Blue Jays Look Too Strong for Rangers

The last eight teams left in Major League Baseball begin their division series this week. One matchup that appears it will be a battle is the Texas Rangers vs. the Toronto Blue Jays.

The two teams with the highest scoring offenses since this year’s All-Star break will meet on Thursday afternoon for Game 1 of their division series.

Toronto scored 5.7 runs a game during the second half of this season, while Texas scored 5.1 per game. Expect this to be a slugfest in two parks that are quite hitter friendly in the American League.

Toronto enters as a (-245) favorite to win this series, which is best of five. Texas currently is sitting on odds of (+225).

Going back to 2012, Toronto is 14-6 head to head with Texas.

The Blue Jays will start the series with David Price their ace left-hander who finished the season 18-5 with an ERA of 2.45.

Following Price, Toronto will send Marcus Stroman and then Marco Estrada to the mound.

Texas has Yovani Gallardo who is 13-11 with an ERA of 3.42 and Cole Hamels as the only pitchers listed.

In Game 3, Colby Lewis is likely to start for Texas.

The Game 1 line has Toronto at (-230) with the run total at 8.

The opening line for this game was at -220 for Toronto due to David Price on the mound, but has since has gone to -230. The run total of 8 opened at -120, but has gone south to -110.

Numbers to Consider

• Price has a record of 9-1 with an ERA of 2.30 since he started with Toronto at the MLB trade deadline.
• Price however is just 1-5 in his 10 career starts in the post season.
• Price’s teams – Tampa and Detroit – are a combined 0-6 versus the Rangers in the postseason when he pitches.
• Toronto is 48-23 since the July All-Star break, which is the best in baseball.
• The Rangers are 3-7 over their past 10 games as road dogs.
• The UNDER has cashed in 7 of the past 10 games Price has pitched as a favorite at home.
• Since the break for the All-Star game, Toronto is 27-10 at home.
• Texas has won four of the past six starts Gallardo has made as a road dog

Toronto will win today and win the series in four games.