Chowder and Champions’ Best Boston Bets for 8/2 (Early Runs in Red Sox-Mariners Again)

Aside from Patriots training camp, the attention is now on the Red Sox post-MLB Trade Deadline. They’ll look to begin this month on a positive note with a series win against the Mariners.

Ahead of first pitch, here are our editors’ top betting picks for Wednesday.

Best Boston Betting Picks: August 2

Isaiah De Los Santos: Red Sox-Mariners First Inning Total OVER

As the Red Sox and Mariners prepare to face off in the final tilt of their series, I’m expecting this game to start just the like the others have: with runs. In the opener, it was Boston who got on the board in the first inning, as Jarren Duran took advantage of the Mariners’ blunders in the field to go from second to home. Yesterday, it was Eugenio Suarez’s single that eventually allowed J.P. Crawford to score on an error.

With Kutter Crawford and Logan Gilbert on the mound tonight, there’s an obvious path where the early scoring continues. Gilbert hasn’t held a team scoreless in a start since the Fourth of July, while Crawford’s allowed a run in four of his last five starts. Both hurlers were lit up recently as well, with Crawford surrendering four runs to the lowly Mets on July 21 and Gilbert getting tagged for five runs one day later.

Both teams have had sloppy starts to the past two matchups with first-inning scoring coming as the result of errors. Given their early execution lacking and some vulnerable pitchers on the mound, I’m taking the over 0.5 first-inning runs to be scored on DraftKings Sportsbook.

Tyler Maher: Red Sox Runline vs Mariners

Disappointing trade deadline aside, the Red Sox still pulled out the win against the Mariners last night, so at least yesterday wasn’t a total loss.

We’ll try to win the rubber game today in a battle between two evenly matched starting pitchers. Boston’s Kutter Crawford owns a 3.86 ERA this season, while Seattle’s Logan Gilbert checks in with a 3.83 mark.

These teams have nearly identical records, too, with the Red Sox at 57-50 and the Mariners at 55-52.

One trend to target is the runline, where Boston is a +1.5 underdog today. The Red Sox have done a pretty good job covering the runline (57-50), especially on the road (30-24). Seattle, on the other hand, has been terrible against the runline at home, going 22-34 at T-Mobile Park.

Given that, I’m inclined to take Boston on the runline here. The Red Sox have been playing a lot of close games lately, too, with five of their last six games being decided by 2 runs or less.

Jason Schandl: Rays Moneyline vs Yankees

What did I tell you about Carlos Rodon? Talk about easy money. Anyway, it’s not quite as easy to bet against the Yanks with Gerrit Cole on the mound, but you should do it today anyway.

Like every other pitcher in the Yankees rotation, Cole has not really been himself in 2023, and a few lucky breaks have him being overrated (both by baseball media and the betting markets).

A 2.64 ERA makes it look as though Cole’s pitching like his usual studly self, but a 3.62 xFIP, 3.56 xERA and 3.65 SIERA are all his worst since 2017.

The Rays’ 118 wRC+ against right-handed pitching is tied for the highest mark in the majors, and while I don’t think they completely destroy Cole here, they should be able to get some runs on the board.

And it probably won’t take many runs to outpace a Yanks offense that is averaging just 3.81 runs per game since July 1 (a mark that only the Athletics and Royals are trailing on the season).

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.