It’s that time of year again and the MLB playoff match ups and baseball lines for the 2010 postseason have finally been set.
In the world of baseball lines handicapping there are terms and phrases that get thrown around so often that they become clichéd. Things like: “a must win game”, “a pitchers’ duel” are used so frequently that they lose any real meaning.
But Game 1 of the National League Championship Series is indeed “a pitchers’ duel” if one ever existed.
When the San Francisco Giants head to the City of Brotherly Love to take on the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 1 of the NLCS we could see one of the best pitched games in baseball odds history. That may sound crazy, even in a world of Internet hyperbole, but it’s the truth.
Consider that the Giants will start Tim “the Freak” Lincecum whose coming off one of the best post season debuts in baseball history. Lincecum was lights out in Game 1 of the Giant’s baseball odds series against the Braves pitching a 2-hit complete game shutout. His stat line for the playoffs is dizzying (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 14 Ks).
And it was just the second best pitched game of the week.
The Phillies (3-0) will send out ace Roy Halladay to mound on Saturday, the man who bested Lincecum in the divisional round of the baseball lines postseason. Halladay is coming off one of the best games in MLB postseason history after throwing only the second playoff no-hitter in baseball lines history. His stats in the postseason are nearly perfect (9.0 innings, 0.00 ERA, 8 Ks) aside from one walk.
Baseball lines fans will be in for a feast of top quality pitching when these two teams and even though neither pitcher has allowed a run yet in a combined 18.0 innings of work there’s no way that streak can continue. And most likely it will be the Phillies that strike first and get the series opening win at home.
Lincecum and Halladay are two of the best pitchers in baseball but Halladay is backed up by a much more potent offense and will have an easier time Saturday against an anemic Giant’s lineup.
Phillies will get the win in Game 1 and baseball fans everywhere will be the big winners as they’ll bet to see some great pitching in the NLCS.