Friday MLB Best Bet: Red Sox vs. White Sox

Written by Jake Thompson
Friday, 29 July 2011 04:36

We’ll go for 3 in a row with Friday’s MLB best bet between the Red Sox and the White Sox.

The Boston Red Sox (64-39) and the Chicago White Sox (51-52) are set to do battle at 8:10 PM ET in this Friday night game, and the interleague clash has been selected as the best bet of the day.  The Red Sox have won just 3 of their last 16 games against the White Sox, but their 31-20 road record is much stronger than Chicago’s 23-26 mark at home this season.  Online sportsbooks have made this game about even money both ways and our MLB best bet will tell you which team to back with your wager.

Chicago sits just 3.0 games in back of the Detroit Tigers in the American League Central, and the Whtie Sox desperately need a win here because their wild card hopes are not looking good (10.5 games in back of the New York Yankees).  The Red Sox are leading the talented American League East by 2.5 game over the Yankees, with the Philadelphia Phillies being the only MLB team with a better record in either league.

Ageless knuckleballer Tim Wakefield (6-3, 1.36 WHIP, 5.15 ERA) is starting for Boston despite the fact that they have dropped 11 of his last 15 starts against the White Sox.  Chicago is hitting just .229 over their last 10 games but scored 4 earned runs over 6.0 innings against Wakefield earlier in the season.  The veteran right-hander has always had issues with allowing home runs and I believe that the White Sox have the power supply to do some damage.

Chicago is countering with right-hander Gavin Floyd (8-9, 1.20 WHIP, 4.11 ERA), a pitcher that has won 5 of his 6 career starts against the Red Sox.  The problems I see for Floyd are that he had an iffy start against Boston earlier this season and the Red Sox come into this meeting hitting a blistering .337 over their last 10 games.  That being said, Floyd has also dominated the Red Sox over his 4 previous starts and it’s tough to peg just how well he’ll do here.

Although Boston is smashing the cover off of the ball lately, there are reasons to believe that Floyd puts in a good outing.  He pitches very well in Chicago and Boston’s road average is just .250; much lower than their .310 mark at Fenway Park.  Wakefield has a habit of throwing quality innings every once in a while but he’s simply not a trustworthy option at this stage in his career.  I’ll gladly take the home team at even money when they have the better starting pitcher and an offense capable of hurting the opposing starter.

Red Sox 4

White Sox 5