Baseball Plays of the Day for October 17: Free MLB Betting Picks (Archive)
After the Braves walked off in Game 1, can Max Scherzer and the Dodgers tie things up against Atlanta before taking flight back to Los Angeles? Let’s take a look at the MLB odds and decide which way to lean BMR’s top-rated sportsbooks.
Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Atlanta Braves
Sunday, October 17, 2021 – 07:38 PM EDT at Truist Park
Probable Pitchers:
● Dodgers: Max Scherzer (15-4, 2.46 ERA)
● Braves: Ian Anderson (9-5, 3.58 ERA)
It’s been an incredible postseason this year in the MLB. I just wish the games were earlier for those on the East coast. East coasters just have to adjust right now! One man that has already adjusted is Max Scherzer. He adjusted from the East coast to the West coast at the trade deadline when the Washington Nationals moved him to Los Angeles for a couple big-time prospects.
The Dodgers traded for Scherzer (and Trea Turner) for this very moment. He gets to face an old rival in the Atlanta Braves, a team he’s all too familiar with. Scherzer will take the hill for Game 2 of the NLCS after the Dodgers elected to go with a bullpen game for Game 1. While the bullpen game worked, the Dodgers still ended up losing 3-2 and would like to tie the series at one before flying back to Los Angeles.
The Braves are hitting just .210 against Scherzer in 189 at-bats throughout their careers. Of those 37 at-bats, however, 19 have been extra-base hits, giving Atlanta hope that a home run or two is possible against Scherzer. Scherzer pitched lights out in his last start, where he went seven innings while allowing one run with 10 strikeouts. Then, later in the series against the Giants, Scherzer closed out Game 5 with a 13-pitch inning. Now he’s back for more.
On the other hand, Ian Anderson looked just as brilliant in his last start for the Braves and will make another start tonight. Anderson went five innings and allowed no runs against the Brewers with six strikeouts and no walks allowed. For Anderson, walks have been a huge problem. He’s walked over 10 percent of batters he’s faced in his career.
However, he’s able to find command and limit strikeouts, the sky’s the limit for Anderson. The Dodgers, however, haven’t had much success against righties in the last 30 days. Only Corey Seager has real success against righties in the last 30 days with a .390 ISO and a wOBA of .429. Anderson has allowed a .366 wOBA and ISO of .379 in that same time frame to his last 31 left-handed plate appearances. Prediction Personally, I’d like to believe that both of these pitchers can throw quality starts and keep this game tight throughout.
Max Scherzer seems to have finally gotten into a rhythm while Anderson showed much better command in his last start in the postseason. However, it’s no fun rooting for an under. Therefore, I’ve got a player prop that I’ll be on tonight and I teased it above. For my MLB pick, I like Corey Seager to get Over 1.5 total bases at plus money tonight against Anderson. Seager doesn’t have actual success against Anderson, as Anderson is just 23 years old, but he’s slugged righties while Anderson has struggled to get lefties out lately. With Seager batting in the two-spot, there’s a good chance he’ll have four or more at-bats to get either two hits or one extra base hit.
MLB Pick: Corey Seager Over 1.5 Total Bases +120 at Bovada (visit our Bovada Review)
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.