Atlanta Braves at Boston Red Sox Series Preview and Odds
Braves Continue To Shuffle, but Still Relevant
No one, not even the most pessimistic of Atlanta Braves fans, is concerned that Atlanta is going to miss the playoffs in the relatively mediocre MLB National League.
But, for a team that expected to compete for a seventh-straight NL East title, being seven games behind the division-leading Philadelphia Phillies at the start of June is not what was expected. Atlanta will try to make up ground this week in Boston with a quick two-game series against the Red Sox starting on Tuesday.
The Braves vs Red Sox Odds Preview have Atlanta as a -165 moneyline favorite and as a -105 runline favorite at -1.5 runs. The total is eight runs.
The Braves are coming off a much-needed series win over the Oakland Athletics, which followed a disappointing set against the Washington Nationals in which Atlanta lost three of four.
Surprisingly, the issue for Atlanta as of late has been the offense. After being MLB’s best offense in 2023, the Braves has been relatively middle-of-the-pack and that was even before Ronald Acuña Jr. suffered a season-ending ACL tear.
Atlanta still has plenty of offensive talent, it’s just a question of guys other than Marcell Ozuna finally getting unstuck.
Boston has surprised people around baseball this year but for a very different reason: The Red Sox aren’t bad. Despite tons of injuries, a tough division and lots of under-the-radar names in the lineup and bullpen, Alex Cora’s club has been able to tread water with its Boston Red Sox scores.
There isn’t one area in which Boston excels because the offense has been decent, the rotation solid and the bullpen more-than-capable. It’s like the entire roster is performing just better than predicted and the result is a rather-impressive .500 record.
📊Records: Atlanta Braves (33-24), Boston Red Sox (30-30)
📅Day/Time: Tuesday, June 3rd, 7:10 p.m. ET
📍📍Location: Fenway Park; Boston, Massachusetts
📺Stream: NESN
Atlanta’s Lineup Has Shown Signs Of Breakout
It doesn’t feel like the Braves have been anywhere close to as good as they were last season when they went 104-58 and won the MLB NL East by 14 games over the Phillies. But, through 57 games, Atlanta has an identical 33-24 record as it did in 2023.
The difference, at least so far, has been offensive production and health. The Braves’ key players managed to stay incredibly healthy a year ago with pretty much everyone playing a full season. That hasn’t been the case in 2024 and the Braves vs Red Sox Odds Preview reflect that.
Acuña Jr. is done for the year, Sean Murphy missed nearly two months with a strained oblique, Austin Riley was out for a few week with an intercostal strain and ace Spencer Strider is on the shelf after Tommy John surgery.
The Atlanta Braves roster was and still is good without those players but, at some point, the injuries take a toll and that has reflected in the Braves’ surprisingly pedestrian offensive stats.
The good news for Atlanta is that there are reasons to be optimistic a breakout in going to happen soon. Ozuna has continued to mash, Matt Olson and Riley had big series against Oakland and even Jarred Kelenic has perked up a bit. Also, good players like Ozzie Albies and Michael Harris II will turn things around eventually.
Key For Red Sox Is Rotation
One of the main reasons why the Red Sox have been able to remain competitive has been the effectiveness of their rotation, which took a hit this offseason with the trade of Chris Sale — who has been one of the best pitchers in baseball — to the Braves and has absorbed long-term injuries to Lucas Giolito and Garrett Whitlock as well.
The Braves vs Red Sox Odds Preview aren’t giving a ton of credit to Boston’s projected starter on Tuesday, Kutter Crawford, and the job he has done this season, pitching to a 3.29 ERA and sub-1.20 WHIP.
Crawford, Wednesday’s starter Nick Pivetta, Tanner Houck, Brayan Bello and Cooper Criswell have all been pretty good for a Red Sox rotation that is fifth in the Majors in ERA.
No one predicted the MLB baseball scores involving the Red Sox to be as low-scoring this season as they have been considering the unproven state of most of its starters.
That has been a pleasant surprise and Boston has a chance to pull off some upsets this week with Crawford and Pivetta on the mound against Atlanta.
Back Braves With Fried On Mound
With staff ace Max Fried pitching on Tuesday night, the Braves are a good bet whether you want to take them straight-up at -165 or on the runline at -105 to win by two runs or more. Besides a shaky start against the Padres a few weeks ago, Fried has been incredible since the middle of April.
He’s coming off eight shutout innings against the Cubs. Fried is locked in right now and it wouldn’t be smart to go against him.
The under eight runs (at even-money) is also a good take with two very good starters facing off tonight.
For Point Spreads Sports Magazine.
