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Sunday’s baseball card often looks packed. All the teams play almost every Sunday, so you have a lot of games to choose from. As a sports bettor, that’s a good thing because you have a chance for the books to make mistakes. However, it takes a long time to test each game. Let me do the work for you and give you a dangerous, but fun, look at the game between the Braves and the Rockies.
The Braves come into this game with a strong record on the year, which is the start that everyone was hoping they would get after the struggles of last season. It’s amazing what can happen if you don’t always hurt your team. In fairness, there are still some missing pieces, but Atlanta has been able to navigate those better than last year. It’s early May, and the NL East looks like it’s theirs to lose.
Atlanta Braves pitcher Spencer Strider delivers 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 send their best hitter to the mound, Spencer Strider. This will be Strider’s first game of the season, and I have to expect the Braves to keep an eye on him. Last season, he played in 23 games and totaled 125.1 innings on the season. He didn’t have a great year, going 7-14 with a 4.45 ERA and 1.40 WHIP. What makes him happy is that he is about to return to face the slow-hitting Rockies team. However, they are 8-for-32 overall against him, but only have two RBIs and 14 strikeouts.
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The Colorado Rockies were expected to be the worst team in baseball by many analysts. That hasn’t been the case, as it looks like there’s a fight for them this year. Before we start printing playoff tickets, the team is still under .500 and will not sniff the postseason. However, for a team that won 43 games last year and didn’t hit a 15-game hitting streak until June 16, it’s at least ahead of that pace.
Colorado Rockies pitcher Kyle Freeland delivers a pitch in the first inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Coors Field. (Photos by Ron Chenoy/Imagn)
There are several reasons why a team does better — pride, better hitting and better whistling, etc. For me, one guy that stands out has had a great start to the season, and that’s today’s starter, Kyle Freeland. On 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 been buried a little bit with the Rockies. He was never an ace with the club, but he might have been a reliable arm and even a starter last season. He has only one start at home this year, but it has been a good one, going 6.1 innings and allowing one run on three hits.
The bad news for the Rockies and Freeland is that the club has been enjoying his game in recent years. Combined, the Braves are 45-for-137 against him, resulting in a .328 average. Ozzie Albies is the guy I have locked in with 3+ total bases and he could go 4+ and 5+ as he went 11-for-24 with four extra-base hits against Freeland.
Atlanta Braves’ Ozzie Albies and Eli White celebrate after hitting a double off Matt Olson during the second inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Los Angeles on April 2, 2025. (Kevork Djansezian/AP)
Another must-play is Mauricio Dubon, who is 7-for-19 with four extra-base hits for Freeland. Albies will be the 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 pays out at 12:1.
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