MLB Baseball Betting Picks: Toronto Blue Jays at Miami Marlins

Added on Jun 22, 2012 by Jack Thurman in

MLB

The final weekend of Interleague play for the year is upon us after which we’ll return to standard AL/NL matchups for the rest of the season. At the top of the Interleague card is a matchup between Toronto and Miami, a pair of teams fighting to avoid the cellar in their respective divisions. Toronto is in last place in the AL East while Miami is 1/2 game out of last place in the NL East.

Toronto Blue Jays at Miami Marlins
June 23, 2012 10:10 AM PDT

The Blue Jays are a slightly above average team in a very tough division. They’re 36-34 on the year but all two games over .500 games gets you in the AL East is a position in last place looking up at the Yankees, Orioles, Rays and Red Sox. The Marlins, meanwhile, are a bad team in a fairly average division. The Marlins are more than just a bad team–they’re awful and have been in miserable form during the month of June. They’ve lost 10 of their last 12 and 4 of their last 19. They’ve been especially horrid in Interleague play going 4-12 against the American League this season.

The Marlins will start Josh Johnson who has underachieved somewhat this season but has looked good in his recent assignments. Johnson has allowed only 5 ER in his last three starts for a 2.18 ERA in that stretch but the Marlins have lost 2 of those three games. Toronto will start Brett Cecil who pitched well in his first start of the season, a victory in which he allowed only 2 ER in 5 innings of work.

Miami has been a big money loser at home–they’ve gone 17-19 for a net loss of -8.4 units. Toronto may not be a great team and Cecil may not be a great pitcher but at this point the Marlins are strictly a ‘go against’ team at this point. Johnson is their best pitcher, but the team’s problems go way beyond the starting rotation. For that reason you just can’t make a case for laying the price with a struggling Miami team. Much rather take the AL representative who has enough talent to string some wins together and get back into the competitive mix in the toughest division in baseball.

Bet Toronto Blue Jays (Cecil) +150 over Miami Marlins (Johnson)