Having picked up the victory in four of their last six outings the Toronto Blue Jays will complete their current homestand this weekend as they take on the Seattle Mariners in a three-game series that gets underway on Friday night. The Blue Jays opened as a -150 betting favourite on the moneyline for Friday, with the Mariners listed as the +130 underdogs.
The Blue Jays managed to split a four-game series at home against the New York Yankees last weekend, then won two of three games at home against the Texas Rangers earlier this week. However, they did close out that series with a 7-3 loss on Wednesday as -144 betting favourites on the MLB odds with Sean Reid-Foley allowing three runs in 3 1-3 innings pitched.
Toronto is expected to turn to Jacob Waguespack (3-1, 4.31 ERA) to start Friday’s contest, after the righthander came out of the bullpen in his last outing to give up three runs on three hits over just 3 2-3 innings of work against the Yankees. However, Waguespack turned in a pair of strong outings in his previous two appearances, holding the Tampa Bay Rays and Kansas City Royals to a combined one run on seven hits over 12 innings in two Toronto wins.
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Overall this season the Blue Jays are 5-3 in the eight games in which Waguespack has appeared, including five starts. The rookie has 30 strikeouts in his 39 2-3 innings of work.
This will be the first meeting of the season between the Blue Jays and the Mariners. Last year the Blue Jays won the season series 4-3, with three of those victories coming on the road in Seattle in an August matchup. The OVER has paid out on the totals at online betting sites in four of the last five games between the teams, according to the OddsShark MLB Database.
Blue Jays shortstop Bo Bichette heads into this weekend’s series hitting .365 through the first 17 games of his MLB career, with four home runs and a dozen doubles in 74 at-bats. Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s batting average sits at .272 heading into the weekend, and he has 13 home runs and 52 RBI in 342 at-bats. Guerrero Jr., though, hasn’t hit a home run since Aug. 1.
After finishing up at home against the Mariners this weekend the Blue Jays will head out to the west coast for three games against the Los Angeles Dodgers from Tuesday to Thursday next week before they take on the Mariners again in Seattle for three games next weekend.
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