MLB Wild Card No Runs First Inning (NRFI) Picks & Predictions: Rays vs. Guardians (10/7)
Welcome to the NRFI bets article for the MLB Postseason. We will release these articles on the same schedule as the regular season posts. So let’s dive into today’s Wild Card games.
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MLB Wild Card No Runs First Inning (NRFI) Picks & Predictions: Rays vs. Guardians (10/7)
Tampa Bay Rays at Cleveland Guardians – 12:07 ET
The first game on the slate is one of my favorite bets for the day. Shane Bieber gets the start for the Guardians, and as we have mentioned in this piece before, he is having an excellent season despite the drop in velocity. While his K-rate dropped significantly, he has also paired that with a reduction in walks. He faces a Tampa offense that has struggled a ton in 2022. Over the last thirty days, they have scored the third-fewest runs in all of baseball. After years of seemingly magically overperforming, their offense finally came back down to earth. This is a fantastic matchup for Bieber, and I expect him to pitch a clean first frame.
Shane McClanahan was one of the best pitchers in baseball and potentially the AL CY Young before he got injured. Since returning, he has struggled a bit, but he is still one of the better arms in the game. The Cleveland offense has been terrible against left-handers and has been a frequent target of mine when writing this article. Their wRC+ of 84 against southpaws is the fourth worst in baseball and easily the worst among all playoff teams. This is a really big number, but with almost all of these teams having their aces lined up to pitch today, all of the odds are a bit higher than we would like.
Pick: NRFI -185
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