Friday's Bonus Play can be summarized very briefly - the Atlanta Braves with Greg Maddux +135.
But we'll expand further on why we believe tonight's game 3 of the Division Series offers excellent value for Braves backers......
Atlanta's road record (46-35) this season is better than the Cubs at home (44-37). The Braves are 7-2 (+4.8 units) against the Cubs the last three seasons at Wrigley Field. Atlanta are simply a better hitting team than the Cubs and have six players with 20+ homers and 100+ RBI during the regular season. It's also worth noting that they were a stellar 6-1 during the regular season when installed as a road underdog of between +125 and +150.
37 year-old four-time Cy Young winner Greg Maddux has allowed two or less earned runs in seven of his last eight starts and has gone 5-1 in this stretch. His 16 wins this season made him the first pitcher to win at least 15 games over 16 seasons. With 28 postseason starts and 18 years experience in the majors including time as a Cubs phenom there is little doubt he will be able to cope with tonight's raucous atmosphere. Maddux is 8-3 lifetime against the Cubs with an ERA of just 2.56 and a phenomenal WHIP of 0.890. He has a 3.15 ERA from 109 regular season starts at Wrigley Field.
23-year-old sophomore sensation Mark Prior is the man most likely to follow in Maddux' footsteps as the best pitcher of his generation. He has an awesome 89 K's to just 15 walks in his last tens starts so it's no great surprise that he has won nine of those. But Prior is 0-2 with an ERA of 6.35 and WHIP of 1.323 in his career against the Braves and with Maddux on the mound tonight we're confident that Atlanta can give us a great run for our money. Prior has allowed 11 earned runs in his last five starts and four of those were against bad teams in the Mets, Brewers and Pirates (twice).
No matter how good Prior is right now and is going to be in the future we believe getting +135 on a pitcher as great as Maddux and a team as good as the Braves against a postseason rookie just has to be value...take the road dog tonight and enjoy the most interesting match-up of the postseason thus far.
Recommended Play: Braves +135
Good luck
Mike Thomas
Champion Plays
But we'll expand further on why we believe tonight's game 3 of the Division Series offers excellent value for Braves backers......
Atlanta's road record (46-35) this season is better than the Cubs at home (44-37). The Braves are 7-2 (+4.8 units) against the Cubs the last three seasons at Wrigley Field. Atlanta are simply a better hitting team than the Cubs and have six players with 20+ homers and 100+ RBI during the regular season. It's also worth noting that they were a stellar 6-1 during the regular season when installed as a road underdog of between +125 and +150.
37 year-old four-time Cy Young winner Greg Maddux has allowed two or less earned runs in seven of his last eight starts and has gone 5-1 in this stretch. His 16 wins this season made him the first pitcher to win at least 15 games over 16 seasons. With 28 postseason starts and 18 years experience in the majors including time as a Cubs phenom there is little doubt he will be able to cope with tonight's raucous atmosphere. Maddux is 8-3 lifetime against the Cubs with an ERA of just 2.56 and a phenomenal WHIP of 0.890. He has a 3.15 ERA from 109 regular season starts at Wrigley Field.
23-year-old sophomore sensation Mark Prior is the man most likely to follow in Maddux' footsteps as the best pitcher of his generation. He has an awesome 89 K's to just 15 walks in his last tens starts so it's no great surprise that he has won nine of those. But Prior is 0-2 with an ERA of 6.35 and WHIP of 1.323 in his career against the Braves and with Maddux on the mound tonight we're confident that Atlanta can give us a great run for our money. Prior has allowed 11 earned runs in his last five starts and four of those were against bad teams in the Mets, Brewers and Pirates (twice).
No matter how good Prior is right now and is going to be in the future we believe getting +135 on a pitcher as great as Maddux and a team as good as the Braves against a postseason rookie just has to be value...take the road dog tonight and enjoy the most interesting match-up of the postseason thus far.
Recommended Play: Braves +135
Good luck
Mike Thomas
Champion Plays
