Caleb Wilfinger
The 2025 MLB season keeps rolling along, and Friday features a full slate of 15 games for us to enjoy. I’m 14-4 on my MLB best bets and the Pickswise MLB handicapping team as a whole is 39-15-4 in these MLB best bets this season. Let’s keep it going as we get into today’s top picks on Friday, May 9. Also, don’t forget to check out our MLB picks for Friday’s slate.
MLB best bet: Detroit Tigers -1.5 over Texas Rangers (-115)
Odds available at DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publishing. Playable to -125.
To start things off, let’s head to Detroit for an American League matchup between the Rangers and Tigers at Comerica Park. These teams have been trending in complete opposite directions of late, with the Tigers holding the best record in the American League, while the Rangers are in the midst of a free-fall over the last 15 games following a hot start to the season.
Detroit is a whopping 13-3 at home this season, and the Tigers will also have the edge of starting Tarik Skubal, who has surrendered just 2 runs through 17.0 innings at home. On the other side, the Rangers are countering with Patrick Corbin and a bullpen that has struggled mightily (4.03 ERA) against a Tigers offense that is 2nd in runs scored (208) and 3rd in total hits (340) this season. Let’s roll with Detroit on the run line as our first MLB best bet today.
Read our full Rangers vs Tigers prediction for today’s matchup
MLB best bet: Atlanta Braves ML over Pittsburgh Pirates (-145)
Odds available at FanDuel Sportsbook at time of publishing. Playable to -155.
For my 2nd MLB best bet for Friday, we’re heading to Pittsburgh for a National League showdown between the Braves and Pirates. Fading the Pirates has proven to be a profitable endeavor all season long, and Atlanta should be in good position to pick up another win here against Pittsburgh starter Bailey Falter (5.06 ERA, 19.9% whiff rate). Falter is also susceptible to allowing the long ball, so the meat of the Atlanta offense should get a nice shot in the arm in this matchup. As for Pittsburgh, the Pirates have the 2nd-worst slugging percentage against right-handed pitching this season, which makes the matchup against Bryce Elder a difficult one, even with the right-hander’s middling advanced metrics. Ultimately, I’ll back the much better team to start this series with a victory.
Don’t miss our full Braves vs Pirates prediction
