Chris Hodge, Free Picks Newsletter Editor
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MLB: Boston Red Sox (+127) vs. Texas Rangers (-137) *Over/Under (9u -110)

Two of baseballs best hitting teams face off tonight in Texas.

In what could be a playoff-preview series, the Texas Rangers host the Boston Red Sox for the next four games.

There’s a good chance a lot of runs will be scored over the next four days in Texas.

For the month of August, these two teams have combined to score an average of nearly five runs per game via 43 homers and a .270ish team batting average. It could be a rough run for the scheduled starters in every one of these matchups.

The Texas Rangers’ C.J. Wilson has benefited from the team’s potent offense on more than occasion this season on the way to his current 12-5 record, but he hasn’t needed it over his past few starts.

Wilson’s ERA for the month of August is just 1.83 through 20 innings of work. This is good news for the Rangers because as July came to an end, it looked like he might be coming off the rails. Following a 1-0 loss to the Angels, Wilson reeled off back-to-back bad starts against the Twins and Blue Jays. His ERA for July was a whopping 4.14, and I only say whopping because that’s an entire point higher than his typical month this season.

On the flipside of things, the Red Sox will throw their recent pickup from the Mariners Erik Bedard at the Rangers. In Bedard’s last start against the Rangers, he allowed only two hits through seven innings of work.

It’s not too often the Rangers get held to just two hits in seven innings, but let’s not get too excited about this stat. Just a few short weeks ago Bedard was bounced in the second inning of a game against Tampa Bay where he allowed five runs and four walks before recording even five outs.

Bedard’s big outing against Texas was also not in Texas, as the game tonight will be. This game marks the return home for the Rangers after a 10-game road trip. The last series at home for the Rangers resulted in 19 runs crossing the plate in four games.

The Rangers’ homecoming will be too much for Boston to handle tonight, and it will be the spark that puts the Rangers offense back on track after petering out near the end of their long road trip.

There should be pelnty of fireworks over the next four Days in this series, but the Rangers should at least pull a split out of the four-game set, starting with the win tonight.

Pick: Take the Texas Rangers (-137)