John Bollman's Bet of the Day - 9/21

The Chicago White Sox take on the Cleveland Guardians today in a battle between division rivals. This series will essentially determine the winner of the AL Central with the Guardians up four games in the division before yesterday’s loss. They are now five games up in the division with two games left to play in this series. If the White Sox win this game, they will cut it down to four games and they still have a chance to make the playoffs. In my opinion, if they lose this game, they won’t make the playoffs. This is the White Sox first playoff game this season, and it will probably be their last if they lose. This might be the last time I back the White Sox all season but their only chance to even sniff the playoffs would be to win tonight, and they have their best starter lately pitching.

Lance Lynn is 5-0 with a 1.43 ERA in his last seven starts and he just beat the Guardians last turn around the rotation. He allowed just two earned runs in 6.1 innings pitched against the Guardians six days ago. He also pitched 5.2 innings allowing just one run and six innings allowing just one run in his last three starts against the Guardians. He did have a blowup outing against them earlier this season, but that was before he figured it out and that was the least recent start against them.

Triston McKenzie has been good this season, but he can struggle with walks and home runs. He is 10-11 this season with a 3.08 ERA but he is a bit worse on the road going 5-8 with a 3.18 ERA. Triston McKenzie has pitched well against the White Sox three times this season and he pitched well in all three starts. Most recently, he struck out 14 batters allowing just two runs in seven innings pitched. The Guardians bullpen has also been dominant ranked 2nd in the league in the last 30 days but the White Sox bullpen hasn’t been much worse ranked 10th . The Guardians are 10-7 against the White Sox this season and 4-3 in Chicago, but the White Sox have also won four of the last six between these teams. I think if the White Sox lose today’s game, then they are unofficially eliminated from the playoffs, where if they win tonight and they win tomorrow, they still have hope.

Take the White Sox on the money line.