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Phillies Hot Streak, and Betting Wins, Should Continue Behind Zack Wheeler
By Joe Tansey
Published:
The Phillies come into Friday on a seven-game winning streak.
The Athletics welcome the Phils to beautiful Sacramento for the first time in the middle of a nine-game losing streak.
On recent form alone, the Phils seem like a slam dunk to keep their winning ways rolling.
There’s a good chance that actually happens behind Zack Wheeler since the Phils are on a four-game winning streak in Wheeler’s last four starts.
With all those things in play, it’s easy to place a wager on the Phillies at -185 on the money line. They are -120 on the run line, a bet that cashed in six of the Phillies’ wins during the current streak.
Wheeler produced at least six strikeouts in each of his last six starts, so it makes sense why his strikeout prop sits at over/under 6.5.
However, I’d lean more toward the outs recorded prop over 18.5 and Wheeler to record a win at -130 at bet365.
The A’s have the fourth-fewest strikeouts in the majors, and despite the losing run, they aren’t striking out a ton. They have the 20th-most strikeouts as a team in the last week.
Wheeler pitched into the seventh inning in four of his last six starts. He hasn’t allowed more than two earned runs in any of those starts, so you don’t have to worry about long innings affecting his pitch count.
The A’s are expected to throw Jeffrey Springs, a lefty who pitched into the sixth inning in three of his last four starts. He’s not a huge strikeout guy, which plays into the Phillies’ hot run of form at the plate.
Sutter Health Park in Sacramento, where the A’s are playing this year, is a bandbox. It might not be Coors Field-level of a hitters’ paradise, but the ball will travel over the fence this weekend.
The A’s pitching staff as a whole just gave up 31 runs to the red-hot Los Angeles Angels, who, like the Phils, are on a seven-game winning streak. That was during a four-game set in Sacramento.
Bryce Harper and Trea Turner are also red-hot at the moment, so you kind of just have to continue to ride the lightning with them.
bet365 has a 30 percent profit boost for Friday’s MLB action, one of the promos on PA sports betting apps. I’d work in a Wheeler prop with Harper and Turner total bases and even the Phillies team total since it’s been such a profitable bet over the last week.
Joe Tansey writes sports betting posts for Crossing Broad and also covers the Philadelphia Union for his Substack site, Union Soccer Blog.