The week in Major League Baseball continues with a full 15-game slate on Friday. It includes a pair of showdowns on Apple TV, starting with the Pirates hosting the Brewers before the Diamondbacks pay a visit to the Angels. There are also intriguing matchups such as Marlins vs Braves and Astros vs Rangers. Needless to say, options abound for YRFI/NRFI bets.
This market has become extremely popular in baseball betting. After all, you don’t have to sit around for 3 hours (or maybe a lot less now that games are not as long on average!) to see if your wager hits; the satisfaction (or in some cases disappointment) is immediate. It all comes down to the first inning.
Here are my MLB YRFI/NRFI best bets for Friday as we try to build on our perfect 2-0 record on Thursday, and also be sure to check out all of our MLB picks for today’s games.
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As the odds suggest, there is a great chance that a run is scored in the first inning of Friday’s contest between Boston and Toronto. Each team has plenty of familiarity with the opposing pitcher (James Paxton of the Red Sox and Jose Berrios of the Blue Jays). Alex Verdugo is 7-for-17 lifetime against Berrios with a home run and a double, while Rafael Devers has a homer and 3 doubles in this matchup. Jays leadoff hitter George Springer has gone deep 3 times in 37 at-bats against Paxton. Twice this season Paxton has given up multiple runs in the first inning, including 2 against Cleveland on June 6. Berrios has struggled in general of late, with 8 runs allowed (7 earned) across his past 2 starts spanning 10.0 innings. At least 1 of these 2 lineups should be able to cross the plate right away on Friday.
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The Mets are always a prime NRFI candidate because they are dead last in Major League Baseball in first-inning runs scored at an anemic 0.28 per game. On Friday they will face Alex Cobb of the Giants, who is 5-2 with a 3.09 ERA and 76 strikeouts in 78.2 innings so far this season. The right-hander has put up goose eggs in the opening frame in 8 of his last 10 appearances.
New York is countering with Carlos Carrasco, who has been far from stellar in 2023 but has at least pitched clean opening frames more often than not over his past 5 outings (3 out of 5). Mitch Haniger is the only San Francisco hitter who has ever done anything to Carrasco, but he is on the 60-day injured list.
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