Baseball Betting – White Sox Send Garcia to the Mound to Face Seattle

So far, the A.L. Central hasn’t been what it was cracked up to be. For about 5 years, it’s felt like the A.L. Central has been the toughest division in baseball for bettors to find a baseball bet in the MLB sportsbook. The Detroit Tigers, Minnesota Twins and, yes, Chicago White Sox, have all taken turns beating each other for the A.L. Central title. Even the Cleveland Indians have gotten into the mix in some years.

This year, it might be different as the Twins appear capable of running away from the division and the Chicago White Sox, who host the Seattle Mariners this weekend, are already 6 games behind the leaders in the division. The White Sox are 5 and 11. They send pitcher Freddy Garcia to the mound on Saturday to face Seattle’s Doug Fister.

Garcia has been woeful so far in 2010. He only lasted 3 innings the last time he took the mound. In those 3 innings, against the Toronto Blue Jays, Garcia gave up 8 hits for 7 runs. His ERA is a horrible 8.10. He’s 0 and 2. His WHIP is a borderline ridiculous 1.90.

The Mariners counter Garcia with pitcher Doug Fister. After getting roughed up in his first start of the season, where he gave up 6 hits in 4 innings, Fister has really settled down some. He’s pitched 8 innings and 7 innings respectively in his last 2 starts giving up 3 hits in both games for a 1.50 ERA and a 1.42 ERA. Fister’s overall ERA is 1.42 for the season and his WHIP is an awesome .84.

I expect Fister and the Mariners to be road favorites in this Saturday game once the baseball betting lines come out.

Expected MLB Odds

Seattle Mariners
Doug Fister – R -1 ½ -105 -190 O 7 ½ -110

Chicago White Sox
Freddy Garcia – R +1 ½ +110 +180 U 7 ½ -110

• The trends point to the Mariners winning this game easily.
• The Seattle Mariners are 7 and 1 in their last 8 games overall.
• The Seattle Mariners are 12 and 4 in their last 16 games vs. a starter with a WHIP greater than 1.30.
• The Chicago White Sox are 1 and 6 in their last 7 games overall.
• The Chicago White Sox are 1 and 4 in Freddy Garcia’s last 5 starts.

The trends and stats point to Fister dominating the White Sox on Saturday afternoon. The White Sox are averaging only 3.69 runs per game. Their batting average so far this season as a team is 2.15.

Fister should eat that up. To make matters worse for the ChiSox is the fact that the Mariners have gotten their bats going recently. Seattle outscored the Baltimore Orioles 15 to 4 in their last 3-games series.

Yes, it was the Orioles, but the ChiSox aren’t playing any better than the Orioles have been playing. The Mariners have risen their overall batting average to .250 and on-base % to .668. The Mariners still have to manufacture runs but they shouldn’t have a problem doing it against the White Sox who are laughable at this stage in the season.

Even though I love Fister and Seattle in this game, I don’t have enough to guts to bet the Mariners on the run line because of their inability to hit homeruns (they only have 9 on the season!). So, I’ll bone up the cash and take the low baseball odds on Seattle to win on the money line.

Pick: Seattle at -150 to -225