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MLB World Series Game 5 Odds & Picks: Wednesday (Rangers vs. Diamondbacks)

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The Texas Rangers entered the World Series as one of six MLB franchises never to win a championship. However, after their dominant 11-7 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game 4, the Rangers are one win away from that elusive first title.

Texas added to its MLB postseason record with a tenth consecutive road win in a single postseason, and Arizona will have to avoid its first three-game losing streak of the playoffs if it wants to keep its season alive. History is against the Diamondbacks to dig out of a 3-1 hole, as just six of the 47 teams who have trailed 3-1 in a World Series have come back to win. Can Arizona extend the series and ensure a Game 6 in Arlington on Friday?

Read on for Wednesday’s MLB Best Bet for World Series Game 5.

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    Wednesday’s Best MLB Bets

    (Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook)

    Texas Rangers (-106) at Arizona Diamondbacks (-110) | O/U 8.5 (-114/-106) 

    At first glance, this looks like a fishy line, as Texas has not lost a road game this postseason and seems to have all the momentum despite having to remove Adolis Garcia and Max Scherzer from its postseason roster. It is easy to see why Arizona has reason for optimism, given that it saved its three best relievers (Ryan Thompson, Kevin Ginkel, Paul Sewald) for tonight despite deploying a bullpen game yesterday. Those three relievers are a huge reason Arizona’s bullpen entered yesterday with a 2.31 ERA, .197 OBA, and a 104-36 K-BB ratio since September 1. However, getting to those three with a lead will be an arduous task against a Rangers lineup that entered Game 4 averaging 6.1 runs per game with a starting pitching ERA of 2.56 on the road in the postseason and whose run differential in 10 road games is +37.

    In its first game without its most feared slugger (Garcia), the Texas lineup made up for the loss, especially with players like Marcus Semien stepping up. Semien was 2-for-16 with runners in scoring position in the first three postseason series but had come through with hits in his first two at-bats with runners in scoring position in this series. His Game 4 heroics were a big reason Texas became the third team in World Series history to score 10 or more runs in the first three innings and the first in postseason history to score five-plus runs with two outs in consecutive innings. In addition, the Rangers are also the first team to record double-digit runs in a game in all three rounds of the postseason.

    We expect the Rangers to jump on Zac Gallen early, as the Diamondbacks ace is fatiguing down the stretch. Gallen pitched to a 3.18 ERA in his first two postseason starts, but that has spiked to a 6.75 ERA in his last three. Arizona has lost Gallen’s previous three starts by a combined 17-9, so we are getting great value on a Rangers team that has won all five of Nathan Eovaldi’s postseason starts.

    Thus, instead of backing Texas to win the game, we are backing its first five innings moneyline, as the Rangers have cashed the first five innings moneyline in 96 of their last 170 games (+28.43 units, 12% ROI).

    Pick: Rangers First Five Innings Moneyline (-102)

    Make sure to check out our other best bets for Wednesday:


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    Mike Spector is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Mike, check out his archive and follow him @MikeSpector01.

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