Astros vs. White Sox Tuesday MLB probable pitchers, odds: AL Cy Young betting favorites Justin Verlander, Dylan Cease in historic matchup

Tuesday's Astros-White Sox game brings us the best starting pitching matchup of the season as the two AL Cy Young betting favorites at Caesars Sportsbook, Justin Verlander and Dylan Cease, face off. I thought we might get a rare total of just six runs, but it opened at 7. The Under is a -120 favorite, so that could drop to 6.5 by first pitch. It's the first time Cease is an underdog (+115) since July 2 at San Francisco, and he won that game.

"This is like when I was a kid," Astros manager Dusty Baker said Monday afternoon. "[Sandy] Koufax and Juan Marichal, Don Drysdale and Gaylord Perry, Ferguson Jenkins and Bob Gibson. ... I'm going to have to be careful and make sure I don't spectate ... because if I was at home, I'd get me a bowl of popcorn and some beer and the only time I would leave is if there was a commercial or in between innings. That's a classic good one."

Verlander (15-3, 1.85 ERA, 0.86 WHIP) is -175 to win his third Cy Young Award; only nine pitchers have won at least three. Verlander leads the majors in wins, ERA and WHIP and opponent OPS (.523), while ranking fourth in opponent average (.190).  He is attempting to become the oldest pitcher to lead MLB outright in wins and ERA in a season -- no pitcher older than 33 has done it.

Last time out, the 39-year-old was mortal. He allowed three runs over six innings in a no-decision vs. Texas. Verlander passed three-time Cy Young winner and former Tigers teammate Max Scherzer for the 14th-most strikeouts in MLB history with 3,147. Verlander is seven strikeouts away from tying Pedro Martinez (3,154).

Verlander's worst outing this season was at home vs. the White Sox on June 18 when he lasted just 3.2 innings (season low) and surrendered seven runs (four earned) and nine hits in a 7-0 loss. Jose Abreu hits the future Hall-of-Famer well, batting .370 with six homers in 46 at-bats.

Cease (12-5, 1.96 ERA, 1.14 WHIP) is +275 to become the first White Sox pitcher since 1993 to win the Cy Young and leads the majors in strikeouts per nine innings (12.17) and is third in ERA. The 26-year-old right-hander has allowed no more than one earned run in 14 straight starts, extending his major-league record (previous mark was 12). He is 8-3 with a 0.66 ERA, 103 strikeouts and a .172 (50-290) opponents' average during that stretch.

That 0.66 ERA is the fourth-best mark in MLB (since 1913) over any 14-start stretch in the same season. Cease didn't face the Astros in the earlier series. Jose Altuve has had some success off him, going 4-for-8 with a solo homer.

Tuesday was to be the first matchup between starters who rank 1-2 in MLB in ERA entering a game with both teams playing more than half of their games since Houston's Roger Clemens (1st, 1.51) faced St. Louis' Chris Carpenter (2nd, 2.29) on Sept. 3, 2005, at Minute Maid Park, but Miami's Sandy Alcantara (1.92 ERA) passed Cease for second in ERA on Monday night. Cease could well overtake Alcantara during the game. 

It's the first time both starters own a sub-2.00 ERA (minimum 50 innings pitched) with both teams having played more than half of their games since Sept. 16, 2018, when the Mets' Jacob deGrom (1st, 1.71) faced Boston's Chris Sale (2nd, 1.96) at Citi Field. It's the first such game for the White Sox since Aug. 10, 1968, when Wilbur Wood (1.78) faced Cleveland's Luis Tiant (1.48) at Municipal Stadium.

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