Betting Matchup Preview
Game Details
- Who: Philadelphia Phillies vs. Houston Astros
- When: Friday, Oct. 28
- Time: 8:03 p.m. EST
- Where: Minute Maid Park (Houston, Texas)
Betting Odds Summary
- Moneyline: Phillies +144, Astros -172
- Runline: Phillies +1.5 (-154), Astros -1.5 (+128)
- Total: Over/Under 6.5 Runs (-124/+102)
Note: Odds and lines are current from at the time of writing and are subject to change.
After a long week without baseball, the World Series finally kicks off on Friday as the Houston Astros host the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday night.
The Astros were a preseason favorite to make it back to the Series for the fourth time in six years, which they did fairly easily after finishing with the best record in the American League. The Phillies are a surprise entrant, however, as they got off to a slow start and were a .500 team for most of the season before sneaking into the playoffs with the final Wild Card spot.
Philadelphia will try to hand Houston its first loss of the playoffs with Aaron Nola on the mound in his fourth postseason start. He was electric in his first two outings before getting walloped by the San Diego Padres in the NLCS, so he’ll need to bounce back if the Phillies are going to take Game 1 on the road.
While Nola is a great pitcher in his own right, he can’t hold a candle to future Hall-of-Famer Justin Verlander. Houston’s Game 1 starter will likely win his third career Cy Young award after going 18-4 with the best ERA (1.75) and WHIP (0.83) in MLB. He’s also coming off a dominant performance against the New York Yankees in the ALCS, where he racked up 11 strikeouts in six innings.
Given Houston’s home-field advantage and edge in the pitching matchup, it’s not surprising to see them as baseball betting favorites for this game based on the odds at FanDuel Sportsbook.
Our Best Bet Today
While we love what the Phillies have been able to accomplish this postseason, their Cinderella story will come to a painful end. With Verlander on the mound, the Astros are a tough team to bet against, especially considering their perfect record in the playoffs and their dominance (59-26) at home this year.
With Houston’s betting odds on the run line of +128 at FanDuel, a $100 wager would pay $128 in profits plus your initial stake back.
Our Same-Game Parlay
Same-game parlays are a way to increase the odds and potential payout as opposed to making bets separately. For more information, check out our guide on how to bet on a same-game parlay.
Here are the three prop bets we’ve selected for Friday’s World Series Game 1:
- Aaron Nola Over 5.5 Strikeouts (-118)
- Yordan Alvarez to Record an RBI (+140)
- Yuli Gurriel to Record 2+ Total Bases (+155)
The first leg of our same game parlay is for Nola to fan at least six Astros in Game 1. Nola had six strikeouts in his three postseason starts, so this is a playable bet. He also punched out nine Astros in his final start of the regular season.
The second leg for Friday is for the heavy-hitting Yordan Alvarez to notch an RBI in Game 1. Alvarez leads Houston with eight RBIs in seven games this postseason and is a big reason why the Astros are in the Fall Classic for the second year in a row.
Finally, we turn to Yulieski Gurriel to carry us home by recording at least two total bases in this pivotal Game 1. Gurriel is batting an eye-popping .367 in these playoffs with 11 hits in seven games, including two home runs. Even if he doesn’t go yard, he’s a good bet to get at least two singles or a double.
Combining this trio of wagers into a same-game parlay raises the odds to +1383 at FanDuel. At those odds, a winning $100 bet would return $1,383 in profits along with your original wager.
