baseball | Wednesday, May 17, 2023 10:26 AM

Texas Rangers vs Atlanta Braves Bet Builder Tips: 1.87 Wager As Two Elite Teams Meet

Sam Cox

Texas Rangers vs Atlanta Braves Bet Builder: Wednesday, May 17th

Two of the best teams in the Majors meet on Wednesday night for the final contest of their three-game set. The series is 1-1 coming into Wednesday’s matchup, with both teams sending All-Star calibre pitchers to the mound in Spencer Strider and Nathan Eovaldi. Strider leads the Majors in strikeouts, while Eovaldi is enjoying the best year of his career.

Atlanta and Texas rank second and third in the big leagues by wRC+ respectively. The contact numbers back this up – the Braves have the best xwOBA, and Texas places in the top 10. Their bullpens have each been hit-and-miss at times, but neither relief corps should have to do too much work here.

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Texas Rangers vs Atlanta Braves Preview
Texas Rangers vs Atlanta Braves Bet Builder

Texas Rangers vs Atlanta Braves Preview

Thu, May 18. 01:05 (UK time)

Eovaldi has got 23 of 27 possible outs over his last three starts. Strider hasn’t been pitching as deep into games, but he might be able to extend against a Rangers offence which ranks in the bottom 10 in pitches per plate appearance. Atlanta has gone 7-1 in Strider’s starts this season, with their only loss coming in his previous outing when he gave up a lone earned run. Strider struck out 12 Blue Jays in that game, giving him a ridiculous 42.9% strikeout rate for the season.

The Rangers are prone to the K. Just eight teams strikeout more often. Strider has had eight or more strikeouts in every start this season. For this wager, we are staying away from the 9.5 line. The Rangers have struck out nine or fewer times in three of their last six.

While we are expecting strong performances from both starters, neither of these offences will be completely shut down. They are simply too deep. Atlanta should get at least a look at the Rangers bullpen, and the same goes for the Rangers even if Strider is racking up the strikeouts. Both pitch counts could be forced high.

As a result, the alternate total of over 4.5 is a value option. The Braves have gone over this in all but one game this month. The Rangers have seen four or fewer total runs just twice in May.

Texas Rangers vs Atlanta Braves Bet Builder

In a low-scoring game, Braves +2.5 makes sense. Sure, they are on a bit of a slide, and yes, they lost Strider’s previous start by three clear runs, but this offence should at least be able to generate a couple of runs off Eovaldi.

If they do lose another Strider start, it’s not going to be a blowout. We like the National League East leaders to at least keep this game close.