Houston Astros v Atlanta Braves betting tips and World Series predictions

Free baseball tips, best bets and analysis for the 2021 World Series between Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros.

Where to watch

BT Sport 1, 1.09am Wednesday

Best bet

Houston Astros to win the World Series
2pts 20-23 Boyles

World Series preview

The World Series begins in the small hours of Wednesday with the Houston Astros taking on the Atlanta Braves, and the men from Texas are taken to win another Fall Classic.

The Astros have been remarkably consistent for a few years, and although some of that success was arguably down to dubious tactics that saw them face sanctions from MLB, they keep returning to the latter stages of the post-season year after year.

In the last four years they have won the World Series (in 2017), were runners-up (in 2019) and made the American League Championship Series in the others.

Houston were quite a bit better than the Braves during the regular season, winning 95 games to Atlanta’s 87 and on other measures, such as run differential, the Astros look more like a 100-win team.

These two sides are pretty good at preventing runs - they both conceded around four runs a game in the regular season - but where the Astros have a definite edge is with the bat.

They scored 863 runs - 73 more than the Braves - and have improved impressively in the playoffs, averaging 6.7 runs a game in the post-season environment that usually sees offences score fewer runs, not more.

It is not down to smashing a lot of home runs, however. They lead the league in batting average, with Yuli Gurriel and Michael Brantley both impressive at over .300, putting them in the top five in MLB.

The Texans' prospects are further improved by having home field advantage in the opening pair of games, and will also finish the series in games six and seven in front of their own fans, if it goes that far.

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