The Toronto Blue Jays will be looking to continue their climb up the wild card standings when they open a nine-game road trip Tuesday with a doubleheader at the Los Angeles Angels.
The Blue Jays are listed as -160 betting favourites on the MLB odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com for Tuesday’s first contest, which makes up for the postponement of a meeting between these two teams in Dunedin back on April 11. Toronto is also the betting favourite for Tuesday’s nightcap, listed as a -140 wager at sports betting sites.
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The Blue Jays hit the road after enjoying an impressive return to their home at Rogers Centre. The team racked up nine wins in its first 11 contests in Toronto this season, and now sits just three games back in the hunt for an AL wild-card berth going into Tuesday’s games at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.
Despite their recent surge, the Blue Jays have yet to make major gains on the World Series odds, where they continue to lag back of the favourites at +1700. And while they managed to close the gap in the wild card race by taking three of four from the visiting Boston Red Sox this past weekend, the Blue Jays remain stalled in fourth place in the AL East standings, seven games back of the Tampa Bay Rays. The team also trails in the divisional odds as a lengthy +750 wager to claim their first AL East title in six years.
In addition, the Blue Jays face the daunting task of reversing their recent uneven play on the road, where they have failed to win consecutive contests during their current 5-7 run. That trend extends to recent meetings with the Angels. Toronto has compiled an 8-16 record in 24 overall meetings since the start of the 2017 MLB campaign, including a 4-7 mark in 11 dates in Los Angeles during that stretch.
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While the Blue Jays look to maintain their current torrid pace, the Angels will be trying to overcome their recent uneven play as they look to Tuesday’s doubleheader as underdogs. Set as +140 underdogs for Tuesday’s early contest, and +120 underdogs for the second game, the Angels return home after closing out a seven-game road trip with consecutive losses to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Those defeats put the brakes on a four-game win streak for the Angels that marked the team’s most successful run since the beginning of July. Overall, the Angels have gone just 12-14 over their past 26 contests, including a meagre 4-6 record at home over that stretch.
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