Orioles vs Blue Jays Preview: Key Matchup in AL East Race

Baltimore Visits Toronto With Playoff Implications

The Baltimore Orioles visit the Toronto Blue Jays for a key four-game series beginning Monday. The Orioles are in first place in the division, with Tampa Bay in second and the Blue Jays in third.

Toronto does hold down one of the wild card spots heading into the series. The Orioles vs Blue Jays preview notes Baltimore’s 42 wins against teams with a .500 record or better is tops in Major League Baseball.

Monday’s Game

The Orioles vs Blue Jays preview has Chris Bassitt -134 over Kyle Gibson in Monday’s series opener. The total is nine flat and Toronto is +145 on the run line. Gibson has pitched fair for the Orioles. He’s 9-6 with a 4.68 ERA and Baltimore is 12-10 when he starts. Bassitt is 10-5 with a 3.91 ERA. The Blue Jays have posted a 13-9 record when he takes the mound.

The Orioles are a better hitting team on the road, which is why they’re 32-20 away record is a little better than their 31-21 home record. The Blue Jays also score a little more on the road.

There isn’t a lot of value in this game. Bassitt is the better pitcher and the line shows that. While the Orioles score more on the road, the Blue Jays have better recent form. This is a challenging game to call, but would lean to the under. The Blue Jays are 1-8-1 in totals with Bassitt pitching at home.

Tuesday’s Game

The big new in this game is Toronto is expected to start Hyun Jin Ryu, who will be making his first MLB appearance since June 1, 2022. The Blue Jays are expected to use a six-man rotation since they’ll be playing 17 games in 17 days. The Orioles will give the ball to Kyle Bradish.

The Orioles are 23-11 against left-handed starters, averaging 5.06 runs per game. On the road, Baltimore has gone 10-4 and is averaging 6.14 runs per game. The Orioles are scoring 4.74 runs per game against right-handed starters this season.

Bradish has pitched well this season. Baltimore is 11-8 and the Orioles allow 3.21 runs per game. On the road, the Orioles are 6-5 and allow 3.36 runs per game.

Ryu will likely be on a pitch count, so he probably won’t throw much in this spot. That could have an impact on Baltimore’s scoring against left-handed pitchers. Would have to lean to the Orioles as long as the MLB odds are close to even.

Wednesday’s Game

The Orioles vs Blue Jays preview shows Grayson Rodriguez starting for the Orioles against Toronto’s Yusei Kikuchi. Rodriguez is 2-2 with an unsightly 6.21 ERA. He tends to pitch either very well or very badly.

In 13 starts, Rodriguez has allowed two or fewer runs seven times. But he’s allowed eight runs twice, along with four, five and six runs. The Orioles are 9-4 when he starts and also 9-4 in totals with Rodriguez on the mound.

Kikuchi is 8-3 with a 3.79 ERA. The Blue Jays are 14-7 when he pitches and 6-3 at home. This is one of the baseball games where it’s hard to predict how Rodriguez will pitch.

He has put together two solid starts, but he has yet to make it three in a row. The over could be the way to go in this one.

Thursday’s Game

The Baltimore Orioles haven’t named a starter for the series finale. It was expected that Tyler Wells would get the start, but he was demoted on Sunday. It’s unsure if the Orioles will make a move for a pitcher before the trade deadline.

Wells wasn’t pitching that bad. But he was having a tough time eating up innings and the team wanted to give him a bit of a break.

The Blue Jays don’t have any such problems and are slate to send Kevin Gausman to the mound. He’s 8-5 with a 3.10 ERA. The Blue Jays are just 11-10 when he starts, however.

The Toronto bullpen has blown a few games where the Major League Baseball scores showed the Blue Jays on the short end. Gausman will likely be a big favorite, but it’s hard to back him at the odds he’ll go off at.

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