The Florida Marlins recently threw in the towel on this year’s MLB betting season by trading away, Jorge Cantu, one of the team’s best hitters and RBI men. But with a record of 51-51 heading into August and 7.5 game deficits to overcome in the NL East division race there was little reason to think this team would be in the baseball betting playoff action.
And so you might think that the Marlins would be entering Sunday’s matchup against the best team in the NL, the San Diego Padres (60-40), downtrodden in the role of underdog.
But that will hardly be the case as the one bright spot for the Marlins this season, Josh Johnson, will be on the mound and that gives this team a huge advantage –so long as Johnson’s in the game.
Johnson has been quietly terrorizing opponents this season and has been doing things on the mound that have rarely –if ever- been done in the MLB betting action. Despite having his worst outing in 13 starts this past week vs. the San Francisco Giants he’s still on pace for a record setting season. And that outing against the Giants wasn’t really all that bad by mortal standards, after all he only gave up 3 runs in 8 innings of work; a great outing for a normal pitcher but sub-par for Johnson.
Previous to the 3-run outburst against the Giants Johnson hadn’t given up more than two runs in his past 13 starts in the baseball betting action. His 10-3 record is complimented by his phenomenal 1.72 ERA, tops in the MLB betting action.
The Padres hitters will definitely have their work cut out for them and will unlikely score more than a run or two against Johnson. But the good thing for Marlins’ opponents is that Florida’s bullpen is as bad as Johnson is good. No lead is safe and the Fish give up more late inning runs than any team in baseball betting.
The Padres also have one of their best pitchers on the mound (Jon Garland 9-7, 3.56 ERA) and should put up a good fight.
However, look for Johnson to bounce back strong and somehow find a way to win this game.
