Betting on the Mets at the Plate and on the Rubber vs Padres

The New York Mets have a huge advantage over the San Diego Padres on the rubber and at the plate.
Betting on New York to win Game One of the Wild Card Series is a strong bet with -150 odds.

NEW YORK – The MLB Playoffs begin tonight with four different Wild Card matchups, with MLB sportsbooks listing the New York Mets as the largest favorite of the day with -150 odds to take down the Yu Darvish-led San Diego Padres.

New York Mets vs Sand Diego Padres Odds

Team:	Runline:	Moneyline:	Total:
San Diego Padres – Yu Darvish (R)	+1.5 (-185)	+126	O6.0 (-120)
New York Mets – Max Scherzer (R)	-1.5 (+160)	-150	U6.0 (EVEN)

Betting on Scherzer to Out Duel Darvish

Yu Darvish represents an excellent veteran pitcher taking the mound for the Padres tonight, but the New York Mets have an advantage over San Diego because they have Max Scherzer taking on the rubber.

Darvish may represent an excellent veteran pitcher, but his two top-five CY Young voting results pales in comparison to Scherzer who has not finished outside the top five of Cy Young voting in a full season since 2012.

That trend of Darvish as a good pitcher and Scherzer as a great one continued in 2022:

Yu Darvish: 16-8, 3.10 ERA, 30 starts
Max Scherzer: 11-5, 2.29 ERA, 23 starts

Scherzer played fewer games, but MLB sportsbooks see that he is still an elite pitcher.

Betting on the Mets Lineup over the Padres

That value in betting on the Mets moneyline at Bovada is taken a step further when considering the lineups each pitcher is facing.

Trends that suggest that New York has an advantage over the Padres at the plate include:

The Mets had the third-highest OPS in the majors this season against righties at .756. San Diego’s OPS of .697 was tied for 17th. Both teams are starting right-handed pitchers.
San Diego has scored just the 15th most runs in the MLB since the All-Star Break. Juan Soto was acquired roughly three weeks after the All-Star game, yet the Padre’s offense remained average. The
Mets have scored the fifth most runs since then.

Betting on Max Scherzer to dominate that mediocre San Diego Padres lineup is one of the best bets of the Wild Card round at legal sports betting sites.

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Brett Crown

Brett is a passionate sports writer who majored in Sport Management at Florida State University. He combines his knowledge of stats with his understanding of game theory to find the best values when sports betting. Brett enjoys golfing, playing cornhole, and hanging out by the pool when he’s not locked in watching games.