12th Oct - Rangers vs Jays

R.A. Dickey prepares to make the postseason start of his carer at 40 years old, it could hardly come in tougher circumstances. He prepares to start at Globe Life Park in Arlington trying to keep the Toronto Blue Jays in their divisional round playoff series against the Texas Rangers.

The Blue Jays put themselves in a hole by losing their first two games at home against the Rangers. Marco Estrada pitched well and they got enough hitting on Sunday to win 5-1, but forcing a decider, with David Price pitching, will still take another big effort from this line-up.

The question when Dickey is on the mound is always whether there’ll be enough movement on the knuckleball. There should be at least some in Texas, and that could make the veteran a tricky opponent for a Rangers’ hitting line-up still waiting on whether third baseman Adrian Beltre will be available or not.

On the opposing mound, Derek Holland has extensive postseason experience, but didn’t finish the season strongly going 1-2 in his last three starts with a 7.62 ERA. He’s also got to pitch against some tough hitters. Josh Donaldson and Edwin Encarnacion have gone deep four times between them in their careers against Holland.

Three Reasons for Betting Tips

1. Veterans pitch well

It might be Dickey’s first postseason game, but he’s an experienced pitcher and we think that in an elimination game, neither ball club is going to let this game get out of hand. The Game Total is high and we think it’ll stay tight just as it was last night.

2. Toronto bats not swinging so well

There hasn’t been so much evidence of the high-flying Blue Jays offense in this series so far. Donaldson, Encarnacion and Jose Bautista aren’t quite swinging the bat as ferociously as they were at the end of the regular season, meanwhile key back-up hitters Ben Revere, Russell Martin and Troy Tulowitzki haven’t made much impact.

3. Oddsmakers unsure on this match-up

We think we’ve caught the oddsmakers in a little bit of a spot in this series. The statistics say that this should be high-scoring, but the evidence from the series suggests otherwise. We’ll back the rhythm of the series right now.