Red Sox Odds: How Many Rays Will Brayan Bello Strike Out In MLB Debut?
Bookmakers made 4.5 the magic number
Brayan Bello makes his highly anticipated debut for the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday night and naturally, you can bet on how many batters he’ll punch out.
Bello’s strikeout out prop is set at O/U 4.5 against the Tampa Bay Rays at multiple American sportsbooks, which feels attainable given his mid-to-upper-90s fastball, plus slider and plus changeup. There’s always a chance a rookie gets cracked and exits in the second or third inning, but let’s avoid the negative energy.
Kutter Crawford and Connor Seabold struck out seven batters in their first starts this season and Josh Winckowski whiffed four. By all accounts, Bello’s repertoire is the strongest of all the young Boston arms and it only helps that the Rays have the ninth-most strikeouts in baseball.
I can’t talk myself out of Bello getting at least five punchies in his first MLB start.
“He’s got electric stuff and this is obviously Tampa Bay’s first time seeing him live,” NESN Red Sox analyst Lenny DiNardo told me. “If Bello goes five innings, he’ll have every opportunity to get there.”
Also helping the case is a Tampa Bay team that has baseball’s fifth-highest strikeout rate at 23.6% this season.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox continue to get more expensive to make the MLB postseason. They were +200 ($100 wins $200) with a 10-17 record back on May 6 and they’re now approaching the -300 range ($300 wins $100) in that betting market with a 45-36 record two months later.
Boston’s odds to win the pennant have also shortened from 30-1 to 12-1 over that span. And help is on the way with Nathan Eovaldi, Chris Sale and Michael Wacha all expected to return soon.
“The Red Sox aren’t winning the AL East, but that doesn’t affect the big picture,” one professional bettor told NESN. “They have the arms to compete against the Yankees’ lineup in the postseason. They also have the resources to make a move at the deadline and can hang with anybody in a playoff series.”
As for Wednesday’s game, the move is crystal clear — we’re going “Over” on Bello.
Brayan Bello “Over” 4.5 strikeouts (-105)
RECORD: (118-120, +25.7)
