It's a historic day for Major League Baseball as the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals will play at Rickwood Field, America's oldest ballpark (114). The momentous occasion is to pay tribute to the late-great Willie Mays and the Negro Leagues.
Rickwood Field was the home to the Birmingham Black Barons, who played there from 1920-1960. Mays sadly passed away on Tuesday at the age of 93, and he began his baseball career with the Barons in 1948.
Due to the market's unfamiliarity with the ballpark, it could be a great betting opportunity to take advantage of.
Rickwood Field is known for its large left field (478 feet) and short distance in right field. The MLB has changed these dimensions from left to right, 321-399-393-392-332.
If you tailed yesterday's SGP in O's/Yanks, it cashed for nearly a 6-1 payout.Today, I formulated one for Giants vs Cardinals that pays nearly 8-1.
Read below for my Giants vs Cardinals same game parlay.
Giants vs Cardinals Parlay: SGP for MLB Rickwood Game
- Heliot Ramos Over 1.5 Total Bases (-115)
- Alec Burleson Over 1.5 Total Bases (-110)
- San Francisco Giants ML (-106)
- Over 8.5 (-120)
Parlay Odds: +778 (FanDuel)
Remember to bet responsibly — this is a long shot for a reason.
Heliot Ramos Over 1.5 Total Bases (-115)
Heliot Ramos is having a terrific season for the Giants thus far, batting .310 with nine HRs over 145 at-bats. His batting average might dip a bit moving forward, but there's no denying the 24-year-old's hitting ability.
Ramos ranks in the 90th percentile or above in the following offensive metrics:
- xwOBA
- Barrel Rate
- Hard Hit Percentage
- Exit Velocity
- xSLG
Hitting the ball hard over time will always correlate with a higher BABIP, but Ramos is no fluke.
He gets a very tasty match against Andrew Pallante, who pitches to contact the majority of the time.
With the Giants being the road team and Ramos batting at the top of the lineup, I expect him to get at least four at-bats.
-115 is a cheap price for this prop.
Alec Burleson Over 1.5 Total Bases (-110)
Alec Burleson has been a staple in the Cardinals' lineup and has done a terrific job of making contact consistently.
He draws a solid matchup against Keaton Winn on Thursday.
Winn isn't a 6.74 ERA pitcher, but that isn't saying much. He's primarily a ground-ball pitcher and doesn't generate a lot of swing-and-misses or chases.
Due to those factors, I like the matchup for Burleson. His xBA is .279 and he smashes right-handed pitching.
He doesn't strike out often, and I have a good feeling he can pick up a couple of knocks tonight, or at least one extra-base hit.
Giants ML (-102)
Before I dive into an actual analysis of the matchup, I just want to make it clear this leg was chosen primarily because Mays recently passed away, and I'd be dammed if the Giants were going to lose a game in his honor.
Throw out all of the statistics, motivation is a big factor heading into this ball game.
The Giants have scuffled into the series against the Cardinals, and the pitching matchup is not exactly ideal for them either.
However, I think the Giants' offensive advantage will be enough to propel them to victory.
It's a bit terrifying relying on Winn to hold the Cards at bay, but the short-handed Red Birds are already without a few important pieces and could also be without Nolan Arenado, who left yesterday's contest after being hit in the elbow.
Pallante is a contact pitcher, so if the Giants' bats can take advantage early and often, their mediocre bullpen should have enough run support to hold on for the win.
Over 8.5 (-120)
I alluded to the weak pitching matchup throughout this breakdown, but there should be an ample amount of runs scored tonight.
Winn and Palante are contact pitchers, and their inability to miss bats is going to be an issue in these dimensions.
Our great MLB expert Sean Zerillo described the dimensions of Rickwood Field as a combination of Great American Ballpark and Kauffman Stadium.
The total is already juiced towards the over, so I wouldn't be surprised to see it climb further before the first pitch. The key to getting over the total will be for both offenses to come out of the gates strong, considering both of their bullpens are above average.
