MLB Baseball Betting: Toronto Blue Jays at Chicago White Sox

The Chicago White Sox started the season playing almost as well as their crosstown rivals the Chicago Cubs. That didn’t last long, however, and the White Sox have slumped into fourth place in the AL Central. Realistically, that’s as low as they can go since the pitiful Minnesota Twins have taken permanent residence in last place and are 12.5 games back of the White Sox and 18.5 games back of division leading Cleveland. The White Sox aren’t exactly a bad team–in fact, they’re the personification of ‘mediocre’. They’re 36-37 on the season (pending the outcome of Friday’s game), 17-17 at home, 19-20 on the road and are 5-5 in their last 10 games. Their betting ‘profit/loss statement’ also shares this characteristic–they’re -1.4 units on the year.

Toronto started slowly but has improved throughout the season and they’re up where they were expected to be in the mix for the AL East lead. Heading into Friday’s action they were 2.5 games behind the first place Baltimore Orioles and one game back of the second place Boston Red Sox. The Jays’ biggest problem at the start of the season was a surprisingly weak offense but it came back with a vengeance a couple of weeks ago. They’ve cooled off slightly but at least for the time being run production isn’t an issue.

R.A. Dickey has been a very enigmatic pitcher throughout his career and this season isn’t any different. Overall, the Jays are 4-11 -7.7 units in his starts and he’s posted an ERA of 4.09. On the road, Toronto is 4-4 and Dickey has a very credible 2.98 ERA (and as you observant types may have noticed this means that Toronto is 0-7 at home in his starts). Miguel Gonzalez starts for the White Sox–Chicago is 5-4 in his 9 starts and he’s got a 4.41 ERA. At home, they’re 1-2 and Gonzalez has a 5.87 ERA.

Curiously, the White Sox have absolutely dominated the Jays in head to head play over the past three years. They’re 12-5 +9.6 units overall in that timeframe and 5-2 +4.0 units at home. They swept the Jays at the Rogers Centre in late April for a series profit of +3.85 units. Hard to think that will happen again here. Toronto has improved since April and the White Sox have regressed.

BET TORONTO BLUE JAYS -125 OVER CHICAGO WHITE SOX