3 Ways To Bet Blue Jays Vs. Angels – Thurs., Sept 15

The Blue Jays hope a change in scenery will change their recent fortunes as they begin a west coast road trip tonight against the Angels in Anaheim.

Toronto lost 8-1 yesterday at home to Tampa Bay and is now 3-9 in September. The slump has knocked the Jays out of first place in the AL East, and they now have a tenuous hold on the second wild card spot in the American League. Detroit is 1 game back, the Mariners are 1.5 out and the Yankees are within 2 games of the Jays, who trail Boston by 2 games in the East.

Think it might help to get Josh Donaldson back in the lineup? The defending AL MVP has missed the Jays’ last 3 games with a hip injury, which comes on the heels of a 0-for-23 skid at the plate.

As of noon eastern on Thursday, we still didn’t know if Donaldson would be back tonight.

Obviously, Donaldson’s status will have a huge impact on the MLB lines tonight. The Jays seem to be currently priced as if he’ll play, as they’re huge -180 road favourites over the Angels. JA Happ will start for Toronto, and the Angels are going with youngster Daniel Wright.

Here are 3 bets you might want to look at when doing your Blue Jays betting tonight.

1. Blue Jays -0.5 1st 5 innings


The way things are going for the Jays lately, we don’t want to have to risk $180 to win $100 on them to win the game.

A way to reduce your risk is by taking the Blue Jays on the First 5 handicap. They’ll need to be winning after 5 innings for you to cash your bet (a tie will lose), but you can make this bet at -120 odds at Pinnacle.

The First 5 innings will basically be determined by how the starting pitchers do, and Happ is clearly the superior hurler. He’s 18-4 on the year with a 3.33 ERA and 1.17 WHIP, while Wright is 0-1, 6.75 and 1.65.

2. Over 8.5

For whatever reason, Happ has always had trouble with the Angels. He’s 0-5 with a 7.83 ERA against them in his career, including losses in each of the past two seasons.

Wright is making his fourth career start tonight. In his brief major league career, he’s allowing 2 home runs per 9 innings pitched and striking out less than a batter every 2 innings.

The Jays’ offence is cold, but you can’t keep this group down forever and Wright is the perfect candidate to break out against.

3. Blue Jays to win the series

jays-series-price

The Jays’ starting pitchers in the first 3 games of this series are Happ, R.A. Dickey and Francisco Liriano.

That’s not exactly the cream of the rotation crop, but it’s better than what the Angels are serving up. After Wright tonight, LAA will start Jered Weaver (5.25 ERA) and Ricky Nolasco (1-6 in 8 games with the Angels).

Once the Jays get 1 win, they’ll probably start playing looser and back up to their potential. And it doesn’t hurt that they’ve won 4 of their last 5 games in Anaheim.