The MLB playoff slate Wednesday includes a loaded four game schedule. All eight teams in the divisional round of the playoffs are taking the diamond, but each series could come to an end.
- Seattle Mariners vs. Detroit Tigers, 3 p.m. ET (Mariners up 2-1)
- Milwaukee Brewers vs. Chicago Cubs, 5 p.m. ET (Brewers up 2-0)
- Toronto Blue Jays vs. New York Yankees, 7 p.m. ET (Blue Jays up 2-1)
- Philadelphia Phillies vs. Los Angeles Dodgers, 9 p.m. ET (Dodgers up 2-0)
The Dodgers are the only team of the four that have a chance to close out the series at home tonight, as the remaining teams with two wins are all playing on the road. Below, we explain our favorite MLB picks of the day.
Jorge Polanco 2+ Bases (+140) Fanatics
This is another situation with Jorge Polanco where a home run sprinkle is also a good look, but we'll play it safer with the bases prop that we can still get for plus-money. There are a lot of factors in favor of Polanco in this game tonight, starting with the fact that he has dominated this starting pitching matchup in the past against the Tigers starter Casey Mize.
While Mize is only expected to throw about three innings in this one, Polanco could easily go yard or at least double in that one at-bat, and then he will be facing a Tigers bullpen that just pitched 5.2 innings yesterday and gave up three earned runs. Polanco has seen Mize 16 times in his career, and in those 16 ABs he has two home runs, two double and two singles. He is batting .375 with a .500 ISO rate and .880 slugging.
Polanco has also been hitting well in this series. Through three games, he leads the Mariners in both barrels (three) and total HardHits (six). He hit two home runs in Game 2 of this series, and followed that up yesterday with two more HardHits, including the hardest hit of the game at 108.2 mph exit velocity. He has a good day at the plate today.
Under 7 Runs in Brewers-Cubs (-125) BetMGM
This is a low total, especially against a Brewers team that has scored nine and seven runs through Games 1 & 2 of this series, but the under is the way to go here. What it really comes down to in this situation, is the weather in Chicago for this game. No stadium in the MLB is more receptive to wind, both in a positive and negative way, than Wrigley Field. It can go from the best venue for home runs, and runs in general, if wind is blowing out to among the worst if wind is blowing in.
So, with that thought in mind, there are double-digit winds blowing in directly from center field for the game tonight, which is going to limit the carry of anything hit in the air. Overall, this game has a -29.5% home run index strictly from a weather perspective, and a -13% run index in general. Not only that, but these are two well-rested bullpens as well.
This series has had a day off in-between each game, with the Brewers and Cubs having days off on Sunday and Tuesday. So, that means that both teams are going to have full, rested bullpens that they can strategically use to get out of jams and not have to lean on the starter.
Both starting pitchers were decent in the regular season this year in Jameson Taillon for the Cubs and Quinn Priester for the Brewers. Especially Taillon, who is coming off four shutout innings against the Padres in the Wild Card round. Try making this pick with an MLB betting bonus on BetMGM Sportsbook.
Cam Schlittler 6+ Strikeouts (+135) Fanatics
We are buying the hype with this one, as Cam Schlittler is coming off an electric playoff start against the Red Sox in which he pitched eight innings in an elimination playoff game, did not give up a single run and struck out 12 batters. It was an incredibly impressive start, and that makes it nine out of his last 10 starts in which he has struck out at least six batters.
Granted, he has not fared well in his two starts against the Blue Jays, the guess here is that he is going to be able to keep up the momentum from that last playoff start, once again pitching in the comforts of Yankee Stadium. Despite being a rookie, Schlittler has had fantastic strikeout stuff all year.
He started 14 games and threw 73 innings, ending the season with a K/9 of 10.36 and a strikeout rate of 27.6%. For context, that would be the 11th-best K rate and the 7th-best K/9 in the entire MLB (tied with Paul Skenes in K/9), which is pretty good company. Lastly, the Yankees are going to need Schlittler to pitch deep into this game, as they used all their best bullpen arms yesterday for over an inning.
So, even though the Blue Jays do not strike out a lot as a team, the guess here is that Schlittler is able to go 6-7 innings tonight, striking out at least one batter per inning.
Dodgers -1.5 (+120) BetMGM
The Dodgers are up 2-0 and now heading home, with every advantage in the world to close this series out tonight. They have Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the mound, who was fantastic this regular season with a 2.49 ERA, 2.94 FIP and 2.50 SIERA, three fantastic numbers. The Phillies have not been able to hit at all this series, going scoreless in 16 of 18 total innings. They managed three in Game 1 in one, uncharacteristic, inning from Dodgers starting pitcher Shohei Ohtani, who them proceeded to record over 15 straight outs after that.
Technically, the Phillies did manage to "cover" this run line in Game 2, but that was a game in which the Dodgers were up 4-0 heading into the ninth inning, before using one of their unreliable bullpen arms who came in and gave up three runs. That was the second of two innings in which the Phillies managed to put one across the plate, and the guess here is that the Dodgers will not make that mistake again in Game 2, unless they have a lead bigger than four runs.
On the other side of the mound, Aaron Nola is starting for the Phillies with the expectation that he will go 2-3 innings before Ranger Suarez takes over after that. The issue, however, is that Nola has been dreadful this entire regular season. He ended the year with a 6.01 ERA, in what was a lost season overall for Nola.
This is also an unreliable Phillies bullpen that has allowed runs in both Games 1 & 2, so even if they manage to get a lead in this game it is unlikely that they will be able to keep it.