The Red Sox pitching staff has been underrated for much of this season, and it will try to keep the team in the AL Wild Card race over the weekend.
Boston sends out James Paxton, who is the healthiest he has been in several seasons and is pitching to a high level in his first season with the Red Sox. He will try to shutdown a poor White Sox lineup, but will face Lance Lynn, who should return a higher level of pitching soon given his underlying metrics.
With two veteran pitchers that are trying to regain some of its All-Star level pitching, how should we attack this matchup on Saturday?
Here are the odds:
Red Sox vs. White Sox odds, run line and total
Red Sox vs. White Sox prediction and pick
Paxton has been on point this season. In seven starts he is striking out nearly 12 batters per nine innings while lowering his walk rate below three per nine. He has a 3.29 ERA that is supported by a 3.39 xERA. He will face a White Sox team that has been a mess all season and is dead last in on-base percentage this season.
However, I don't think this will be al that easy for an elite Red Sox offense. Lynn's numbers are concerning on the surface with an ERA of 6.51. However, his underlying metrics show better times ahead as he has an xERA of 4.87. He is striking out plenty of batters, fresh off 16 strikeouts against the Mariners, and will need to continue to find that punch out pitch against a Red Sox team that is top five in batting average on the year.
If Lynn is able to avoid bats like he did against Seattle, he should be in line for a quality start and this should set up for a low scoring meeting on Friday.
I lean towards Boston getting the job done with Paxton on the mound, but prefer the under with some positive regression coming Lynn's way.
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.