Don't Expect A Lot of Strikeouts from Clayton Kershaw Against Astros
The game of the night in Major League Baseball is the interleague showdown between Clayton Kershaw and the Los Angeles Dodgers and Zack Greinke and the Houston Astros.
WynnBET currently has the Dodgers set as -130 favorites with the Astros set as +104 home underdogs. The total is set at 8.5.
What's even more interesting than the moneyline odds and the total, is Clayton Kershaw’s strikeout player prop. WynnBET currently has Kershaw’s strikeout total set at 5.5 with the over (-120) slightly favored to the under (-110).
While that may seem like a low number for the three time Cy Young winner, don’t be so quick to take the over.
The Astros have been on another planet this season in terms of not striking out. They lead all of Major League Baseball with a strikeout percentage of just 17.9%. The next closest team in this stat is the San Diego Padres at 21%. That means the Astros strikeout 3.1% fewer times than the next best team.
The Astros also lead the majors in fewest strikeouts per game at 6.91, averaging more than one strikeout fewer than the Padres at 7.96.
Here's a thing I'll tweet and then probably just turn the notifications off because .. come on, Twitter, be cool.
— Mike Petriello (@mike_petriello) May 21, 2021
(Houston is doing a great job of not striking out. They were the best in 2020, and 2019, and 2nd best in 2018.) pic.twitter.com/AsjXC2eeVd
Kershaw enters the game having surpassed 5.5 strikeouts in seven of his 10 starts this season, but given how disciplined the Astros are in the batter’s box, this will end up being his fourth game of the season where he will not hit at least six K's.
Kershaw hasn’t pitched into the seventh inning since his April 28th start against the Reds, so if the Astros are able to get to him early, he may be pulled before he gets a chance at hitting the over 5.5 strikeouts.