{"id":344978,"date":"2025-05-08T12:24:44","date_gmt":"2025-05-08T16:24:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/?p=344978"},"modified":"2025-05-08T12:24:45","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T16:24:45","slug":"blue-jays-picks-vs-angels-may-8-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/blue-jays-picks-vs-angels-may-8-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Jays vs. Angels prop picks May 8: Fade Taylor Ward, bet on Chris Bassitt in plus-money combo wager"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Looking to avoid the wrong end of a sweep, the Toronto Blue Jays wrap up a three-game series on Thursday night against the Los Angeles Angels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The pregame narrative:<\/strong> Toronto has dropped four in a row, thanks in part to some uncharacteristic lapses from the bullpen. Chris Bassitt, sporting a sub-3.00 ERA through seven starts, looks to help the team right the ship tonight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m backing Bassitt and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in a plus-money combo play as one of my <a href=\"https:\/\/online.northstarbets.ca\/page?key=ej0xMzUyNDU3MiZsPTEzNTc4NzU5JnA9MjM3Njk%3D\">Blue Jays picks vs. the Angels<\/a> on May 8.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Blue Jays picks vs. Angels<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/online.northstarbets.ca\/page?key=ej0xMzUyNDU3MiZsPTEzNTc4NzU5JnA9MjM3Njk%3D\">Best Bet<\/a>: Taylor Ward under 0.5 hits (+138)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ward opened the season in his typical leadoff spot for the Angels. But when his power numbers outperformed his on-base numbers, he was bumped to the cleanup spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now nothing seems to be going right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 12 games since sliding back in the order, Ward has a .095\/.156\/.190 slash line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His .177 xBA in that span, per Baseball Savant, isn&#8217;t a whole lot better. Neither is the 40.0% strikeout rate it comes with. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ward has an interesting statistical profile, given that he strikes out a lot for such a choosy hitter. He ranks in the 16th percentile in K rate (28.2%) despite owning a 92nd-percentile chase rate (19.8%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He&#8217;s been caught looking on a whopping 40.0% of his strikeouts this year. For context, the MLB average is 23.0%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What that tells me is he&#8217;s often not even getting the bat off his shoulder &#8230; so why should I back him to get a hit?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ward is 1-for-9 with three Ks and a walk against Bassitt. He&#8217;s hitless in nine of his past 12 games, and I expect another dud tonight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key stat:<\/strong> Ward&#8217;s .226 xBA ranks in the 20th percentile. He only has four hits in his past 47 plate appearances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"cacheembed:113564\">Embed: #113564<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"insights\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.ca\/sportsbook\/sports-hub\/baseball\/mlb?utm_source=insights&amp;utm_medium=text_link&amp;utm_term=&amp;utm_content=&amp;utm_campaign=sportsbook_mlb\">Full MLB betting markets<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"insights\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.ca\/sportsbook\/news\/article\/mlb-injury-report?utm_source=insights&amp;utm_medium=text_link&amp;utm_term=&amp;utm_content=&amp;utm_campaign=injury_reports\">MLB injury report<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"insights\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.ca\/sportsbook\/news\/stats\/mlb\/top-players\/hitting\/OPS-on-base_plus_slugging?utm_source=insights&amp;utm_medium=text_link&amp;utm_term=&amp;utm_content=&amp;utm_campaign=stats_pages\">MLB stats &amp; standings<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Quick pick<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/online.northstarbets.ca\/page?key=ej0xMzUyNDU3MiZsPTEzNTc4NzU5JnA9MjM3Njk%3D\">Parlay: Bassitt 6+ Ks, Guerrero 1+ hits (+117)<\/a>:<\/strong> I thought about just backing Bassitt over 5.5 Ks as a standalone, but the -155 odds don&#8217;t make that a very exciting play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So if you&#8217;re looking for something with a higher payout upside, consider tacking on a hit from Vlad Jr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let&#8217;s start with Bassitt&#8217;s side of things. He&#8217;s failed to cashed this bet in three straight starts, but his overall strikeout numbers are still strong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>6.1 Ks per start<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>25.7 K% (72nd percentile)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Having pitched into the sixth inning or deeper in six of seven starts, Bassitt should have enough rope to contend for this strikeout milestone. And he&#8217;s up against a team with the second-highest K rate in the majors (26.9%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now on to Vladdy, who enters Thursday on a nine-game hit streak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Guerrero faces L.A.&#8217;s Jose Siriano, who throws sinkers to right-hitting players 54.0% of the time \u2014 and is allowing a .333 opponent BA on that offering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Vladdy is 13-for-26 against sinkers this year, and his .309 xBA overall ranks in the 93rd percentile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Blue Jays picks vs. Angels made at 12:10 p.m. ET on 05\/08\/2025.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"thestar\">Looking to get started? <a href=\"https:\/\/online.northstarbets.ca\/page?key=ej0xMzUyNzQxMyZsPTEzNTI3NDExJnA9MjMyNDM%3D\">Sign up here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Looking to avoid the wrong end of a sweep, the Toronto Blue Jays wrap up a three-game series on Thursday night against the Los Angeles Angels. The pregame narrative: Toronto has dropped four in a row, thanks in part to some uncharacteristic lapses from the bullpen. Chris Bassitt, sporting a sub-3.00 ERA through seven starts, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":344998,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sidebar_plugin_meta_block_field":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[10],"class_list":["post-344978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","tag-mlb-betting"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Blue Jays picks vs. Angels: May 8 MLB betting | NorthStar Bets<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Check out our Blue Jays picks vs. Angels for May 8, 2025. MLB betting odds and prop predictions for Wednesday&#039;s game in Los Angeles.