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Zack Wheeler’s Back to Save the Phillies’ Season
By Joe Tansey
Published:
Okay, things are getting a little dramatic around these parts.
Sure, the Phillies being 1-9 in their last 10 blows, but they are still nine games over .500 and just 4.5 games back of the New York Mets in the National League East.
The road trip definitely sucked, but Zack Wheeler is back to end the losing streak, and in some people’s eyes, revive the entire 2025 campaign.
Wheeler, who hasn’t pitched since May 29th due to the birth of his fourth child, is a -130 favorite for the Phils against the Chicago Cubs in the first game of a three-game set at Citizens Bank Park.
Wheeler allowed just eight runs and 17 hits over 32 May innings. The Phils went 4-1 in those starts. They’re also 6-2 in Wheeler’s last eight appearances. He’s lasted at least six innings in eight of his last nine starts. He went into the seventh inning in five of those appearances.
The right-hander’s outs recorded prop sits at over/under 18.5 at bet365 with the over sitting at +140. Yes, he’s had a long-ish layoff, but he can still step out on the mound and deliver a gem.
That’s what everyone is expecting on Monday, especially against a Cubs lineup that just managed a single run against Tarik Skubal on Friday in Detroit.
Wheeler and Skubal are the same type of elite pitchers, so if the Cubs couldn’t hit the Tigers lefty well, the expectation is they won’t do much against Wheeler.
The Phils hold the significant advantage in the pitching matchup with Wheeler against Matthew Boyd, who owns a 3.49 road ERA and allowed eight earned runs across his last three road starts.
Look, we’re not expecting the Phils to instantly flip the switch and look like the best offense in baseball on Monday, but at least the matchup sets up for a solid night to start pulling the team out of the rut it is in.
And what better way to start a winning run than to be led by a Kyle Schwarber home run.
Schwarber only has one long ball in June, the best hitting month of his career, and he’s only 4-for-28 so far this month.
Schwarber is the only hitter in the majors with a double-digit home run tally against left-handed pitching. He is also one of nine players to have nine or more home runs in their home ballpark.
While we’re on the topic of the lineup stars, Trea Turner has 27 hits against lefties to lead the Phils this season.
Forget that stat for a second, the narrative in play is that the Phils need to claw out of a slump, so naturally the stars will do that.
Well, if that’s the case, it’s easy to bet Schwarber and Turner to get a hit and combine that with either Wheeler’s outs prop or for the right-hander to have 6+ strikeouts. I wouldn’t go too crazy with strikeouts since the Skubal only punched out six Cubs on Friday, but six seems attainable.
In terms of PA betting promos and boosts, and NJ sportsbook promos and boosts, you can get Schwarber and Turner to record a hit in a +120 Same Game Parlay at bet365. Adding Wheeler to have 6 Ks gets you to +190 before activating bet365’s 50 percent profit boost for SGPs of three legs or longer.
Joe Tansey writes sports betting posts for Crossing Broad and also covers the Philadelphia Union for his Substack site, Union Soccer Blog.