AL Cy Young favorite Tarik Skubal and playoff veteran Framber Valdez take the mound for the Detroit Tigers and Houston Astros respectively Tuesday in Game 1 of their Wild Card series.
Each of these teams overcame a slow start to even make the playoffs. The Tigers’ story is historic. On August 11, Detroit owned a record of 55-63 and sat 10 games out of the playoffs. They proceeded to go an MLB-best 31-11 over their next 42 games to clinch their first postseason berth in a decade. Houston’s story is less dramatic and certainly more predictable, but they were 12 games under .500 in late May and 10 games behind the Seattle Mariners on June 18 before mounting their charge towards wheat became their 4th straight AL West title (and 7th in the last 8 years).
Pitching has been at the foundation of each team’s success and the Game 1 starters are their unquestioned aces. Tarik Skubal was dominant from his 1st start of the season in earning the Triple Crown in the American League with 18 wins, a 2.39 ERA, and 228 strikeouts. Framber Valdez was among the best in baseball again this season going 15-7 with a 2.91 ERA and 169 strikeouts.
The two meet Tuesday afternoon as the best of five series between Houston and Detroit begins.
Lets dive into the matchup.
We’ve got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on the how to catch first-pitch, projected pitching matchup, recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts.
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Game details & how to watch Tigers vs. Astros live Tuesday
● Date: Tuesday, October 1, 2024
● Time: 2:32 PM ET
● Site: Minute Maid Park
● City: Houston, TX
● TV/Streaming: ABC
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Game odds for Tigers vs. Astros
The latest odds as of Tuesday morning:
● Moneyline: Detroit Tigers (+115), Houston Astros (-135)
● Spread: Tigers +1.5 (-225), Astros -1.5 (+185)
● Total: 6.5
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Playoff History for Detroit and Houston
● Tigers: Detroit last qualified for the playoffs in 2014 but they have a history of success in the postseason winning the World Series in 1935, 1945, 1968, and 1984.
● Astros: As noted previously, Houston has been a mainstay in the playoffs for nearly the last decade winning the AL West 7 of the last 8 seasons and the World Series in both 2017 and 2022. They reached the World Series but lost in 2019 and 2021.
Probable starting pitchers for Tigers vs. Astros
● Tuesday’s pitching matchup (October 1): Tarik Skubal vs. Framber Valdez
○ Detroit: Skubal (18-4, 2.39 ERA) has allowed 51 earned runs and 142 hits while striking out 228 over 192 innings
○ Houston: Valdez (15-7, 2.91 ERA) has allowed 57 earned runs and 140 hits while striking out 169 over 176.1 innings
Rotoworld still has you covered with all the latest MLB player news for all 30 teams. Check out the feed page right here on NBC Sports for headlines, injuries and transactions where you can filter by league, team, positions and news type!
Top betting trends & insights to know ahead of Tigers vs. Astros
· Tigers’ manager A.J. Hinch was Houston’s manager when they won the World Series in 2017.
· Houston has played in the ALCS each of the last 7 seasons.
· Not surprisingly, only a handful of Houston hitters tasted any success against Skubal this season. SS Jeremy Pena picked up a couple hits in 5 ABs (.400) with an OPS of 1.100 against Skubal. 2B Jose Altuve and 3B Alex Bregman each have 2 hots in 6 ABs (.333) against the probable Cy Young winner.
· Tigers’ 2B Andy Ibanez picked up a couple hits off Framber Valdez this season.
If you’re looking for more key trends and stats around the spread, moneyline and total for every single game on the schedule today, check out our MLB Top Trends tool on NBC Sports!
Expert picks & predictions for Tuesday’s Tigers vs. Astros game
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Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the MLB calendar based on data points like past performance, player matchups, ballpark information and weather forecasts.
Once the model is finished running, we put its projection next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager.
Here are the best bets our model is projecting for Tuesday’s Tigers vs. Astros game:
- Moneyline: NBC Sports is leaning towards Houston on the Moneyline
- Spread: NBC Sports is recommending a play on the Tigers on the Run Line
- Total runs: NBC Sports is recommending a play on the UNDER of 6.5 Total Runs
Want even more MLB best bets and predictions from our expert staff & tools? Check out the Expert MLB Predictions page from NBC Sports for money line, spread and total picks for each of the games on today’s calendar!
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- Jay Croucher (@croucherJD)
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- Brad Thomas (@MrBradThomas)
