Skubal, Tigers to start fast vs. White Sox on Opening Day
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Opening Day has finally arrived and all 30 teams will be in action. Let's take a look at a couple of ways to attack a monstrous slate.
Tigers (-175) @ White Sox (+150)
The White Sox look to be in for another miserable season. Their offense was horrendous a year ago, outscoring only the Athletics on a per-game basis. They made no meaningful additions to improve their attack and are starting with an extremely difficult matchup against dark horse Cy Young candidate Tarik Skubal.
Skubal was nothing short of incredible last season, posting a sparkling 2.80 ERA while striking out 102 batters over just 80 innings. His underlying metrics were elite, with Skubal throwing strikes at an extremely high clip while giving up little hard contact.
He should have his way with a bad White Sox offense that struggled immensely versus left-handed pitching. Last season, the team ranked 27th in wOBA against lefties and struck out more than 25% of the time, one of the league's highest rates.
That doesn't set the White Sox up for success against an efficient strikeout pitcher like Skubal.
Garrett Crochet is a very talented kid, but he'll be making his first career start against a Tigers offense featuring a lot of guys who can make life difficult for lefties.
Spencer Torkelson hit for a ton of power against left-handed pitching in 2023, Riley Greene hit .280 versus lefties, and left-handed bats Parker Meadows and Kerry Carpenter are certainly capable of doing damage.
I think the Tigers will get to Crochet as he navigates his first career start - on Opening Day, at that - while Skubal should have very little trouble mowing down White Sox batters.
Look for the Tigers to grind out a lead through five innings.
Bet: Tigers F5 -0.5 (-125)
Christian Walker: Over 1.5 total bases
To say Walker destroys left-handed pitching would be an understatement. Last season, he posted a .314 ISO and .397 xwOBA against lefties and hit 13 homers. Only Francisco Lindor, Mookie Betts, Kyle Schwarber, and Jorge Soler recorded more.
All of the underlying metrics for Walker are insanely good. He posted a barrel rate of 16.2% versus lefties, nearly double the league average. Walker also posted a hard-hit rate 6.8% above average and a fly-ball rate 12% higher.
Walker hit the ball hard and consistently put it in the air. Those things lead to increased extra-base hits, and Walker would only need one on Opening Day to get the job done.
Walker also finds himself in the best Opening Day matchup he could ask for, squaring off against Kyle Freeland and the Rockies.
Freeland allowed a .234 ISO and .383 wOBA versus right-handed bats a year ago, both abysmal numbers.
When Freeland is eventually chased from the game, a Rockies bullpen that never seems to be competent will be in for damage control.
Walker only needs one good swing to go over this number. He should have no problem generating one against a subpar lefty and an exploitable bullpen.
Odds: -110 (playable to -125)
Todd Cordell is a sports betting writer at theScore. You can follow him on X at @ToddCordell.