Atlanta Braves ML -132 Max Fried Must Start:
Despite facing a three game series sweep at the hands of Los Angeles Dodgers, the Atlanta Braves are one of the few teams with the roster to compete with the Dodgers on a night to night basis. The Braves have the starting pitching advantage today, Max Fried has been strong for the majority of the season but has been lights out recently with 15 straight scoreless innings across his last two starts. Current Dodger hitters are also only hitting .218 against Fried across 142 at-bats. James Paxton does have a 3-0 record but has failed to pitch into the 6th inning in all but one of his starts and even that was six innings exactly. Last season, we identified the Dodgers struggled on Sundays with a 13-13 record despite winning over 100 games but would consistently bounce back in the next game (Mon/Tues) with a 17-9 record. The trend has continued this season with a 2-3 Sunday record and 3-1 post-Sunday record. This has worked out great because the Dodgers are generally favored against anyone outside of a team like Atlanta.