14th Oct - Blue Jays vs Rangers

It’s crunch time. Only one of the Toronto Blue Jays or Texas Rangers can advance to the American League championship series and we’ll know who it is by the end of tonight. Home field has been unlucky in this series so far, the Rangers stormed to a 2-0 series lead off the back of a pair of wins in Toronto, but the Blue Jays were able to inflict identical damage in Arlington.

After having to battle hard to get back into this series, Toronto left no doubt in Game 4 on Monday night, scoring seven runs through the first three innings, which would be all the run support that pitcher R.A. Dickey needed.

On the mound tonight for Toronto is a man widely expected to miss the whole of the season in Marcus Stroman. He’s done pretty well in Toronto, though he did come out as the losing pitcher in game 2. It’s his responsibility to pitch this club into an ALCS series for the first time since 1993.

Meanwhile, the Blue Jays will hope that their order’s good hitting form carries over back to Toronto after they were limited to seven runs in the opening two games. There was nothing wrong with their order last night and AL MVP favourite Josh Donaldson blasted a home run and picked up another hit, he’s the man that can really make this order tick.

The Rangers enter the game needing to halt current negative momentum somehow. They would’ve returned home full of confidence, but perhaps their pitching staff just got found out as a little bit suspect over the course of four games.

Still, they have probably their most trusted starter on the mound in Cole Hamels. He pitched on Friday, going seven innings and four runs in the game 2 win – Stroman was his opponent on that occasion as well.

Three Reasons for Betting Tips

1. Stroman’s intensity

We find Stroman’s approach to pitching and baseball difficult not to like. He has a focused intensity, thrives off of atmosphere and we expect one of his better outings in a big game on Wednesday.

2. Blue Jays’ hitting

They’ve found a rhythm, they’ve found a level of effectiveness and we do not expect that to be stopped in this game. Hamels had a solid outing last time, but he still gave up six hits and four runs, we don’t see him making it through seven innings again.

3. Series momentum

Maybe the Rangers claw it back here, but we like Toronto’s series momentum, we like how they’ll probably be feeling entering into this match-up and we think it’ll count for a lot.