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The Boston Red Sox will face the Houston Astros in the 2021 ALCS, which will begin in Houston on Friday. The Red Sox defeated the Tampa Bay Rays in their series 3-1 while the Astros defeated the Chicago White Sox 3-1 to advance to the Championship series. The Astros are heading to the ALCS for the fifth straight season, while the Red Sox are back for the second time in the past four seasons. The Red Sox beat the Astros in the 2018 ALCS in five games to advance to the World Series.
Let’s take a look at the initial line on the series and who is favored to win on DraftKings Sportsbook.
Red Sox vs. Astros series odds
BOS: +130
HOU: -155
The Red Sox enter as the underdog in a series again. This may be an oversight. Especially when we don’t know the status of Lance McCullers Jr. Chances are he’ll be fine and pitch some time in the middle of this series.
It’s hard to trust a line like this when the series will likely just be determined by bats. Neither pitching staff sports a true, actual ace pitcher. The best pitchers on both sides are probably Nathan Eovaldi and Framber Valdez at this point. So when it comes down to who can out-slug the other, anything goes really. The Astros have the deeper lineup with a bit more experience having gone to five straight ALCS.
This 2-3-2 format favors the Red Sox, though. Instead of the 2-2-1-1-1 format, which is a bit better for the home team, it’s way easier for Boston to steal home field advantage in the ALCS. This series line should probably be closer than it looks. We’ll likely see a big majority of the splits placing bets and money on the Red Sox to advance to the World Series.
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