MLB Baseball Betting: Toronto Blue Jays at Cleveland Indians

The Toronto Blue Jays will conclude their three game weekend series against the Cleveland Indians on Sunday before returning home for six straight games against last place teams (LA Angels, Minnesota). So far the Jays are 2-2 on this road trip (Saturday’s results still pending) and they’re in a situation where they simply can’t afford to lose games with Boston and Baltimore right on their rear view mirror atop the AL Central. Overall, the Jays have been in good form and recovered nicely from a slow start that was due in large part to inexplicable struggles on offense. All it took was a little patience–the wins came and the offense is now as potent as ever. Toronto is in the MLB top ten in both runs (#6) and home runs (#2) so they don’t have problems putting runs on the board. On the other hand, they don’t hit for average particularly well–they’re #22 in team batting average at .247. That’s not a huge concern–teams win games in different ways and the Jays win with the longball.

Cleveland has the #4 team batting average in baseball (.267) which is somewhat out of character. They’ve got a rep for being a power hitting team as well though it’s not like they *lack* power at #11 in home runs in the Majors with 156. This year, pitching has been a strength for both teams. Toronto has the best ERA in the American League (3.72) which is good for #4 in the Majors. Cleveland has the #2 AL ERA at 3.83 with the #7 ranking in the Majors. They’ve also got the lowest batting averages against in the American League and are #4 and #5 in the Majors.

Both starters have been sharp of late. Marcus Stroman has struggled for much of the year but has allowed only 5 ER in his last three starts in 18 1/3 innings of work. Unfortunately, the Jays lost 2 of those 3 starts inlcuding a 7 inning gem at Houston on 8/1 when Stroman pitched 7 innings of 3 hit 1 ER baseball striking out 13 and walking only 1 (KC won 2-1). Cleveland’s Corey Kluber has also been in solid form of late with the Tribe winning his last three starts. The right hander has a 2.70 ERA and a 1.050 WHIP in that stretch. The Jays pound RHP, however, and Stroman dominated the Indians on July 1 (another 2-1 hard luck loss) going 6 2/3 allowing 5 hits and 1 ER.

BET TORONTO BLUE JAYS +150 OVER CLEVELAND INDIANS