Morning Coffee: A bet on Skenes to bounce back after first Major League loss

Happy Paul Skenes Day, everybody!

After a much-needed break to spend some time with the family last week, I’m ready to dive back into the action.

The timing is impeccable.

Skenes will get the start in Houston tonight.

With an NL Rookie of the Year ticket in pocket, I opted not to jump on Skenes to win the NL Cy Young award.

Hopefully, that decision doesn’t come back to haunt me.

Skenes to win the NL Cy Young award is down to +370 at FanDuel.

More on that in a moment.

NFL training camps are in full swing across the league.

And mark your calendars, because the NFL Hall of Fame Game goes Thursday night in Canton, Ohio.

There won’t be another Thursday without an NFL game until 2025.

In case you missed it, I’ve already locked in my first FanDuel Best Bet for the 2024 NFL season.

The Philadelphia Eagles to win the NFC East has flipped from +120 to -125 at FanDuel over the past six weeks.

As far as I’m concerned, it’s the Eagles division to lose.

I’ll spend the next few weeks setting the stage for the 2024 NFL season with my full list of futures plays.

Anybody who has tailed my NFL futures at FanDuel has ended up making a profit in each of my first two seasons since I launched this column for TSN.

Plus, we’re on to Week 9 in the CFL with another highly anticipated West Division showdown coming up on Thursday Night Football.

In case you missed it, your guy Drew Morrison delivered another winning week with the CFL picks in his 3rd and 1 column.

It’s a must-read for anybody betting on the CFL.

I’ll do my best to follow in his footsteps with another FanDuel Best Bet winner this morning.

It’s time to get back to work.

This is the Morning Coffee for Monday July 29th, 2024.

A Bet On Skenes To Bounce Back After First Major League Loss

Shohei Ohtani is running away with the NL MVP award.

He’s down to +870 to win the NL Triple Crown at FanDuel.

Ohtani leads the NL with 32 home runs and a .314 batting average.

He’s six RBI back of Marcell Ozuna for the NL lead.

Meanwhile, Aaron Judge is an obvious top choice to win AL MVP amid another dominant season.

He won’t catch Steven Kwan or Bobby Witt Jr. as they battle it out for the batting title, but Judge is eight home runs clear of Anthony Santander and 14 RBI clear of Jose Ramirez at the top of the AL.

Despite the dominance we’ve seen from Ohtani and Judge, there is still a lot of hardware left to be decided over the second half of the MLB season.

We’re certainly in for a fascinating finish to the NL Cy Young race.

Skenes could be found as high as +5000 to win that award at FanDuel at the beginning of the month.

He’s down to +370 as the third choice this morning.

Zack Wheeler and Chris Sale are the co-favourites to win the NL Cy Young at +150 at FanDuel.

No other pitcher is currently shorter than +3000.

As somebody who was late to jump on Skenes to win the NL Rookie of the Year, I’m hoping I don’t regret the decision to pass on Skenes to win the NL Cy Young.

That decision had more to do with concerns about his number of innings pitched than anything else.

There’s no debate about what he has done in his innings pitched.

Skenes is 6-1 with a 1.93 ERA and a 0.87 WHIP.

He’s coming off his first-career loss – a game in which he held the St. Louis Cardinals to two earned runs on four hits while striking out eight over 8.1 innings of work.

Skenes is up to 97 strikeouts in 74.2 innings of work.

He won’t be the fastest to throw 100 K’s as a starter, but he’s expected to hit the century mark in tonight’s start against the Houston Astros.

Skenes has been one of the best stories of the year in baseball, and he’s the only rookie to earn his own tab on the FanDuel app.

FanDuel has a long list of specials for bettors to consider for tonight’s start.

Skenes to go 3 up, 3 down in the 1st inning is +145.

Skenes to go 6 up, 6 down to start the game is +400.

How deep will the NL Rookie of the Year favourite pitch in Houston tonight?

Skenes to record 21+ outs is +220 at FanDuel.

Skenes to throw a no-hitter through five innings is +1900.

Skenes to throw a no-hitter is +12000.

Will the 22-year-old rookie set a new career-high for strikeouts?

Skenes to record 12+ strikeouts is +850 at FanDuel.

The Pirates are a -152 moneyline favourite in Houston.

As for my FanDuel Best Bet, I’m going to take Pittsburgh at -145 on the first five innings money line.

Skenes hasn’t allowed more than two earned runs in a start since June 5th and he’s only done that twice in 12 starts overall.

Meanwhile, the Astros will turn to 23-year-old Jake Bloss tonight, who is 0-1 with a 6.94 ERA in three career starts.

Bloss just got roughed up in an 8-2 loss to the Oakland Athletics in which he gave up five earned runs in just four innings of work.

He hasn’t pitched more than four innings in any one of his first three career starts.

For as bad as the Pirates’ offence has been this season, I’m banking on them to get to Bloss early while Skenes shuts down the Houston bats.

I’ll lock in Pittsburgh to have the lead at the end of the fifth inning at -145 as my FanDuel Best Bet for tonight’s MLB slate.

Hopefully, it turns out to be a happy Paul Skenes day after all!