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/blue-jays-picks-vs-angels-may-8-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Blue Jays picks vs. Angels: May 8 MLB betting | NorthStar Bets\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Check out our Blue Jays picks vs. Angels for May 8, 2025. MLB betting odds and prop predictions for Wednesday&#039;s game in Los Angeles.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/blue-jays-picks-vs-angels-may-8-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Boost\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-08T16:24:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-08T16:24:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nsb-news.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com\/imgs\/2025\/05\/CP174503612-1.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jordan Horrobin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@JordanHorrobin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jordan Horrobin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/blue-jays-picks-vs-angels-may-8-2025\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/blue-jays-picks-vs-angels-may-8-2025\/\",\"name\":\"Blue Jays picks vs. Angels: May 8 MLB betting | NorthStar Bets\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-08T16:24:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-05-08T16:24:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/#\/schema\/person\/8e0d7302b14f65be7f61f221a134fc9f\"},\"description\":\"Check out our Blue Jays picks vs. Angels for May 8, 2025. MLB betting odds and prop predictions for Wednesday's game in Los Angeles.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/blue-jays-picks-vs-angels-may-8-2025\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/\",\"name\":\"The Boost\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/#\/schema\/person\/8e0d7302b14f65be7f61f221a134fc9f\",\"name\":\"Jordan Horrobin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nsb-news.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com\/imgs\/2024\/11\/IMG_7764.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nsb-news.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com\/imgs\/2024\/11\/IMG_7764.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Jordan Horrobin\"},\"description\":\"Jordan enjoys writing data-driven game previews and analysis articles \u2014 especially for MLB markets or NFL\/NBA props. And as a proud Ohio University grad, he\u2019ll always have a soft spot for college sports (especially if the Bobcats are involved). Previous stops include mlb.com, Sportsnet and The Athletic.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.ca\/sportsbook\/news\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JordanHorrobin\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/author\/jordan-horrobinnorthstargaming-ca\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Blue Jays picks vs. Angels: May 8 MLB betting | NorthStar Bets","description":"Check out our Blue Jays picks vs. Angels for May 8, 2025. MLB betting odds and prop predictions for Wednesday's game in Los Angeles.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/blue-jays-picks-vs-angels-may-8-2025\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Blue Jays picks vs. Angels: May 8 MLB betting | NorthStar Bets","og_description":"Check out our Blue Jays picks vs. Angels for May 8, 2025. MLB betting odds and prop predictions for Wednesday's game in Los Angeles.","og_url":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/blue-jays-picks-vs-angels-may-8-2025\/","og_site_name":"The Boost","article_published_time":"2025-05-08T16:24:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-05-08T16:24:45+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1080,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/nsb-news.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com\/imgs\/2025\/05\/CP174503612-1.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"Jordan Horrobin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@JordanHorrobin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jordan Horrobin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/blue-jays-picks-vs-angels-may-8-2025\/","url":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/blue-jays-picks-vs-angels-may-8-2025\/","name":"Blue Jays picks vs. Angels: May 8 MLB betting | NorthStar Bets","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-05-08T16:24:44+00:00","dateModified":"2025-05-08T16:24:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/#\/schema\/person\/8e0d7302b14f65be7f61f221a134fc9f"},"description":"Check out our Blue Jays picks vs. Angels for May 8, 2025. MLB betting odds and prop predictions for Wednesday's game in Los Angeles.","inLanguage":"en-CA","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/blue-jays-picks-vs-angels-may-8-2025\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/","name":"The Boost","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-CA"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/#\/schema\/person\/8e0d7302b14f65be7f61f221a134fc9f","name":"Jordan Horrobin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-CA","@id":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/nsb-news.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com\/imgs\/2024\/11\/IMG_7764.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nsb-news.s3.ca-central-1.amazonaws.com\/imgs\/2024\/11\/IMG_7764.jpg","caption":"Jordan Horrobin"},"description":"Jordan enjoys writing data-driven game previews and analysis articles \u2014 especially for MLB markets or NFL\/NBA props. And as a proud Ohio University grad, he\u2019ll always have a soft spot for college sports (especially if the Bobcats are involved). Previous stops include mlb.com, Sportsnet and The Athletic.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.northstarbets.ca\/sportsbook\/news","https:\/\/twitter.com\/JordanHorrobin"],"url":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/author\/jordan-horrobinnorthstargaming-ca\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344978"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":345000,"href":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344978\/revisions\/345000"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}