ASA's 10* MLB Total of the Week
(MLB) Boston vs. Baltimore, 08/21/2020 7:35 PM, Score: 8 - 5
Total: 10.00 | -106.00 Over
Result: Win
ASA TOP PLAY 10* ON OVER the Total - Boston Red Sox @ Baltimore Orioles, Friday at 7:35 PM ET

The Red Sox have a 6.01 team ERA which ranks just above Detroit in the battle for the worst spot in the majors! Of course that is not a battle you want to be in but the Red Sox are simply void of solid pitching this season. Nathan Eovaldi made a great start for them yesterday and that was much needed and is rare. Today the Red Sox are going with a "bullpen game" in terms of the starting pitching and of course that is bad news for a team with a 6.01 ERA on the season! Boston is expected to use Colten Brewer (side note here we do not care who starts for Boston, we like the over no matter who gets the call as the opener). Brewer's first career start saw him take 73 pitches just to get through 2 and 2 / 3 innings and we expect this outing to also be a struggle for him. The Orioles are starting John Means in this one and the southpaw has had a rough start to the 2020 season. His father passed away and he missed time and is dealing with that emotionally. In terms of physical issues, Means had missed time due to arm fatigue and has simply not been right early this season. The Orioles bullpen is honestly not much better than the Red Sox and plus Means is only expected to last about 50 pitches here and then Jorge Lopez will likely be up next. Means has a 10.57 ERA in his 3 starts this season. Lopez is 7-15 with a 5.94 ERA in his career and has struggled this season too. Before struggling at the plate in their past two games, the Orioles had enjoyed an 11-game stretch in which they averaged 6.5 runs per game. Boston has scored at least 6 runs in 3 straight games and, per our computer math model, each team has a strong chance of getting to 6 runs in this one and it flies over the total as a result. Bet the OVER in the Baltimore Orioles game in early evening action Friday