After waiting all offseason, what’s one more day? The Atlanta Braves‘ season opener was postponed yesterday and mercifully, they will visit the Philadelphia Phillies today at 3:05 PM EST. We bring you some of our favorite odds and predictions, with historical context to explain why.

Spencer Strider will make his 2024 debut for the Braves and Zack Wheeler will defend the Phillies’ home turf at Citizens Bank Park.

Moneyline

Atlanta is favored to win outright at -125

Philadelphia has +105 odds as the home underdog.

The Atlanta Braves played six games in Philadelphia last season. The Braves won five of six in Philadelphia last season.

Player Props

Spencer Strider Over/Under: 8.5 Strikeouts

Spencer Strider over 8.5 strikeouts. Strider had nine strikeouts in his first start of last season. He had nine strikeouts in both of his two starts at Citizen’s Bank Park last year against the Phillies.

Last season, Strider faced the Phillies a total of four times, striking out at least nine in every start. Here are Strider’s innings pitched and strikeout totals from last season’s starts against PHI.

05/28/23: 6.0 IP, 9 SO
06/20/23: 6.0 IP, 9 SO
09/13/23: 7.0 IP, 9 SO
09/19/23: 7.0 IP, 11 SO

In his career, Strider is 8-0 with a 1.90 ERA against Philadelphia. He has 72 career strikeouts in 47.1 career IP against PHI. That’s good for a career K/9 IP of 13.7 against the Phillies.

On top of his history of success against Philadelphia, Strider had an absolutely dominant spring training with the addition of his new curveball. He now boasts four pitches in his arsenal. In 22.2 spring innings, Strider struck out 35 batters and allowed just two earned runs. His spring K-rate was 13.9 per nine innings.

Last season Strider had nine or more strikeouts in 22 of his 32 starts.

We may be witnessing Spencer Strider ascending to the throne as the best pitcher in all of baseball. I’m taking the over on 8.5 strikeouts for Strider on Opening Day against the Phillies.

If you parlay the Braves’ money line with Strider’s over 8.5 strikeouts, you get +145 odds.

A Fun Player Prop Parlay

You can have a little extra fun by parlaying Ronald Acuna Jr. to get a hit, a stolen base, and a run scored to earn +525 odds.

Disclaimer: Any bets you place based on our advice will likely make you lose. Never gamble any money that is not budgeted as such. Pay your damn bills before you gamble. Only use discretionary funds. If you think you have a gambling problem, you shouldn’t have even read this article and tempted yourself.