MLB Free Pick : Red Sox at Indians 4/4
HRWager opens up our work week with our MLB Free Pick for April 4th. Here we are focusing on the season opener which has the Boston Red Sox traveling to Cleveland to take on the Indians. Boston has spent the big bucks to bolster their ranks but it is the Indians that have tongues going in the AL Central. Will this be The Tribe’s year and can they cash for us at 4 PM EST on April 4th?
MLB Free Pick : Before Pitching
In a pitcher dominated league, there is a factor today that comes before David Price (Bos) and Corey Kluber (Cle). The weather is going to fall off the face of the Earth in this one. In the wee hours of the morning, it was id 50’s in Ohio. In a span of six hours, it is supposed to drop 20 degrees. Mid 30’s will greet the players with the first pitch. Not only that but wind gusts accompany this cold in terms of close to 20 mph. This means tough going for hitters as the bats sting the hangs of those frozen baseballs that make contact with it.
Advantage Kluber
So with the cold weather helping pitchers, the stat that we look at today is HR9. This gives the average amount of home runs yielded per nine innings. Kluber is at 0.9 while Price is at 0.6 combined with Detroit and Toronto last year. So Kluber will perform better in these conditions than normal because some of the balls that might escape the park will not do so this afternoon. With that in mind, is it enough to warrant the slight underdog Cleveland team at -102 over the road RedSox near -108 on the 4th?
We like Cleveland in this one but have a stronger play. The total is changing between 6 and 6 1/2 for this one. Right now the under 6 1/2 is at -124. Get this right now before it changes back to an even six. B0th teams have good pitchers going here. Bullpens are above average with the Red Sox sinking major money to upgrade this dimension. Look for a low offensive output in cold conditions. Good fortune and we will see you tomorrow here at the HRW.