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The Sunday baseball card often seems packed. All teams play almost every Sunday, so you have many games to choose from. As a sports bettor, that’s good because you have opportunities for the books to make mistakes. However, it will also take you longer to evaluate each game. Let me do the work for you and give you a risky but fun look at a game between the Braves and the Rockies.
The Braves come into the game with a solid record for the year and the start everyone was hoping to have after last season’s difficult season. It’s amazing what can happen when you don’t have constant injuries on your team. To be fair, there are still some missing pieces, but Atlanta has been able to work around them better than last year. It’s only early May and the NL East seems theirs to lose.
Atlanta Braves pitcher Spencer Strider throws a pitch in the first inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Atlanta on April 5, 2024. (John Bazemore/AP)
To make matters worse for the teams chasing them, they are sending a great starter to the mound in Spencer Strider. This will be Strider’s season debut and I have to expect the Braves to be quite cautious with him. Last season, he made 23 starts and racked up 125.1 innings during the season. He didn’t have a great year, going 7-14 with a 4.45 ERA and 1.40 WHIP. The good news for him is that he will be able to return against a soft-hitting Rockies team. However, they are 8-for-32 overall against him, but only have two RBIs and 14 strikeouts.
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Most analysts expected the Colorado Rockies to be the worst team in baseball. That hasn’t proven to be the case, as they seem to have a bit of a fight this year. Before we start printing playoff tickets, the team is still under .500 and has no smell of the postseason. However, for a team that won 43 games last year and didn’t have 15 wins until June 16, they’re at least ahead of that pace.
Colorado Rockies pitcher Kyle Freeland throws a pitch in the first inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Coors Field. (Ron Chenoy/Image Images)
There are several reasons why the team is performing better: pride, better hitting and better pitching, etc. For me, one guy specifically stands out who has had a good start to the season, and that’s today’s starter, Kyle Freeland. For the year, Freeland is 1-2 with a 3.48 ERA and 1.11 WHIP. I’ve been a Freeland fan for many years and I think he’s gotten a little buried with the Rockies. He was never likely to be an Ace with a club, but he probably could have been a reliable arm and even a postseason starter. He only has one start at home this year, but it was a very good one, going 6.1 innings and allowing just one run on three hits.
The bad news for the Rockies and Freeland is that the club has reveled in his pitching over the years. Collectively, the Braves are 45-for-137 against him, leading to a .328 average. Ozzie Albies is the guy I’m locked in for 3+ total bases and he can even hit 4+ and 5+ as he’s hitting 11 for 24 with four extra base hits against Freeland.
Ozzie Albies and Eli White of the Atlanta Braves celebrate after scoring on Matt Olson’s double during the second inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Los Angeles on April 2, 2025. (Kevork Djansezian/AP)
Another one worth playing is Mauricio Dubón, who is 7-for-19 with four extra-base hits against Freeland. Albies will be an official play, but I’ll do a Same Game Parlay for a little fun on Sunday with 2+ total bases from Albies (3+), Dubon, Mike Yastrzemski and Austin Rile. That is paid at 12:1.
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