MLB Pick Of The Day: Red Sox-Astros, Dodgers-Braves

• The Astros beat the Red Sox in Game 1 of the ALCS, but Boston looks to tie the series on Saturday with Nathan Eovaldi on the mound.

• The Astros (-120) are favored in Game 2 over the Red Sox (+100) with the O/U on the total set at 8.5 runs, and the BetQL Model sees ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ value on under 8.5.

• Meanwhile, NLCS Game 1 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves begins Saturday at 8:07 p.m. EST at Truist Park in Atlanta. 

The Boston Red Sox fell to the Houston Astros, 5-4, in Game 1 of the ALCS on Friday night. 

It was a blow to the Red Sox momentum but was not entirely unexpected. Chris Sale only lasted 2.2 innings as the Red Sox starter in what was supposed to be a bounce-back outing for him. However, Framber Valdez wasn’t much better as the Astros starter, lasting only 2.2 innings himself. 

Tough Loss For The Red Sox

For a good portion of this game, it looked like the Red Sox were actually going to pull it off. As they say, they had me in the first half. I even had to keep saying to myself, “The Red Sox are beating the Astros” to let it sink in. 

However, the once-dominant Sale was disappointing as the starter and did not perform as Alex Cora had hoped when he made the risky move of naming Sale the starter. 

The offenses on both the Astros and Red Sox did not disappoint, however. The Red Sox got to Valdez early, which looked promising for them. But the Astros’ bats were as-advertised. Jose Altuve and Alex Correa were as scary as I expected them to be going into this game and both homered.  

But Boston really did stay on pace with the Houston team more than I, and many, expected them to in this first game. The score, of course, being a close 5-4, but also the Red Sox had 10 hits to the Astros’ 11 and each team used eight pitchers to get through this one. 

Starting off this ALCS with a win would have been ideal for the Red Sox, of course, but this just sets it up for an exciting comeback win in this series. The Red Sox are going to win the World Series, after all. 

Astros Favored In ALCS Game 2

Game 2 of this ALCS will go down on Saturday at 4:20 p.m. EST at Minute Maid Park in Houston. 

Nathan Eovaldi will be on the mound for the Red Sox, with Luis Garcia getting the start for the Astros. 

The Astros (-120) are favored over the Red Sox (+100), and the O/U on this total is set at 8.5 runs. The BetQL Model has major 5-star value on the under on that total. 

The Red Sox have only hit the over 47.5 percent of the time this year, while the Astros have hit it 56 percent of the time. The Red Sox have an O/U record of 77-85-5, while the Astros O/U record is 89-70-7. As the away team, the Red Sox are 34-36 on the O/U this year and the Astros as the home team are 47-28 on the O/U. 

The BetQL Model is 19-10-1 (65.52%) on all bets on Luis Garcia starts. Join BetQL and see all of the Model's best bets for the MLB playoffs and more!

 Dodgers vs. Braves NLCS Game 1

The Model has other intriguing plays in the Red Sox-Astros game, as well as betting info and star value bets for NLCS Game 1 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves. Braves-Dodgers starts Saturday at 8:07 p.m. EST at Truist Park in Atlanta. 

The Dodgers (-135) are favored over the Braves (+115) with the O/U on the total set at 8 runs. Max Fried will start for Atlanta, while the Dodgers are considering starting Max Scherzer, who closed out Thursday's Game 5 NLDS victory over the Giants.

As the away team this season, the Dodgers are 35-37 ATS and 33-34 on the O/U, while the Braves as the home team are 22-47 ATS and 38-24 on the O/U. 

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