It’s that time of the year again for Major League Baseball’s opening day and the first game of the season will pit the Atlanta Braves against the World Series defending champion Philadelphia Phillies with the defending champs as the home team.

Bookmaker.com has the MLB betting odds up to make your sports picks with the home-team Phillies favored at -130 with a run total set at 8.5 currently.

The road team has taken 12 of the last 15 games in this series with the Braves taking 2 of 3 the last time the series was played in Philadelphia. The Phillies have won 21 of their last 26 home games while the Braves are just 7-15 in their last 22 road games. The Braves have also won just 8 of the last 30 meetings between these clubs.

The Phillies’ scheduled open day starter was going to be Cole Hamels but the young pitcher had to have his first start moved back to April 10th against the Rockies after encountering some minor problems with his elbow. The injuries do not appear to be anything serious and Hamels is set to be 100% for his first start of the year.

Taking his place on opening day will be starter-turned-closer-turned-starter Brett Myers. Myers had numerous successful starts against the Braves over his MLB career but after the constant role changes of last year, Myers struggled against this team. In 2 starts, Myers gave up 10 runs on 24 base runners while lasting just 8.2 innings combined.

Opposing Myers will be free-agent signee Derek Lowe who came over after spending a few seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Lowe had 3 starts against the Phillies last season and was very successful thanks to his strong sinking fastball that induces groundball outs. The Phillies love to slug home runs and Lowe is one of the best in the majors at making sure the ball stays in the park. Over 16.2 innings last season, Lowe allowed just 20 base runners and 7 earned runs although the Phillies did manage to take 2 of the 3 meetings.

These teams are fairly injury-free although the Braves are without star pitcher Tim Hudson until August or September (Tommy John surgery) and the Phillies are going to have to wait till June 1st to get relief pitcher J.C. Romero back from a 50-game suspension after testing positive for steroids.

Check out our sports betting forums for an active debate on the opening day game.

No matter who wins this game, it’s good to have MLB baseball back in action and the season should be a fun one for those betting on the games or simply watching at home.< >< ><–>

Related posts:

  1. MLB Betting Free Picks: Atlanta @ Philadelphia
  2. Phillies Rockies Preview
  3. MLB Betting Free Picks: Philadelphia @ Atlanta
  4. MLB Betting Free Picks: Philadelphia @ Atlanta
  5. MLB Betting Free Picks: Atlanta @ Florida

Tagged with: • • • • • • • • • • •

Filed under: Baseball Articles