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Major League Baseball is back tonight! The abbreviated 2020 season gets underway with Opening Day tonight for four teams and then Opening Day for the rest of the league on Friday.
We get a doubleheader on Thursday evening with the defending champion Washington Nationals hosting the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers hosting the San Francisco Giants in an NL West tilt. First pitch for Yankees-Nationals is set for 7:08 p.m. ET and first pitch for Giants-Dodgers is set for 10:08 p.m. ET. ESPN will air both games.
Baseball is coming back from a length pandemic delay and then a shortened summer camp to get ready for a now abbreviated season. Picking winners and losers is not going to be simple. Even the worst teams can get hot once and a while and a shortened schedule means there will be a ton of variance.
Until we see how everything shakes out, it’s not all that surprising to see the betting public heavily back the favorites on Opening Day. DraftKings Sportsbook provided a look at betting splits for both games, and it’s entirely one-sided betting for run line and money line. 91 percent of handle is on the Yankees covering -1.5 and 79 percent of handle is on a simple Yankees win. In the late game, 98 percent of the handle is on the Dodgers covering -1.5 on the run line and 67 percent of the handle is on the Dodgers winning outright.
Bettors also anticipate some scoring in both games. The run total is installed at 7.5. We’ve got 56 percent of handle in Yankees-Nationals and 83 percent of handle in Giants-Dodgers on the over. Although Thursday gives us Gerrit Cole vs. Max Scherzer and Johnny Cueto vs. Clayton Kershaw, none of the four is expected to go too deep in the game. This is where the abbreviated summer camp will factor in.
July 23rd MLB odds, splits
| Teams | Run Line | % Handle | % Bets | Total | % Handle | % Bets | ML Odds | % Handle | % Bets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teams | Run Line | % Handle | % Bets | Total | % Handle | % Bets | ML Odds | % Handle | % Bets |
| New York Yankees | -1.5 (+125) | 91% | 85% | O 7.5 | 56% | 58% | -141 | 79% | 79% |
| Washington Nationals | +1.5 (-148) | 9% | 15% | U 7.5 | 44% | 42% | +123 | 21% | 21% |
| San Francisco Giants | +1.5 (+108) | 2% | 5% | O 7.5 (-117) | 83% | 71% | +250 | 33% | 15% |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | -1.5 (-130) | 98% | 95% | U 7.5 (-105) | 17% | 29% | -295 | 67% | 85% |
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