The two tightest divisions in baseball are the AL East and the AL West, where just 1/2 a game separates 1st and 2nd place. Seattle is in one of those dogfights heading into the August 13th Mariners at Tigers betting matchup, as they try to overtake the Astros for the top spot in the West and run their winning streak to five games as the series at Comerica Park gets underway.
Seattle is coming off a sweep of the Mets, but they did lose two of three to Detroit at home last week. The Tigers (56-63) look for similar success when the teams meet in Motown for a three game set starting Tuesday night. The Tigers had a fairly successful 3-2 trip to San Francisco and Seattle, and are now somewhat surprising -120 favorites back at home where they are just 26-31 on the year. 64% of the betting public still like Detroit on their own turf.
Why the Mariners Have Value on Tuesday
Seattle may have lost the first two games in their series against Detroit last week, but they’ve bounced back with a vengeance. The Mariners not only avoided the sweep in a 4-3 win over the Tigers last Thursday, they overtly dominated the Mets over the weekend winning three games by a combined 22-1 tally.
Obviously Mariners pitching has been dominant on both ends in allowing just a single run to the Mets over a three game series this weekend. It’s up to George Kirby (8-8, 3.13 ERA) to continue that trend on Tuesday night which he can do with the 12th best ERA in the league. Kirby had a 2.21 ERA through six July starts but got tagged for 3 ER (2HR) against the Tigers last Wednesday in a 6-2 loss.
Not only was the Seattle pitching unhittable over the weekend, their bats were on fire as well especially in the 12-1 win on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball. Cal Raleigh had 2 HRs in that game and Jorge Polanco was 3-4 with a 2B and a HR.
Why the Tigers Have Value on Tuesday
Sure the Mariners looked good scoring a dozen runs in front of a national TV audience on Sunday night, but it’s important to remember that this is still the #27 scoring offense in baseball (4.01 runs/game) with the worst team batting average in MLB (.218). Seattle’s .674 OPS is the third lowest in all of the major leagues so it doesn’t take many runs to get a win over this squad.
Of course the reason Seattle is in the hunt for a division title is because they also have the #1 pitching staff in the league with a 3.42 team ERA, a 1.09 WHIP, and 73 quality starts. The Detroit offense got to Kirby last week though, with Wenceel Perez and Jake Rogers hitting HRs in the 6-2 win. Kirby is usually sharper at home (2.74) compared to on the road (3.46) so it will be interesting to see what the Detroit offense has in store here.
Aside from last week’s series win in Seattle, the major reason the Tigers are a -120 favorite on Tuesday is because Tarik Skubal (13-4, 2.57 ERA) is up in the rotation. The league’s ERA leader threw 7.0 IP of 3 hit ball in Seattle last Wednesday and is 7-1 with a 2.41 ERA back at home.
Free August 13th Mariners at Tigers Betting Pick
Each club had Monday off so their bullpens are refreshed. The thing is you might not need them with Skubal – the league’s ERA leader – facing Kirby who is part of the #1 pitching staff in baseball. It’s boring and it’s obvious, but this is going to be a low scoring game.
Free Pick: Under 7
