Sometimes you have to play psychologist a little bit to try and get into the mind of these teams, and we're going to attempt to accomplish that today. This looks like a spot for Atlanta to take a deep breath and take their foot off the gas a little bit. The Braves have cut the Mets' lead in the NL East in half over the last week. They can afford a breather without feeling like they're climbing out of a 10-game hole, which is what they were previously facing a couple weeks ago. They already won two of the first three games in this series, and they have the Dodgers on deck. We're thinking this could be a spot for them to exhale and get ready for the weekend
Ten of San Francisco's last 11 games have been decided by one or two runs. They have been playing a lot of tight baseball games, and the Giants' bullpen is starting to show some cracks. San Francisco has lost three of its last four games by one run. They return home to begin a series with Cincinnati tomorrow. Gabe Kapler is not going to be a happy camper on a cross-country flight if the Giants drop another close game this afternoon.
Last night we targeted Triston McKenzie because of the easy schedule he faced heading into his matchup with Minnesota. McKenzie hadn't faced a decent team in a month, and Minnesota jumped all over him last night. Kyle Wright fits the same profile. His early-season schedule was tough, there's no doubt about that. But his last four starts have come against four of the worst teams in baseball. He's faced one team with a winning record in the last six weeks.
In our opinion, there's very little separating today's starting pitcher matchup. With the way things have gone in this series, you can give the nod to Atlanta in the bullpen, but enough to make them a -150 favorite? That's too far. We're getting some generous value on the Giants. For the purpose of grading here, we're going to put in the full-game moneyline on the Giants, which is widely available at +140. We wouldn't fault anyone for splitting their wager between the full game and first five innings.