Twenty-eight of the MLB's 30 teams are in action today, with the Atlanta Braves and Chicago Cubs starting things off at 2:20 PM. Will Yordan Alvarez extend his hitting streak to eight games, will Zack Littell pitch long enough to accumulate strikeouts against the Tigers, and how will Colin Rea fair against the Pittsburgh Pirates?
Here are the best PrizePicks plays for Friday, August 4th's MLB action.
This Season: 62-76
Friday’s Best MLB Player PrizePicks Predictions
Alvarez is in the midst of a seven-game hitting streak, but that may come to an end tonight against Luis Severino and the Yankees. Severino has been terrible this season. He has an ERA of 7.49 and he has a WHIP of 1.84. Yet, Alvarez is only 1-6 against Severino in his lifetime.
Twenty-eight of the MLB's 30 teams are in action today, with the Atlanta Braves and Chicago Cubs starting things off at 2:20 PM. Will Yordan Alvarez extend his hitting streak to eight games, will Zack Littell pitch long enough to accumulate strikeouts against the Tigers, and how will Colin Rea fair against the Pittsburgh Pirates?
Here are the best PrizePicks plays for Friday, August 4th's MLB action.
This Season: 62-76
Friday’s Best MLB Player PrizePicks Predictions
Alvarez is in the midst of a seven-game hitting streak, but that may come to an end tonight against Luis Severino and the Yankees. Severino has been terrible this season. He has an ERA of 7.49 and he has a WHIP of 1.84. Yet, Alvarez is only 1-6 against Severino in his lifetime.
Additionally, during his seven-game hitting streak, Alvarez has only cleared 1.5 total bases three times. If this number were at 0.5, it would likely be a stay-away, but with it all the way up at 1.5, we're looking at history and expecting a rough night for Alvarez.
Littell has struck out four batters in two of his last three games, but in 14 appearances prior to that, he struck out three or fewer in every single game. Just because he is getting the start tonight does not mean that we should expect him to go deep into the game. As a bullpen guy for most of the season, Littell has thrown more than 3.0 innings just twice this season. In both those games, he struck out four batters.
The Tigers rank 14th in the league strikeouts as a team. The batters who have faced Littell in their careers have only struck out twice in 10 at-bats. Seeing a Rays pitcher with a number this low against a team well below .500 may seem odd. But the truth is, the under is the right play.
Rea has struck out at least five in his last two games, including eight against the Braves this past Sunday. Yet, that doesn't explain why this number is so high. If you look at Rea's last 10 games, he has struck out more than five batters just three times. During that span, he faced the Pirates, and despite pitching 6.2 innings, he only struck out three.
The Pirates have one of the worst team batting averages in the league, but when it comes to strikeouts, they're right in the middle of the MLB. With them not being a strikeout-prone team, and with Rea not being an overpowering pitcher, we like the under on this number that is easily a full strikeout too high.
Make sure to check out our other best bets for Friday:
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Phil Wood is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Phil, check out his archive and follow him @Phil_Wood_Jr.
