Let’s keep it going on this first Monday in May with some more day baseball action! The Los Angeles Angels and Chicago White Sox finish off their 4-game wraparound series today on the South Side. We get a great young pitching matchup with lefty Patrick Sandoval going for LA and righty Dylan Cease on the mound for the Chi Sox. Both have had great starts to their season. Sandoval hasn’t allowed an earned run yet! Cease has a respectable 3.27 ERA, but really could be a lot lower – his FIP is 2.50.
It’s unrealistic for Sandoval’s scoreless streak to go on forever, so we should expect him to allow a few runs today, but not more than that. His xERA sits at 1.88 which is in the top 7% of MLB. He hasn’t allowed a single barreled ball in 33 BBE’s (he of course will allow one eventually). His xSLG of .243 and xwOBA of .236 are both in the top 10% of MLB. The only thing working against Sandoval is that he has gone 4IP, 4IP, 7IP in his first three starts. Five innings of work may be in store for him today.
2022 will probably be Cease’s breakout year. He is in the 90th percentile or higher in 8 of 14 of his Baseball Savant percentile rankings. He’s top 3% in Exit Velo allowed – 83.2 MPH, as well as top 5% in the important expected stats – xBA, xSLG, xwOBA, HardHit%. Most importantly his xERA is 1.74 which means he is due for some shutout performances. One big helper to Dylan’s cause today is that Ohtani is not in the lineup due to an injury sustained in yesterday’s game.
I believe this game will be tight in the first half but could open up in the late stages because LA’s bullpen has been a bit taxed.
My Picks: Under 4 runs first 5 innings -125, Angels +0.5 first 5 innings -115
AndyPicks 