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+145+140  +145

Posted at 9:15 AM EST and odds are subject to change.

L.A. Angels +145 over Toronto

3:07 PM EST. Pregame ceremonies are nice. They bring back great memories and honor the players that made it happen. However, don’t think for a second that most of them are just cash grabs and the current players on the team that’s holding said ceremony couldn’t give a rat’s ass. Today at the Rogers Center, fans are “encouraged” to arrive early, as the Blue Jays honor the 1992 team that won the World Series. There is a jacket giveaway to the first 15,000 fans that arrive early so one can expect at least 15,000 early fans and another 5 to 10 thousand fans to “just miss the cut”. That leaves roughly 25K fans overpaying for everything from beer to hot dogs just to get a $5 jacket and to see their old heroes. It’s a marketing ploy and has nothing to do with giving the fans anything. In any case, Blue Jays’ players will be standing around watching guys like Dave Stieb, Joe Carter, John Olerud, et all getting one standing ovation after another. Very touching.

Toronto will play to a full house today after losing the opener last night 12-0. That was a long game and the start of this one calls for the Blue Jays to be on the field about 90 minutes prior to the first pitch. It’s a long process from being down 5-0 in the first inning last night to the start of this game. To make matters worse for Toronto, they’ll face one Shohei Ohtani (RHP - LAA) who just happens to be one of the most skilled starting pitchers in the game. In fact, since July 1, Ohtani has been the most skilled starter and it’s not even close: 43% K%, 6% BB%, 37% K-BB%, 2.01 xERA. No starters generated more whiffs than Ohtani did (19.5% swing and miss rate) and he didn't do it by relying on hitters to chase (32% Ball%).

We understand that the Jays are the superior team. We also understand that Alek Manoah (RHP - LAA) is one of Toronto’s two aces but Manoah has ridden a 27% hit rate and 79% strand rate more than electric skills to get his sub-3.00 ERA. Dude is good but Ohtani and the underachieving Angels must be played at this price in this advantageous situation.