MLB Opening Night: Betting Analysis for Yankees, Nats And Dodgers, Giants

• The MLB season is finally here and will feature two games Thursday night, starting with the New York Yankees (-127) taking on the defending champion Washington Nationals (+117).
• On the west coast, Mookie Betts plays his first game in blue as the San Francisco Giants (+266) take on the Los Angeles Dodgers (-300).

WASHINGTON – After a long and arduous wait through a sports-barren summer, the beautiful game of baseball is finally ready to make it return.

It wasn’t without its challenges, but the MLB appears to be ready to give the 2020 season a shot. Teams are ready to take the socially-distant field and hear the deafening roar of silence from the zero fans in attendance.

Thursday night features two games between some of the top teams on either side of the country who are looking to start their 60-game campaign with a win.

The first game of the season sees the New York Yankees taking on the defending World Series champion Washington Nationals.

The Yankees will be debuting their flashy new toy in pitcher Gerrit Cole tonight, who will look to bring over his domination from his time in Houston.

Cole will face off against one of the best to ever do it in Max Scherzer. Scherzer is coming off of a 2.92 ERA season and will be doing his best to continue his elite production at the age of 35. While the Yankees are getting the legal sports betting edge here, they will be without closer Aroldis Chapman and possibly second-baseman DJ LeMahieu who are both coming off of positive COVID diagnosis.

With the start of the new season comes the beauty of unpredictability. This season will be the definition of chaos from start to finish as teams scramble to put together a winning roster over the course of 60-games.

With that in mind, tonight will be just a small sample size of what is to come in 2020 for both of these clubs. While the Yankees have the better roster, we like the Nationals to get the first win at home.

PICK: Nationals +117

The nightcap sends us the west coast where two teams headed in very different directions face off.

Clayton Kershaw will return the mound for the first time in 2020 tonight as he takes on Johnny Cueto. Kershaw will look to get things started quickly for the Dodgers and improve on his 10-2 home record from 2019 that saw him throw a 2.89 ERA.

Cueto only pitched four games in 2019 after recovering from Tommy John’s surgery, including a disastrous two innings against the Dodgers that saw five runs belted in over five hits. Buster Posey will be out for the Giants after opting out of the season, leaving a big question mark behind the plate for the Giants.

Meanwhile, Mookie Betts will make his Dodgers debut after signing an insane 12-year, $365 million contract extension.

Betts will look to show the world and MLB bettors that he is worth the price and will be able to produce for the next decade or more to come.

Expect the Dodgers to come out fired up and get the win.

PICK: Dodgers -300

News tags: Los Angeles Dodgers | MLB | New York Yankees | San Francisco Giants | Washington Nationals