Braves to Extend Lead

The Miami Marlins host the Atlanta Braves on Monday, October 3rd at 6:40 pm. This will be the first of a three-game series these two will play this week. On the season, the Braves and Marlins have matched up 16 times and Atlanta leads the season series 12 games to 4. Heading into this NL East matchup, the Braves have a road record of 45-33 and the Marlins have a home record of 32-46.  The odds for this game are currently pending according to Caesars Casino & Sportsbook. New users will receive a Risk-Free Bet of up to $1250 on their first wager. When you make your first bet, if it loses, it’s on the house as Caesars will refund any losing wagers in full (up to $1250 in the form of a single-use bonus credit Plus Caesar’s is adding 1,000 Reward Credits and 1,000 Tier Credits). You must make a deposit to get the bonus! Click the link to sign up or use Promo OSBETFULL. Claim your bonus here!

The Atlanta Braves are currently 99-59 and are the first seed in the NL East. They are in an intense battle with the New York Mets for the division. As of now, the Braves are one game ahead of them. They are coming off of a series against the Mets where they won two of the three games they played at home. Headed into this game against the Marlins, the Braves will send out Bryce Elder for them on the mound. On the season, Elder is 2-3 with an ERA of 2.76 and a WHIP of 1.22. Elder has pitched three times against the Marlins this season and the team has a record of 2-1 in those games. In his last start against the Nationals, he pitched a full game and allowed no runs having struck out 6 batters and only allowed 6 hits. As a team, the Braves rank 5th around the league for ERA with a 3.41. In terms of hitting, they rank 8th with a batting average of .253. On the season they have 1,362 hits which rank as the 9th best in the MLB. The third baseman, Austin Riley, leads the Braves in batting average and home runs. Ronald Acuna Jr. leads the team in OBP and Dansby Swanson leads the team in hits with 174. The Braves are a great all-around team and have the option to win the division if they win these next 3 games. 

The Miami Marlins are currently 67-92 and are the last seed in the NL East. On top of that, they are eliminated from playoff contention. Over their last 10 games, they are 6-4 and are currently on a two-game winning streak. Heading into this game against the Braves, the Marlins will have Jesus Luzardo take the mound for them. On the season Luzardo is 3-7 with an ERA of 3.53 and a WHIP of 1.05. Luzardo has pitched twice against the Braves and he has a record of 1-1. During those games, he has an ERA of 4.50 in 10 innings of play. The Marlins rank 14th around the league in ERA with a 3.87. They are not as fortunate on the hitting side of the ball as they rank 27th for batting average with a .229. On the season the Marlins rank 25th for hits as a team as they have 1,215. Only two players have more than 100 hits on the season. Shortstop Miguel Rojas leads the Marlins in batting average, OBP, and hits. 

I think the Braves easily close out the season against the Marlins. The Braves will need to win these games to give them the edge on the Mets and win the division and avoid the Wild Card. The Braves are currently on an eight-game winning streak against the Marlins and have six of them by at least two runs.

For our expert Atlanta Braves vs Miami Marlins pick, take the Braves run line.