Major League Baseball’s Opening Day. It is finally upon us, the day all of you have been waiting for. The grass is cut perfectly, the weather is as nice as it will be until October. The uniforms are hung in the locker rooms, there is nothing else to do except, PLAY BALL!
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!It's officially Opening Day.
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) March 30, 2023
The Arizona Diamondbacks open a tough 10 game stretch to start the season tonight in Los Angeles taking on the might, might Dodgers.
Zac Gallen will take the bump for the D-Backs while Julio Urias will have his first opening day start of his career for the Dodgers.
Opening Day Rule Changes
Tonight will be the beginning of a new era, this is the first Opening Day in MLB’s history that has a clock. A pitch clock along with other rule changes will be in effect for the first time in history.
Bigger bases are another new thing to baseball, shortening the base path by 3 inches. This is the big one for me, the pitch clock is one that I believe once adjusted too will be second nature.
It will give the game a robotic, almost non-human feel to it. Yet, players will adjust. The bases being bigger however gives the runner an advantage he has never had.
Bang, Bang plays at first will be more routinely safe now. Grounders to 3rd and choppers to second have a new chance of becoming a base hit to before.
All of the times a player was out by the hair on his chin, now will be safe. This changes the game extremely, giving offense the upper hand for the first time in baseball history.
Diamondbacks/Dodgers Odds
Opening Day odds are the only odds you kind of have to bet in the dark. There is no last 7 games stats for the season or any of those metrics. This is cold hard “what do you think” type of betting.
The Run Line is set at +133 for the Dodgers -1.5, and -159 for the D-Backs +1.5. This tells me book makers expect this game to go into the 8th inning with either team having a legit winning.
The over/under is set at 7.5 juiced heavily to the under, the under -124 while the over is +104. Rarely do you see plus money on an over, the books are scared to death of the under hitting right now.
Dodgers are favorites on the moneyline at -177 while you can get the Diamondbacks at +150. Last season the D-Backs would have been +225 coming into this game, truly shows how much they have improved this off season.
Props Here…
Get your flaming hot props here. Okay, I am not a peanut guy in the stands trying to sell you props, but let’s take a quick look at what available in the market.
The strikeout props on these two starters are as follows. Zac Gallen to throw 4.5 strikeouts, over -162, under +123. While Julio Urias’ number is set at 5.5, -137 for the over and +104 on the under.
This is a tough one, I would lean under on both because of Opening Day jitters and the pitch clock being brand new. Also both of these offense’s could catch fire and knock a starter out of the game pretty early.
My favorite props to look at for batter are the total bases prop. It is always at 1.5 over/under, meaning you are betting for that player to get at least two bases. Two singles or a double or better gets you a win on the over. Total Bases are only counted on the hit.
The three players that I am on tonight are Jake McCarthy at +210, Corbin Carroll at +170, and Freddie Freeman at +118.
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Rowan Donaghey is a Sports and Betting insider, and breaking news reporter for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on twitter via @RowanDonaghey
