The Daily Sweat: Blue Jays look to stay hot against shorthanded Cardinals

It's not by design, but the Toronto Blue Jays have a nice little advantage.

The Blue Jays are seeing teams come to Toronto without full rosters due to Canada’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. This week, the St. Louis Cardinals are in Toronto without their two best players, Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado. The Blue Jays won as big favorites on Tuesday. The Blue Jays, who were displaced from Canada for the 2020 and most of the 2021 seasons due to COVID-19, don't need to apologize for any edge they're getting now. But it helps. And while it was nice to play a depleted Kansas City Royals team or the Cardinals without their top two hitters, it's not the only reason the Blue Jays are getting hot.

Finally, Toronto looks like the team that came into this season with so much promise. Toronto has won seven in a row and nine of 10. The Blue Jays are -250 at BetMGM favorites against the shorthanded Cards on Wednesday night.

The Jays probably aren't catching the New York Yankees in the AL East no matter how hot they get, but they now have the best record among wild-card teams. It's a team with talented players up and down the roster, but one that was just 47-43 before this recent hot streak. There was something missing. It cost manager Charlie Montoyo his job on July 13.

The lineup, which memorably scored 28 runs in a game against the Boston Red Sox last week, has come alive. They're a team worth keeping an eye on going forward when they're getting good odds. It finally seems to be coming together for a young and exciting team.

Here's a first look at the sports betting slate for Wednesday:

Subway Series continues

The New York Mets got the best of the New York Yankees on Tuesday, winning the first game of a much-anticipated series between two of MLB's best teams. The Mets held on to a 6-3 win.

The Mets are big -165 favorites on Wednesday night with Max Scherzer slated to start. The Yankees have been in a midseason lull after a fantastic start to the season. They're 5-9 in their last 14 games since starting the season 61-23. It's enticing to take the Yankees as a significant favorite, but it's a much harder play than it was a couple weeks ago. Especially against Scherzer on Wednesday.

What about the rest of the MLB schedule?

It's a good day to skip work and bet baseball. There are nine MLB afternoon games. The best game could be the Minnesota Twins at the Milwaukee Brewers, a matchup of two division leaders. The Brewers took the first game of the series with a comeback, walk-off win on Wednesday. The Brewers are -190 favorites with reigning NL Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes starting.

What's the best bet?

I'll take the Colorado Rockies as a +115 underdog against the Chicago White Sox. White Sox starter Lucas Giolito has struggled all season, and a trip to Coors Field probably isn't the best news for him.