Atlanta Braves vs Baltimore Orioles Prediction Odds Preview 08/22/2021

Game Time: 1:05 pm ET, Sunday, August 22nd, 2021

Venue:  Oriole Park at Camden Yards Baltimore Maryland

Where to Watch:  MASN, Bally Sports Southeast

Braves:  66-56 (1st place, NL East)
Orioles:  38-83 (last place AL East)

DraftKings:  Moneyline odds: Braves -140 Orioles +120; Over/Under:  9.5 runs

Bet365:  Moneyline odds:  Braves -125 Orioles +105; Over/Under 9.5 runs

Braves:  Ronald Acuna Jr (ACL) Out for season, 

Orioles:  Anthony Santander (ankle) Day to Day, Hunter Harvey Day to Day

Braves:

O. Albies, 2B
J. Soler, DH
F. Freeman, 1B
A. Riley, 3B
D. Swanson, SS
A. Duvall, LF
J. Pederson, RF
G. Heredia, CF
S. Vogt, C
D. Smyly, SP

Orioles:

C. Mullins, CF
R. Mountcastle, 1B
T. Mancini, DH
A. Hays, LF
P. Severino, C
R. Urias, 2B
J. Mateo, RF
M. Franco, 3B
R. Martin, SS
K. Akin, SP

Braves:

Batting Average:  Freddie Freeman (.300)

Hits:  Freddie Freeman (136)

Home Runs:  Freddie Freeman (27)

RBI:  Ozzie Albies (84)

Stolen Bases:  Ronald Acuna Jr (17)

Wins:  Charlie Morton (12)

Saves:  Will Smith (26)

ERA: Charlie Morton (.347)

Orioles:

Batting Average:  Cedric Mullins (.311)

Hits:  Cedric Mullins (142)

Home Runs:  Cedric Mullins (21)

RBI:  Ryan Mountcastle (64)

Stolen Bases:  Cedric Mullins (22)

Wins:  Matt Harvey (6)

Saves:  Cesar Valdez (8)

Strikeouts: Jorge Lopez (102) 

Braves:  Brian Snitker
Orioles: Brandon Hyde

The Braves are 9-1 over their last ten games.  They logged 6 Unders and 4 Overs. They are first place in the National League East, but the National League East is a weak division.  They wouldn’t even be contending in the American League East. 66 wins, but are they real wins?  They beat Baltimore 1-0, Miami Marlins 3-0, Washington National 3-0, and the Cincinnati Reds 2-1.. 

The Orioles are on an absolute streak!!  0-10 over their last ten games...and that is just their last ten!  They logged 4 Unders 5 Overs and 2 Pushes.  They lost to these same Braves on Friday in the series opener 0-1, Got spanked by the Tampa Bay Rays 0-4, gave the Boston Red Sox some much needed charity in their time of need 0-3, and dropped 2 to the Detroit Tigers 0-2.  In its entirety the streak is 0-16.. way back on Monday, August 2nd they beat the New York Yankees in what must have been a fluke!

The Braves are 13th in team batting average .243, 8th in runs scored 603, and 3rd in home runs at 178. They are only consistently behind the San Francisco Giants, Houston Astros, and Los Angeles Dodgers in most offensive categories.

The Braves pitchers are 13th in team ERA 4.00, 13th in strikeouts 1082, and 19th in runs allowed by a pitcher 514 (that stat translates in 12th best)... so the winning record seems to translate into a strong offense being helped along by a slightly better than average pitching rotation… in a weak division.

The Orioles are 20th in batting average .237, 27th in runs scored 481, 20th in home runs 141.  Cedric Mulliins seems to be propping up these numbers all by himself.  If only Cedric could pitch too.

The Orioles pitchers are LAST 30th in team ERA 5.82, 26th in strikeouts 970, and LAST in runs allowed by a pitcher 711.  It seems everything Baltimore throws from the rubber gets hit.  You don’t get a 16-game losing streak going with good pitching.  The Texas Rangers aren’t even this bad, the Cleveland Indians aren’t even this bad, the Arizona Diamondbacks… Well, you get it.  They have really bad pitching.

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The Braves will start Touki Toussant, a righty with a wicked French creole name!  He’s 2-2, 4.01 ERA, 35 strikeouts in 33 innings pitched, 1.10 WHIP.  Touki is 25 years old and since his debut in 1018 has only gone for 128.2 major league innings.  He’s the kind of guy who gets called up for the occasional look-see to see if his 2014 first round selection was merited.  I don’t know if he’s ready for the spotlight in the show but against the Orioles he should look like a young Clayton Kershaw.

The Orioles will start John Means 5-5, 3.44 ERA, 94 strikeouts in 102 innings pitched.  The 28 year old right-hander has pitched in 304 major league innings and built a 19-20 record.  Meansy (as he’s called) is 1-4 over his last 7 games with a whopping bad 6.54 ERA.  It doesn’t help that he is throwing for the Orioles, I’m sure the lack of run support and poor innings of relief work after him force Meansy into tough situations but 6.54 is nearly inexcusable. I’m rooting for him like I do all underdogs… but I’m betting against him.  To be fair I would bet against almost every projected starting pitcher Baltimore puts out there

The results aren’t in for Saturday.  If the losing streak reaches 17 then this matchup will bring it to 18… and then the fun begins.  The fun prop bet by Monday will be:  “will the orioles get to 20 losses in a row before Miguel Cabrera hits his 500th home run?”  Miguel has been stuck on 499 homers for a while.

 “I was really efficient and attacking guys. I just really wanted to keep that mentality. Just go after them, make them put the ball in play, especially with how aggressive they were early….. Fortunately, I had Travis [d’Arnaud] back there putting down great pitch-calling signs. Also the defense behind me, I can't say enough, it was definitely a team effort.” -Max Fried Braves’ pitcher who pitched a shutout to beat the orioles Friday.

“We knew this was going to be tough and take a while,...Now 2 1/2 years in … we’re very much on track with what we’re trying to do.” -Baltimore Orioles General Manager Mike Elias… lying through a smile.  The “pack your office and thanks for your service” speech is coming for Mike soon.

 Our MLB Pick for Sunday, August 22nd  game is Braves 10 Orioles 3

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