It’s been a shaky few days for the Rakuten Monkeys, whose dreams of an undefeated April are long gone after dropping two in a row to the Uni-President Lions. They are happy to be back in the win column after beating the Fubon Guardians on Tuesday and are hoping to sweep the midweek series with another victory this Wednesday. But now that their vulnerabilities have been exposed it seems like anything is possible in the CPBL season, which could mean a win for the Guardians.
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Betting Preview for the Rakuten Monkeys vs Fubon Guardians CPBL Regular Season Baseball Game on April 29 2020
Where: Xinzhuang Baseball Stadium, New Taipei City, Taiwan
When: Friday, April 24, 2020 6:35 PM Taiwan (6:35 AM ET USA)
Broadcast: FREE live streaming on Eleven Sports Network
CPBL Betting Odds:
- OVER/UNDER set at 9.5-runs (-115)
- View all CPBL betting odds
Betting on the Rakuten Monkeys (+220)
8-2 Regular Season Record
The Rakuten Monkeys still sit on the top of CPBL standings with a .800 win percentage. In fact, they are the only team above .500 so they shouldn’t feel too bad about the two losses they incurred against the Uni-Lions. The Monkeys are 3-0 against Fubon so far this season, with the most recent win coming on Tuesday. With a final score of 3-0 is was a low scoring affair, which is what team manager Tseng Hao-chu wanted to see after witnessing his pitching staff give up a total of 24 runs in the last three games.
29-year-old left-hander Ryan Carpenter (0-0 3.55 ERA) who started 14 games for the MLB’s Detroit Tigers from 2018 to 2019 is expected to make his season debut on the mound this Wednesday. This may be a risky move seeing as the Monkeys need to right the ship after their crown has lost some of its sheen.
SofaScore gives the Monkeys 2/1 odds to win, while the sportsbook has less confidence, pricing them at +220 to win. Rakuten’s spread is set at +2.5 with a price of -110.
Betting on the Fubon Guardians (-300)
4-7 Regular Season Record
The Fubon Guardians are the league’s bottom feeders at the moment, with a .364 win percentage. They played true to their stats on Tuesday. With just two hits and two walks through nine innings they struggled to capitalize on the fact that Rakuten wasn’t doing much offensively either. They had a shot, and didn’t take advantage.
Shi-Peng Chen (1-0 3.97 ERA) will be the starting pitcher for Fubon this Wednesday. Unlike the Monkey’s Carpenter, Chen has tasted the mound early this season. He has started two-games and tallied 1-0 record with a 3.97 ERA in just over 11 innings. This will be Chen’s first start against the Monkeys however, so there is a question about how he will perform against a squad that current averages 6.375 runs over the last eight games.
Going into the game against Rakuten, the sportsbook has the Guardians pegged as solid favorites with a price of -300.
Writer’s Prediction
Vegas odds have it wrong for this game folks. The Rakuten Monkeys continue their dominance over the Fubon Guardians, winning 10-4.
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