I'm going with the top-scoring team in the majors. Astros are surging at the right time.
So I'm on Houston -110 for today.
Hitting the National League and playing the best team was not enough to cool down the Astros’ bats. They are the top-scoring team in the majors and just dropped 9 runs on San Francisco to win the series opener. Houston smartly focused on their bullpen at the trade deadline as it might have been hard to find a bat to improve the lineup. Third baseman Alex Bregman will be back any day now too. The Giants made a massive move to get Kris Bryant from the Cubs at the deadline. This looks like it will be the first game for him with his new team and I think he will fit in well. The Giants have been putting up good offensive numbers all season, but a lot of that production is coming from sources that have been over-performing–so they were due for reinforcements. They still don’t have the lineup of the Astros, though.
Houston loaded up on relievers at the deadline. One reason is that Luis Garcia and some other unheralded arms are holding things down in the rotation. Garcia made just one start a year ago but has quickly shown that he can dominate a lineup. His road splits are not good though, with his ERA nearly doubling. The Giants’ Logan Webb is having a very nice season. He does not always pitch deep enough into the game to get the win, but they have won his last four starts including back-to-back games against the Dodgers. He is setting new MLB innings high with each appearance so you have to be careful. Houston has shown that not having a DH is not going to slow them down too much. I like them to continue to hit well and for Garcia to be able to have success against the Giants lineup. The Astros are surging and you don’t have too much of a premium to pay.