Max Scherzer’s first start for the New York Mets was pushed back a day due to a hamstring injury, but he’s ready to go and will take the hill against his former team, the Washington Nationals, on Friday at 7:05 p.m. ET. There’s plenty of reasons to bet on him.
When the Mets signed Max Scherzer in free agency, it looked as though they were lining up the most dominant duo of starting pitchers in all of baseball by pairing him with Jacob deGrom. Things went sideways in a hurry with deGrom being shut down after suffering a stress reaction in his right scapula; Scherzer popping up with a hamstring strain only added to the stress for Mets fans.
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Scherzer is now good enough to go, and there’s no chance he won’t give it everything he has against his former team – which doesn’t exactly have a strong lineup. Juan Soto is an MVP candidate and hit a home run on Opening Day, but the rest of the Nationals lineup combined for five hits, 10 strikeouts, and no runs.
I’m not a huge fan of betting moneylines for starting pitchers, seeing as they can only control one half of the equation. What I do like betting is strikeout totals. Scherzer is very, very good at striking out opposing batters. Last season in split work between Washington and the Los Angeles Dodgers, Scherzer was fourth in MLB rankings with 236 strikeouts.
At BetMGM, the line for Scherzer is set at 6.5 strikeouts. Scherzer failed to throw seven strikeouts in only seven of his 30 appearances last season. He came out of the gate with a nine-strikeout appearance on 2021 Opening Day against an Atlanta Braves lineup that went on to win the World Series.
The sportsbooks appear to be concerned about the hamstring injury, but few athletes are more tenacious than Scherzer. I’ll take the over at +100 odds.