Best MLB Parlay Picks Today
Houston Astros vs. Los Angeles Angels
Wednesday, September 22, 2021 at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California
Luis Garcia
Angel batters have seen Luis Garcia five times this season.
Therefore, they are familiar with his pitch selection.
Garcia primarily throws a 4-seam fastball, which he throws with nearly twice as much frequency as any of his other pitches.
Despite his reliance on this pitch, he isn't effective with it. Currently, his fastball yields a .298 BA and .487 slugging rate.
Garcia vs. Angel Batters
As measured by FIP (like ERA, but factors out fielding) Garcia's performances against the Angels have always been poor.
His FIP in every Angel game was higher than 5.00 and it was higher than 6.00 in three Angel games.
Four different Angel batters -- Jared Walsh, Jose Rojas, Luis Rengifo, and Brandon Marsh -- slug .500 or higher in at least three career at bats against Garcia.
Janson Junk
You might not be familiar with Angel starter Janson Junk. He is making his third career start today.
Besides inspiring an array of puns, Junk doesn't have too much that's special about him.
Scouting reports that followed Junk in his minor league days praise his slider as a source of his professional breakthrough.
While it's a fairly neat pitch, he only throws it 18-percent of the time and pretty much confines himself to throwing it to right-handed batters.
Junk vs. Astro Batters
I like Junk's general lack of novelty because it makes him lack a potential significant element of surprise, which is the only real concern with a lineup seeing a pitcher for the first time.
In fact, Astro batters are in a great spot today and for two reasons.
One, they rank seventh in slugging against Junk's three favorite pitches, the fastball, curveball, and slider, which make up 99.2 percent of his pitches, from righties.
Two, they are utterly on fire right now, having scored a combined total of 27 runs in their past three games.
Seattle Mariners vs. Oakland Athletics
Wednesday, September 22, 2021 at 9:40 p.m. ET at Oakland Coliseum in Oakland
Chris Flexen
Mariner starter Chris Flexen owns a nice degree of variety in his pitching arsenal as he doesn't throw a single pitch 40 percent of the time.
Overall, his two favorite pitches are his fastball and cutter, both of which he throws with at least 30 percent frequency.
Against lefties, he favors a change-up as this is a classic weapon against opposite-handed batters. This pitch yields a superbly low .147 BA and .239 slugging rate.
This last piece of information is bad news for left-handed slugger Matt Olson, who is easily Oakland's top source of runs (RBIs).
Flexen vs. Athletic Batters
In terms of hit type, the only guaranteed source of runs in baseball is, of course, the home run because at least one run will always score when a home run is hit.
Thus, I think that it is valuable to see how many home runs a lineup has hit off of an opposing pitcher.
Athletic hitters have accumulated 64 career at-bats against Flexen. They have hit zero home runs off of him.
In a similar vein, they slug a paltry .344 against him.
Lately, Oakland hasn't done much hitting at all, having scored no more than three runs in any of their last four games even though one of those games went into extras.
Cole Irvin vs. Mariner Batters
Oakland starter Cole Irvin is a great guy to fade tonight.
He has faced the Mariners three times this season. He collected the loss in each of those games while allowing three or four runs in no more than 4.2 innings.
In total, Mariner batters have accumulated 48 at-bats against him. They hit .438 and slug .521 against him.
J.P. Crawford, Luis Torrens, and Tom Murphy all slug well over .700 in at least four at-bats against Irvin.
Mariner batters and the team overall are hot. They've won three games in a row, outscoring opponents 16-5 in the process.
Parlay Verdict
Expect a scoring fest between the Angels and Astros while the Mariners, who are underdogs for reasons that I cannot satisfyingly explain, will stay hot in Oakland.
Best Bet: Parlay Astros/Angels First-Half Over 5 at -110 & Mariners Full-Game ML at +117 at +314 odds with Bovada
Houston Astros vs. Los Angeles Angels
Wednesday, September 22, 2021 at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California
Luis Garcia
Angel batters have seen Luis Garcia five times this season.
Therefore, they are familiar with his pitch selection.
Garcia primarily throws a 4-seam fastball, which he throws with nearly twice as much frequency as any of his other pitches.
Despite his reliance on this pitch, he isn't effective with it. Currently, his fastball yields a .298 BA and .487 slugging rate.
Garcia vs. Angel Batters
As measured by FIP (like ERA, but factors out fielding) Garcia's performances against the Angels have always been poor.
His FIP in every Angel game was higher than 5.00 and it was higher than 6.00 in three Angel games.
Four different Angel batters -- Jared Walsh, Jose Rojas, Luis Rengifo, and Brandon Marsh -- slug .500 or higher in at least three career at bats against Garcia.
Janson Junk
You might not be familiar with Angel starter Janson Junk. He is making his third career start today.
Besides inspiring an array of puns, Junk doesn't have too much that's special about him.
Scouting reports that followed Junk in his minor league days praise his slider as a source of his professional breakthrough.
While it's a fairly neat pitch, he only throws it 18-percent of the time and pretty much confines himself to throwing it to right-handed batters.
Junk vs. Astro Batters
I like Junk's general lack of novelty because it makes him lack a potential significant element of surprise, which is the only real concern with a lineup seeing a pitcher for the first time.
In fact, Astro batters are in a great spot today and for two reasons.
One, they rank seventh in slugging against Junk's three favorite pitches, the fastball, curveball, and slider, which make up 99.2 percent of his pitches, from righties.
Two, they are utterly on fire right now, having scored a combined total of 27 runs in their past three games.
Seattle Mariners vs. Oakland Athletics
Wednesday, September 22, 2021 at 9:40 p.m. ET at Oakland Coliseum in Oakland
Chris Flexen
Mariner starter Chris Flexen owns a nice degree of variety in his pitching arsenal as he doesn't throw a single pitch 40 percent of the time.
Overall, his two favorite pitches are his fastball and cutter, both of which he throws with at least 30 percent frequency.
Against lefties, he favors a change-up as this is a classic weapon against opposite-handed batters. This pitch yields a superbly low .147 BA and .239 slugging rate.
This last piece of information is bad news for left-handed slugger Matt Olson, who is easily Oakland's top source of runs (RBIs).
Flexen vs. Athletic Batters
In terms of hit type, the only guaranteed source of runs in baseball is, of course, the home run because at least one run will always score when a home run is hit.
Thus, I think that it is valuable to see how many home runs a lineup has hit off of an opposing pitcher.
Athletic hitters have accumulated 64 career at-bats against Flexen. They have hit zero home runs off of him.
In a similar vein, they slug a paltry .344 against him.
Lately, Oakland hasn't done much hitting at all, having scored no more than three runs in any of their last four games even though one of those games went into extras.
Cole Irvin vs. Mariner Batters
Oakland starter Cole Irvin is a great guy to fade tonight.
He has faced the Mariners three times this season. He collected the loss in each of those games while allowing three or four runs in no more than 4.2 innings.
In total, Mariner batters have accumulated 48 at-bats against him. They hit .438 and slug .521 against him.
J.P. Crawford, Luis Torrens, and Tom Murphy all slug well over .700 in at least four at-bats against Irvin.
Mariner batters and the team overall are hot. They've won three games in a row, outscoring opponents 16-5 in the process.
Parlay Verdict
Expect a scoring fest between the Angels and Astros while the Mariners, who are underdogs for reasons that I cannot satisfyingly explain, will stay hot in Oakland.
Best Bet: Parlay Astros/Angels First-Half Over 5 at -110 & Mariners Full-Game ML at +117 at +314 odds with Bovada
