Philadelphia’s Six-Game Winning Streak Is On The Line
Underdog Is Appealing After Breaking Down Blue Jays vs Phillies Odds
The Philadelphia Phillies will welcome the Toronto Blue Jays to Citizens Bank Park on a six-game winning streak. The Phillies are also 9-1 in their last ten games and continue to climb in the NL East standings.
The Phillies swept the San Francisco Giants in a four-game series, but Bryce Harper has already underplayed the team’s hot start.
He acknowledged that there’s plenty more baseball to be played, and he knows the Phillies need to stay consistent in August and September.
Every team hits roadblocks and lows. The Phillies just lost Trea Turner to a hamstring injury for two weeks, so anything can truly happen. For now, the Phillies will look to ride their momentum against a Blue Jays team that is three MLB games below .500.
Here’s an in-depth look at the Blue Jays vs Phillies odds for tonight’s interleague ball game.
Blue Jays vs Phillies 
Day/Time:
Records: Blue Jays (16-19)/Phillies (25-11)
Location: Citizens Bank Park
Streaming: SN1, Sportsnet1+, NBCSP
Toronto’s Bullpen Addition
Although this isn’t a significant move, the Blue Jays have added right-hander Joel Kuhnel from the Astros in exchange for cash considerations. After bringing him in, the Blue Jays have since optioned Kuhnel to Triple-A.
Toronto had an open space for their 40-man roster and gave it to Kuhnel.
Kuhnel is still 29 years old, but this isn’t the first time he’s been involved in such a deal. While he’s succeeded in the minors, he hasn’t seen the same success in the majors throughout his career.
Hamstring Injury For Trea Turner
The Phillies have been on an epic roll recently. However, Trea Turner’s absence has been lost in the fun. Turner was recently placed on the 10-Day MLB Injured List with a hamstring injury.
Turner had been hitting for a .343 average with 27 runs, ten steals, and a .421 BABIP. He was a big reason for Philadelphia’s early success. It makes you wonder if the Phillies will begin to struggle without one of their top contributors to start the MLB season.
The Phillies will continue to rely on Edmundo Sosa at shortstop. However, if the Phillies choose to mix and match at the position, Bryson Stott and Whit Merrifield can play shortstop.
Without Turner, the sportsbooks still favor the Phillies in today’s MLB betting lines. Lately, they’ve dominated every time we check the MLB live scores.
Blue Jays vs Phillies Odds For Game 1:
ML: Phillies -130, O/U 8 -115/-105
Game 1
- Tuesday, 6:40 pm ET
- Jose Berrios vs. Cristopher Sanchez
Toronto’s Success Against Lefties Will Come
The Phillies will start left-hander Cristopher Sanchez. Sanchez might be 1-3 on the season, but he’s got a 3.68 ERA this year. That said, Sanchez has still struggled against righties this season.
He’s only struck out 21.4% of batters and has allowed 10.7% of walks. In addition, while he’s kept ISO power numbers down against righties, they’ve still hit a wOBA of .335 with 23.7% of line drives.
Meanwhile, Sanchez has held 132 batters to a .076 ISO and a wOBA of .303 collectively. He’s also induced 62.2% of ground balls and prevented MLB teams from hitting many fly balls.
Opponents have only hit 13.3% of fly balls and 21.1% of line drives. He’s been terrific against lefties, but most teams ultimately send out a lineup full of righties against Sanchez when they can.
The Blue Jays’ projected lineup against lefties has hit a .162 ISO and wOBA of .354. Toronto had been really good against lefties last season. However, this year, they’ve struggled a bit more.
Either way, you’d expect the Blue Jays to turn things around against lefties sooner rather than later.
Since last season, the Blue Jays have only struck out 16.4% of the time against lefties and have walked 10.5%. Justin Turner and Davis Schneider have absolutely smacked lefties around.
Meanwhile, Bo Bichette has had major success against lefties throughout his career.
Since last year in Toronto’s lineup, only Schneider has struck out more than 19.3% of the time against lefties. Therefore, don’t expect Sanchez to earn many strikeouts against the Blue Jays.
If Toronto can put the ball in play, good things will happen. Toronto has a good enough roster offensively. Eventually, the roster will produce at a high level, especially against lefties.
It could be this game.
Jose Berrios Could End Philadelphia’s Six-Game Win Streak
Toronto will also pitch Jose Berrios for this game. He’s 4-2 with a 1.44 ERA on the season. Berrios has been dominant, holding teams to a .112 ISO and wOBA of .270.
While his strikeouts are down significantly against righties, he’s still managed 25.8% of strikeouts against lefties. That’s ideal against a Phillies lineup that has many lefty power sluggers that can do damage.
Berrios has also induced over 46% of ground balls this season and has limited teams to 24.8% of fly balls and 21.5% of line drives.
Again, the only actual blemish is his strikeout rate against righties. He’s only added 13.3% of strikeouts against them this season. However, he’s managed to keep his walks down to 5.7% against righties and has still only allowed a .329 wOBA, which isn’t all that bad.
Last season, Berrios added 23.5% of strikeouts against righties. So it’s likely he’ll raise his strikeout rate against righties in the near future.
On the other hand, the Phillies’ projected lineup has hit a .173 ISO and wOBA of .334 against righties since last season. The power numbers aren’t elite. However, six of the nine batters in the lineup have been above average with ISO numbers and wOBA numbers against righties since last season.
Those batters include Kyle Schwarber, J.T. Realmuto, Bryce Harper, Alec Bohm, Brandon Marsh, Nick Castellanos, and Bryson Stott. However, this lineup has also struck out nearly 22% of the time against righties since last season and has only walked 8.9% of the time.
The Phillies typically rely on their power against righties.
After looking through the Blue Jays vs Phillies odds, we’ll back the Blue Jays on the road at +120 as one of our MLB picks today. Toronto will have a lineup filled with righties against Sanchez, who doesn’t strike out often.
That’s enough to back the Blue Jays, especially with Berrios on the mound.
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