The ever-present possibility of a shocking turn of events is what makes sports in America so great. Unforeseen results draw us toward the games we love, but it’s at least as special when a dreamy matchup like this year’s World Series plays out the way we imagine it.
Down three games to one, the Chicago Cubs refused to cut their precious World Series adventure any shorter than what it could have been. There were enough zeros for our under to come in last night, but one man can be enough to push a total over. Addison Russell put up two crooked numbers early and finished the night with six RBIs. On the bright side, that loss was only a quarter of a unit; and we’ll play one more game of Major League Baseball tonight. I’m willing to bet twice as much that game seven doesn’t go over too.
Free Pick
As they’ve watched their team’s 3-1 lead evaporate, the best thought Indians fans have had to cling to is that Corey Kluber will start game seven, if necessary. Well, it’s necessary now and Kluber is not only pitching for a World Series Title, but also a certain Most Valuable Player Award. He was odds-on to win the series MVP at 10:1 in the open, despite Chicago being the big favorite, because of less inter-squad competition. That reasoning was pretty much spot-on. Cleveland’s pitching starts and ends with Kluber, who has already won the first and middle games of the series. The man’s got a Cy Young on his mantle and has never pitched better than he has in this year’s postseason: 4-1 with a 0.89 ERA in over 30 innings of work. He’s been able to pitch so well on three days of rest throughout because of how economical he’s been with his pitch count and how Terry Francona has managed it. Kluber tossed 81 pitches in game one and 88 in game four; he’s got something left in the tank and will let it all out tonight.
But The Professor, the Majors’ ERA champ, has been almost as good with less of a workload. Kyle Hendricks hasn’t allowed a run in either of his last two starts and, like Kluber, has given up only three runs the entire postseason (20.2 innings). The Tribe did put Hendricks in some jam spots in their 1-0 game three win but he managed to escape with six strikeouts and seven groundballs in 4.1 innings. With John Lackey and Jon Lester available out of the bullpen, Hendricks will be thorough from the outset, emphasizing effectiveness over economy.
In conclusion, I believe we were okay to go under in game six and I like everything about going under 7.5 – which I fully expect to get bet down to 7.0 – tonight. It’s a half unit play, which means we’ll finish this year up either 4.32 or 5.42 units. It’s been really fun everybody; I’ll be back for more next year.
Gut Says: Under 7.5 -120
YTD: 36-26-1 +4.92
2015: 31-25-5 +1.09
2014: 45-28-3 +9.02
chicago cubs • cleveland indians • game 7 • game seven