Tigers vs. Reds: MLB Picks & Odds For Opening Day

Tigers vs. Reds Odds

Odds as of Friday 12 p.m. ET and via DraftKings. Get up to a $1,000 sign-up bonus at DraftKings today or see more offers and reviews for the best online sportsbooks.

The Cincinnati Reds open up the 60 game sprint at home Friday night against the lowly Detroit Tigers.

In a shortened season, the Reds are one of the dark horses to win the National League and World Series. To do that, they’ll have to win favorable matchups like this one today to get through a loaded NL Central division.

Tigers

Projected Lineup (via FantasyLabs)

The Tigers’ offense is very weak coming into this season. With a 37 year old Miguel Cabrera and C.J. Cron as their projected No. 3 and No. 4 hitters, they are clearly in rebuilding mode.

Probable Starter

Matthew Boyd, LHP

Projected Stats (ZIPS) (via Fangraphs)

Pitch Arsenal (via Baseball Savant)

Matthew Boyd mainly throws his fastball and slider. His fastball isn’t great — it sits at around 92 mph with little movement — and opponents feasted on it in 2019 hitting 25 home runs and accumulating a .354 wOBA.

Boyd excels using his slider, though, and its deadly. In 2019, that slider produced a 43.5% whiff rate and 113 strikeouts. He’ll need to use the slider a lot against a potent Reds lineup.

Reds

Projected Lineup (via Fantasy Labs)

The Reds added a lot of fire power in the offseason with the additions of Nick Castellanos, Mike Moustakas and Shogo Akiyama from Japan. They will be welcome additions to a lineup that was near the bottom of MLB in most statistical categories. The Reds lineup looks stacked heading into this season and it will be difficult for opposing pitchers to navigate so many big bats.

Projected Starter

Sonny Gray, RHP

Projected Stats (ZIPS) (via Fangraphs)

Pitch Arsenal (via Baseball Savant)

Sonny Gray probably doesn’t get the recognition he deserves. This guy has one of the best curveball/slider combinations in the game. In 2019, against his curveball and slider, opponents had a measly .131 and .117 average.

If there is one part of his arsenal that is lacking, it’s his fastball. In 2019, opponents had a .409 wOBA average when facing his fastball and he generated a 17% whiff rate. That should be a problem today — the Tigers ranked 29th in MLB last season against fastballs.

Bullpens

As you can see, the Reds have a pretty big advantages in the bullpen as the Tigers bullpen rates out as the worst in the league in my model.

Projections and Pick 

Since I have the Reds projected to win this game by 1.47 runs, I am going to back their run line at +116.

Pick: Reds -1.5 (+116)

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