MLB Over/Under Best Bet: Could be a lot of K’s in McCullers vs. Manaea

The Astros and A’s resume their series Saturday afternoon, and there could be plenty of swings and misses brought on by the starting pitching matchup that may lead us to an under.

Nice win yesterday in Syndergaard vs. Volquez Under 7.5 to pull us back to within one game of the .500 mark, though we’re obviously performing much better than that if you take out the bad beats we’ve encountered thus far. Let’s see what we have for this Saturday.

Zylbert’s 2017 MLB Over/Under Betting Record: 6-7-2, -160

Yesterday’s Result: Syndergaard vs. Volquez Under 7.5 (WIN)

Houston Astros @ Oakland Athletics

Lance McCullers vs Sean Manaea

UNDER 8 (-120) (via OddsShark)

When taking an under bet, you ideally want at least one of the starting pitchers to be entering said assignment in a real nice rhythm, and that will certainly be the case in this particular wager as it pertains to 23-year-old Lance McCullers, who is out to a terrific start in his 2017 campaign.

It’s only been a pair of starts but McCullers has been nothing short of magnificent, posting a 2.77 ERA and 1.00 WHIP to go with a superb 17/2 K/BB ratio across 13 innings of work thus far. This doesn’t appear to be an aberration, considering McCullers registered a 3.22 ERA in each of his first two seasons in the big leagues. He very well might be on his way to a breakout — something he’s hinted at before when he’s been able to stay healthy — so it would be wise to ride him while on his current run.

Manaea has been out to a mostly opposite beginning in his first full year as a major leaguer, but the left-hander is better than his stats might suggest. After all, while he currently owns a 7.15 ERA for his troubles, he’s also managed to put up an impressive 1.06 WHIP and .190 batting average against (!), while recording 14 punch-outs over 11 innings, including a 10-strikeout effort his last time out in Arlington, which is no easy feat.

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The 6-foot-5 hurler was one of my top sleeper picks coming into the season, and thus, I expect him to fully turn it around much sooner than later. This is someone who is going to settle in as an upper-rotation guy for years to come, which can also be said of his counterpart this afternoon, and both will showcase exactly why that is so, hopefully en route to delivering this under.

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