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The Atlanta Braves take on the Colorado Rockies. Check out our MLB odds series for our Braves Rockies prediction and pick.
Spencer Strider gets the ball for the Braves, while Kyle Freeland takes the mound for the Rockies.
Spencer Strider has pitched fewer than 17 innings for the Braves this season. He was a reliever but is now being moved into the starting rotation for the defending World Series champions. He pitched 4 1/3 innings on May 30 against the Diamondbacks, giving up five runs, three of them earned. Strider has big-time heat on his fastball. That is his best pitch, and he loads up on them. The main problem with Strider is that he needs to develop a formidable secondary out pitch, either a slider or change-up, that he can use in tandem with the heater to get hitters off balance. Another concern is that if he throws too many fastballs, he will throw one which doesn't have a lot of late movement, and that will be a cookie for hitters to mash. Strider is a promising prospect and a very interesting part of any attempt to make a Braves Rockies prediction based on the current MLB odds.
Kyle Freeland has a 4.96 ERA. He has simply been wildly inconsistent in his 10 starts this year. In five of the 10 starts, he has pitched 28 1/3 innings and given up just seven runs. In his other five starts, he has pitched 24 1/3 innings and given up 27 runs. Those are two dramatically different collections of results. The Rockies do not know what they are going to get when they send Freeland to the mound. That's one of many reasons Colorado has had a difficult start to its 2022 season. This is also a reason to distrust the home team in Denver when you make a Braves Rockies pick.
Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the Braves-Rockies MLB odds.
MLB Odds: Braves-Rockies Odds
Atlanta Braves: -1.5 (-120)
Colorado Rockies: +1.5 (+100)
Over: 11.5 (-112)
Under: 11.5 (-108)
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Why The Braves Could Cover the Spread
The Braves have done well in Colorado, winning the first two games of this series. This has been a profoundly underachieving team through the first two months of the season, but as everyone knows, the Braves are capable of catching fire at any moment, much as they did last August and September en route to their World Series championship. This team has a lot of heavy lumber in its batting order and crushed the Rockies on Thursday. After getting shut out through nine innings on Friday, the Braves ought to be able to score big in this game against Freeland, a struggling pitcher who is not dependable right now.
Why The Rockies Could Cover the Spread
After getting shut out in nine innings on Friday, the Rockies have to be frustrated. They could take out their frustrations on Spencer Strider, a young pitcher with potential but someone who has a lot to learn about how to work in the big leagues. Colorado hitters will sit on fastballs, and if they connect, they should hit several home runs in the launching pad known as Coors Field. This is a great bounce-back spot to pick Colorado, which is bound to play well at some point.
Final Braves-Rockies Prediction & Pick
If you don't trust either team, which makes complete sense, take the over. Friday night was just the second game out of 2,158 played at Coors Field in which both teams did not score a run in nine innings. One feels the pendulum is going to swing dramatically in the other direction here. Take the over.
Final Braves-Rockies Prediction & Pick: Over 11.5
