Blue Jays Home Opener Brings Up Interesting Player Futures
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There is nothing quite like that feeling of optimism on the day of a Toronto Blue Jays home opener. It’s truly one of the best days on the local sports calendar.
With tonight’s home opener against the Detroit Tigers, at 7 p.m., the 6-4 Blue Jays will start Cy Young candidate Alek Manoah. And with 20-degree temperatures today, it still might be stretch for the dome to be roofless for the game, but the spring-like conditions certainly beat out the cold, rain and snowy conditions of recent home openers.
So let's look at the Jays to get you ready for your MLB betting.
Blue Jays are Ontario's Favourite Bet, What's the 2023 Outlook?
Last week some revealing betting data was released in Ontario that showed over the past year that showed the Jays as the most bet-on sports team in the province, ahead of the Golden State Warriors, Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills and Toronto Raptors.
There’s a buzz about the Jays this season not felt in recent memory, and if they can sort out their starting pitching, which has been choppy over the first 10 games (we see you Jose Berrios and your 11.17 ERA after two starts), then they are a legitimate World Series threat.
The outfield defence – Daulton Varsho, Kevin Kiermaier, George Springer - looks real. We love what we’ve seen on the basepaths. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has only struck out three times in 41 at-bats. Matt Chapman is off to an MVP start - .475 average, .523 OBP, 14 RBIs, 19 its in 40 at-bats.
How will the newly renovated unconventional outfield dimensions play for both sides? The right centre field power alley is closer to home plate now – 359 feet. There are shorter centre field walls, and the outfield corners have higher walls. We’ll have to see how baseballs off those walls react.
Still, there are 152 games to go. So it’s days like this where it’s more fun to take a look at things like player futures.
How Will Blue Jays Fare in Individual Awards?
According to BetMGM, the Anaheim Angels’ Shohei Ohtani is the runaway so far for AL MVP betting – with the highest ticket percentage at 13.7 and the highest handle percentage at 20.9. Ohtani, incredibly, is getting the highest ticket percentage to win the AL Cy Young (12.2). The current odds for Ohtani for MVP is 2.8.
The highest Blue Jays player is Guerrero Jr. – current odds 16.0 for AL MVP, generating 9.9% of tickets and 7.9% of handle. Only the Yankees’ Aaron Judge, Angels’ Mike Trout, Astros’ Yordan Alvarez stand ahead of Guerrero, according to BetMGM.
Teammates Bo Bichette (41.0), Springer (81.0), Chapman (101.0), Varsho (201.0), Alejandro Kirk (151.0) and Danny Jansen (301.0) are in there as well.
Jays starting pitcher Kevin Gausman has odds of 17.0 to win the AL Cy Young. Manoah is currently at 31.0, and Berrios, with his poor start, is 201.0. Chris Bassitt is 101.0.
NorthStar Bets has Guerrero Jr. at 15.0 for MVP (after Ohtani, Judge, Trout, the Guardians’ Julio Rodriguez and Alvarez), Bichette at 26.0. NorthStar has Gausman at 18.0 for the Cy Young, Manoah at 26.0.
The Tigers look terrible – 2-7 so far. They are in for a three-game set. The big test is this weekend – a three-game series at the Rogers Centre against the streaking Tampa Bay Devil Rays, off to a 10-0 start.
More on that series as we get closer.
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