Best Bet 8/15/2023

Mason Dalley
Aug 15, 2023
2 min read

New York Yankees @ Atlanta Braves(-1.5)

DK -110

FD -10

Best Bet Season Record: 16-17

Getty Images

I've written about the Braves being a bunch of sickos this season. Ronald Acuña Jr. is going to win NL MVP and is the leader of the sickos, but the one that has elevated their game to the point where they'll be getting some down ballot MVP votes is 1B Matt Olson. Olson for his career in Oakland and Atlanta is slashing .253/.348/.520. A career .868 OPS is impressive regardless of position. That's proof of All-Star consistency. This season on a juggernaut of an offense, he's elevated his game to monstrous levels. He's slashing .273/.382/.621 for a 1.003 OPS. That by itself is impressive. I like using slash line as opposed to raw numbers because not all hits are created equal and not all RBI are created equal. Someone like Shohei Ohtani just does not have the RBI opportunities Matt Olson or Adolis García have. That being said, Olson is having an absolutely ridiculous counting stats season. There are 6 weeks left in the season and Olson has already hit 43 home runs, driven in 107 runs, and has 121 hits on the season. He's already set his career high in home runs, is 5 RBI off from a new career high, and is 23 hits off a new career high in that category. There are 7 weeks left and 99% of MLB players don't hit those numbers for a season. And under the hood is preposterous.

The rest of the lineup is incredible, and they're up against a dead team walking in the New York Yankees. It's a perfect Best Bet pick. Whatever perverse joy I get out of the Yankees being terrible aside, Luis Severino is actually the worst starting pitcher in all of MLB, stealing that honor from the recently demoted Alek Manoah. 8.06 ERA/6.64 FIP/1.88 WHIP in 63.2 IP is rough. This isn't even a luck thing, he's just a cooked arm that the Yankees, the incompetent organization that they've become, keep trotting out there so the season can be finished. It's just sad at this point.

Yankees Suck take the Braves.

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