Nippon Professional Baseball Odds, Picks & Best Bets for June 24

• Four games into the season, the Yomiuri Giants (4-0) remain the only perfect team in the NPB
• The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles and the Chiba Lotte Marines sit atop the Pacific League at 3-1
• See odds and best bets for all the Nippon Professional Baseball action taking place on June 24th

The young season is starting to take shape in Japan, with teams now into their second series.

So far, Yomiuri looks the class of the league. Not only are they a perfect 4-0, they’ve scored the most runs (24) and conceded the fewest (6, tied with Rakuten Golden Eagles).

Not coincidentally, Yomiuri and Rakuten are the two biggest favorites on the board for tomorrow’s slate. Here’s a look at all of the betting odds for Wednesday’s games, along with the two best picks.

NPB Odds: June 24th

Odds as of June 23.

A Giant First Step

Though the rejigged Japanese baseball season has been shortened to 120 regular-season games, the 22-time Japan Series champion Yomiuri Giants have made a statement of intent by getting off to their unblemished start.

Yes, while four straight wins to open the 2020 campaign is nice, there is still a long way to go. Yomiuri has shown an ability to win different kinds of games, happy to claim victory by virtue of a squeaker (a pair of 3-2 wins) or by blowout (11-1 and 7-1 scorelines).

Gerardo Parra with his first #NPB home run.

And he’s already got Baby Shark going in the dugout with the #YomiuriGiants! ??? pic.twitter.com/EDZZU0agAi

— Connor Newcomb (@ConnorNewcomb_) June 20, 2020

Leading the way for the Giants has been Gerardo Parra, a 2019 World Series-winner with the Nationals and the man who was a hit last season with ballpark-going children (if not so much their parents) for using Baby Shark as his walk-up song.

A career .276 hitter, Parra is enjoying a new lease on life in Japan, connecting at a league-leading .583 clip through four games, with two home runs and six RBI He’s been the biggest contributor to the best offense in Japanese baseball (24 runs scored).

The Giants face the Hiroshima Toyo Carp for the second of their three-game series on Wednesday, looking to move to 5-0 both at home and on the season.

After winning their first two games of the season easily, Hiroshima has now lost a pair of one-run games, 2-1 to Yokohama and 3-2 to Yomiuri. The slide is likely to continue.

Pick: Yomiuri (-150); Under 8.5 runs (Even)

Champs on the Ropes?

After three straight championships – and five in six years – the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks came into the season as the epitome of excellence in Japanese baseball.

It didn’t take long for that sheen to rub off, however.

At 1-3, the Hawks are tied for last in the Pacific League, and are licking their wounds after an 11-3 pasting at the hands of the Seibu Lions on Tuesday. Worse still for the defending champs, that game also saw the debut of former MLB All-Star left-hander Matt Moore, but he lasted just four innings, giving up seven hits and a grand slam to former Milwaukee Brewers utilityman Cory Spangenberg.

But so far Seibu has been the picture of inconsistency, winning the blowout against the Hawks as well as losing one (Sunday’s 12-2 loss against Nippon-Ham Fighters) and splitting a pair of close scorelines.

After three straight losses, it’s high time that Fukuoka’s championship spirit came back into focus.  Both teams were averaging 4.67 runs before Tuesday’s blowout loss. If the Hawks are going to change their fortunes, they’re going to do it by keeping the scoreline down.

Pick: Fukuoka (-115); Under 9.5 (-125)