Nippon Professional Baseball Odds, Picks & Best Bets for June 30

• At the end of the first full week, Japanese experienced an explosive scoring surge
• The Chiba Lotte Marines continue to lead the way atop the standings, winning eight straight
• See odds and best bets for all the Nippon Professional Baseball action taking place on Tuesday, June 30th

The first full week in Japanese baseball ended in a display of offensive fireworks.

While Saturday was its own scoring explosion, with four of six games going over their run total – led by Tohoku’s 18-4 win over Hokkaido – Sunday went one better. Five of the six games finished hit the over, highlighted by the Yomiuri Giants’ 12-0 whitewash of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows.

Maybe it was pitchers still getting up to speed with the demands of the daily grind of professional baseball or maybe it was something else. Either way, it’s great for the fans and an interesting wrinkle for bettors to observe.

With that said, after Monday’s off-day for all the teams, let’s get to Tuesday’s matchups.

NPB Odds: June 30th

Odds as of June 29th

Yokohama vs Yomiuri Should Be a Pitching Duel

Despite all the offense on display over the weekend, Tuesday’s matchup between Yomiuri and Yokohama should be a bona fide pitching duel.

NPB starting pitchers announced for Jun 30 #npb pic.twitter.com/Do0WXC0aMv

— NPB on reddit (@NPB_Reddit) June 29, 2020

Both teams are coming off resounding wins and they sit first and second in the Central League with six wins apiece. (Yomiuri is first by virtue of a tied game last week.) So the winner of Tuesday’s game – unless it finishes in another tie – will take the division lead.

https://twitter.com/tom_mussa/status/1277212297027629056?s=20

After Sunday’s 12-0 victory over Tokyo, Yomiuri is putting its faith in 20-year-old right-hander Shosei Togo. He has yet to lose in Nippon Professional Baseball, though this will be only his fourth game at this level. He is 2-0 with a 2.35 ERA and 18 strikeouts in 15.1 innings of work at the top level of Japanese baseball, after putting up a very respectable 4-1 record and 3.00 ERA in Japan’s Eastern League with Yomiuri’s farm team.

https://twitter.com/tom_mussa/status/1275362259284492298?s=20

Yokohama is responding with Haruhiro Yamaguchi, who pitched 8.1 innings in last Tuesday’s 3-0 win over Chunichi, giving up 10 hits and walking two batters without conceding any runs. Now in his fourth season in the NPB, the 25-year-old left-hander has a career 21-16 record with a 3.47 ERA.

Pick: Giants (-140); -1.5 (+145)

Orix Buffaloes Set to Turn a Corner

It’s just not normal for a baseball team to get swept in a six-game series, but somehow the Orix Buffaloes conspired to do exactly that against the Chiba Lotte Marines last week. As a result, they sit dead last in NPB with a 1-8 record.

Feeling for the #Orix Buffaloes… They're 1-8, yet have lost five of those games by just one run. They're real close. They'll come good soon!

— Dan Clark (@DanClarkSports) June 28, 2020

There is a glimmer of hope for Orix to break out of that funk. Of those six losses, four were one-run games and one defeat was by two runs. It’s not like the Buffaloes haven’t been competitive games.

And a new week brings a new opponent, in this case the 5-4 Seibu Lions.

The Buffaloes will send one of the only Canadians in NPB, left-hander Andrew Albers, to the mound on Tuesday in an attempt to break their slump. The former Twin, Blue Jay, and Mariner is in his third NPB season, and has an 11-8 record and a 4.12 ERA in 33 games. He had an outstanding debut season in 2018, going 9-2 with a 3.08 ERA.

.@Andrew_W_Albers got 3rd win at Japan. #npbeng #AndrewAlbers pic.twitter.com/zLdlulZnM2

— パ・リーグ.com / パーソル パ・リーグTV【公式】 (@PacificleagueTV) May 1, 2018

He struggled somewhat in his season debut last Tuesday, giving up four earned runs – including three home runs – and five hits in six innings against Chiba. But three of those runs came in the first inning, and the hope will be that he can settle down from here.

Seibu puts the ball in the hand of right-hander Kona Takahashi, who went 10-6 with a 4.51 ERA last year. The veteran of 62 NPB games is hardly a star, holding a career record of 25-24 with a 4.26 career ERA. Takahashi had similar stat line to Albers in his season opener last Tuesday, but didn’t give up any homers among his three earned runs, and picked up the win.

Pick: Buffaloes (+170); O 9.5 (-105)