MLB Betting Preview: Texas Rangers vs. Detroit Tigers

Starting Pitchers: Texas (Darvish) vs. Detroit (Wilk)

MLB Betting Odds from 5Dimes

Moneyline: Texas (-115) Detroit (+110)

Total: 9

 

It will be a matchup of two of the best teams in the American League Thursday night in Detroit. Yu Darvish will make his third start for the Rangers, while Adam Wilk makes the second start of his career. Texas has the best record in baseball at 10-2. Detroit isn’t far behind with a 9-3 record. These are two of the best lineups in all of baseball, and it will likely take several runs to win this one.

Yu Darvish has probably been the Texas Rangers most inconsistent pitcher so far this season, but that is quite understandable. Darvish has shown he has tremendous stuff in his first two outings, but he hasn’t located it the way he needs to. He has issued eight free passes in just 11 and 1/3 innings of work so far this season.

The Rangers put on an offensive show at Fenway the last couple days. Two days ago the Rangers put up 18 runs. Last night they scored another six runs to help them to a sweep of the Red Sox. There isn’t a team in baseball with a more balanced lineup than the Rangers. Anytime you have guys like Nelson Cruz, Mike Napoli, David Murphy, and Mitch Moreland low in the order you know you have a stacked lineup. Josh Hamilton is hitting .440 with 5 home runs and 12 RBI’s so far in 2012.

The Tigers lineup hasn’t really completely clicked yet, but they are still 9-3. That has to be scary for the rest of the American League. Austin Jackson’s red hot start has helped this offense in a big way so far this year. Jackson slumped through 2011, but he has a .434 on-base-percentage at the top of the order this season. Brennan Boesch is a key player in the two spot of the order, but he hasn’t gotten it going yet. Prince Fielder leads the team with a stellar .356 average. He is fitting in very well with the Tigers.

Detroit has only made two errors in 12 games this year, so the defense has been much better than most expected. Adam Wilk had a little bit of experience in the bullpen last year, but this is his first year as a starter. He’ll get a very tough test in this one.

The under is 8-0-1 in the Tigers last 9 games. The under is 6-1-1 in the Rangers last 8 games. Texas is 62-19 in their last 81 games as the favorite. Detroit is 21-6 in their last 27 home games. Something has to give in this matchup. I think Texas is playing better than anyone right now.

Free MLB Pick: Texas Rangers ML

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Kyle Hunter

is full-timesports writer and sports handicapper. You simply won’t find someone who loves sports more than Kyle. Kyle considers college football and college basketball his two favorite sports. Kyle has earned many accolades for his highly successful handicapping, and he writes full-time for many top sports websites. Keep an eye out for high quality free sports analysis from Kyle!

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