of 4 on the road. He’s got a 4.56 ERA overall and a 4.26 road ERA. They’ve also lost 2 of his last three starts with Paxton putting up a 5.30 ERA. He’ll be opposed by Marco Estrada who is looking to get back into form after a series of mediocre starts. Toronto is 9-7 in his 16 starts this year including 5 of 8 on the road. He’s got a 2.93 ERA overall and a 2.44 ERA and home. His last three starts have seen the Blue Jays go 1-2 but Estrada take only one loss on his record. He’s got a 4.76 ERA in that stretch.

This has been an evenly matched series but Toronto is in better form. They don’t hit lefthanders especially well but Paxton isn’t hard to hit.

BET TORONTO BLUE JAYS -160 OVER SEATTLE MARINERS