{"id":363878,"date":"2025-08-20T10:00:48","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T14:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/?p=363878"},"modified":"2025-08-20T10:00:49","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T14:00:49","slug":"blue-jays-vs-pirates-best-bets-august-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/blue-jays-vs-pirates-best-bets-august-20\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Jays vs. Pirates best bets Aug. 20: Back George Springer in Wednesday&#8217;s series finale"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Toronto Blue Jays and Pittsburgh Pirates meet for a Wednesday matinee at PNC Park. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The pregame narrative:<\/strong> Toronto is favoured to win this rubber match behind Chris Bassitt, even though the righty has awful road numbers. Pittsburgh counters with Johan Oviedo, who&#8217;s making his second big league start since recovering from 2023 Tommy John surgery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Check out my Blue Jays best bets vs. the Pirates for Aug. 20, featuring George Springer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Blue Jays best bets vs. Pirates<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.com\/sportsbook\/sports\/baseball\/competitions\/10065\"><strong>Full MLB betting markets<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.com\/sportsbook\/news\/article\/mlb-injury-report\"><strong>MLB injury report<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.com\/sportsbook\/news\/stats\/mlb\/top-players\/hitting\/OPS-on-base_plus_slugging\"><strong>MLB player stats<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.com\/sportsbook\/news\/stats\/mlb\/standings\/division\"><strong>MLB standings<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Best bet: <strong>Over 8.5 runs (-112)<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On a good day, Toronto&#8217;s offence is capable of clearing this number on its own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Jays lead MLB in batting average (.299), slugging percentage (.501), K rate (17.1%) and wRC+ (141) since the all-star break, and rank second in runs per game (5.94). <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Unsurprisingly, taking the over during this stretch has been quite profitable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Toronto is 19-12 on overs since the ASG. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>That includes a 5-0 overs record when Bassitt is pitching.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Plenty of offence has become the norm, and I don&#8217;t expect Oviedo to quiet Toronto&#8217;s bats. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The righty has a career 4.36 ERA and was lifted after one inning in his return to MLB on Aug. 4, giving up two runs while walking three on 43 pitches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And while Pittsburgh&#8217;s lineup is far from imposing, it should chip in on this effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bassitt has gotten hit hard on the road, posting an unsightly 6.39 ERA across 11 starts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Opponents are batting .298 against him, and his K rate plummets when he&#8217;s away from Rogers Centre (9.6 K\/9 at home, 7.0 on the road).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Key stat:<\/strong> Overs are 12-8-1 in games where Toronto is a road favourite. That&#8217;s the second-best mark in MLB, per Team Rankings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Quick picks<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Springer over 1.5 bases (-106):<\/strong> Toronto&#8217;s leadoff man has picked up where he left off since returning from a 16-game injury absence, going 5-for-16 with two home runs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The veteran outfielder was having a monster July before getting injured \u2014 .371\/.451\/.640 slash line, seven home runs \u2014 and should have plenty of opportunities to get after Oviedo today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Oviedo relies heavily on a two-pitch mix, throwing a four-seam fastball and slider. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Springer has destroyed four-seamers from righties all season, batting .278 with a .556 SLG against that offering. And his expected numbers (.302 xBA, .676 xSLG) suggest there&#8217;s plenty of room for improvement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On the whole, his numbers against RHP (.313\/.397\/.530) are much better than his numbers against LHP (.228\/.345\/.467).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Blue Jays best bets made at 9:02 a.m. ET on 08\/20\/2025.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Toronto Blue Jays and Pittsburgh Pirates meet for a Wednesday matinee at PNC Park. The pregame narrative: Toronto is favoured to win this rubber match behind Chris Bassitt, even though the righty has awful road numbers. Pittsburgh counters with Johan Oviedo, who&#8217;s making his second big league start since recovering from 2023 Tommy John [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":363870,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sidebar_plugin_meta_block_field":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[452,60],"tags":[130],"class_list":["post-363878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-com","category-mlb","tag-mlb"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Blue Jays best bets vs. Pirates: Aug. 20 MLB betting | NSB<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Check out our Blue Jays best bets vs. Pirates for Aug. 20, 2025. 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