The Boston Red Sox have dipped to 11-games under .500, and they have been a miserable since the return from the All-Star break. In fact, coming into play on Thursday, they are the only team in the bigs not to win a game in the second half.
Now that the Sox are 17.50 units behind for bettors this season, they could be in a lot of trouble against the Detroit Tigers, who are hovering at .500.
PITCHING MATCHUP
The Red Sox have had a nightmarish season with their pitching staff, and now that Clay Buchholz is on the DL, there are even more problems for a team without much in the farm system either.
Though no announcement has been made yet about the rotation for the weekend, all signs point to knuckleballer Steven Wright pitching on Sunday.
Wright is the epitome of a "Quad-A" pitcher, and he is just going to be asked to eat some innings in this one no matter what the cost is to his stats.
For we live bettors, that's music to our ears. Wright has only pitched 82.2 innings in his career in the majors, and he's 30 years old. That's about all you need to know. As soon as the Tigers get a hold of these knuckleballs, you can expect to see a lot of runs on the board.
Shane Greene has been pathetically bad since the middle of May. In that span, he has not lasted beyond five innings, and his ERA is 12.00 in that span.
In Greene's last five starts, he has not gotten out of the second inning without allowing at least one run, and in four of the five, he has allowed at least three runs in that span. Live bettors should know that Greene is capable of giving out a ton of runs in a very short period of time right out of the blocks.
ADVANCED STATS
These last seven days, the Red Sox have been an embarrassment offensively. Literally, they have an ISO of .057, which is a solid .100 off of most other teams in the league. They have just one home run in those span, and they have only scored a total of nine runs in that stretch.
There really isn't all that much of an excuse for Boston's offense either. There isn't a single player of note on the disabled list at the moment, and with six men in this lineup who either were All-Stars once upon a time or have that type of pedigree, you'd figure to be seeing better.
Instead, Boston's lineup is a nightmare at the moment, and trusting this unit in live betting is really tough, even against a slacking starter like Greene.
TALKING BULLPENS
The big problem the Tigers have had this year for our money is their lacking bullpen. Of their 47 losses this year, 12 have been sustained by the bullpen. This pen has a 4.04 ERA and a 4.15 FIP, numbers which are absolutely atrocious by reliever standards.
Joakim Soria is established as the team's closer, but every now and again he has a meltdown of a game.
The moral of the story here for the Red Sox is if their offense can get something going in the early innings against Greene and at least have a shot in the ninth, they are going to be worth a bet against Soria or anyone else who comes out of that sometimes suspect Detroit bullpen.
The MLB lines for this Sunday contest will first be released by BookMaker Sportsbook. Gamble on the game between every half inning with BookMaker's live betting feature. Along with an adjusted in-game moneyline, you can wager on what will happen in the next at-bat or how many runs will be scored in the next inning. Live betting is the most exciting way to play!
Need to fund your account before the big game but don't have your computer? No problem! BookMaker Sportsbook now offers a mobile betting cashier so you can deposit money directly from your smartphone. Don't miss out on getting paid because you couldn't bet. Click here, and deposit at BookMaker now! The ballgame pitting the Detroit Tigers versus the Boston Red Sox will commence Sunday, July 26, 2015 at 8:08 p.m. ET at Fenway Park in Boston, MA. You can watch the contest live on ESPN.
