Caleb Wilfinger
The 2nd half of the 2025 MLB season continues rolling along, and Sunday features a full slate of action for us to enjoy. I’m 67-50 on my MLB best bets this year and the Pickswise MLB handicapping team as a whole is currently on a 132-102-8 run! Let’s keep it going as we get into today’s top MLB predictions on Sunday, August 24. You can also find out our MLB picks for EVERY GAME today.
MLB best bet: San Diego Padres ML over Los Angeles Dodgers (-106)
Odds available at FanDuel Sportsbook at time of publishing. Playable to -120.
My first MLB best bet today takes us to San Diego, where the Padres will host the Dodgers in this NL West clash. Los Angeles has been an absolute mess since the All-Star break, and things haven’t shown any sign of getting better for the Dodgers in this pivotal series, particularly at the plate. Despite all of the starpower in the lineup, Dave Roberts’ club has only mustered up a measly 5 hits over the course of 2 games in this series. To make matters worse, Los Angeles is playing a couple of Triple-A level players due to injuries to the likes of Max Muncy and Tommy Edman, to go along with Michael Conforto and Miguel Rojas, who might as well be minor leaguers at the plate these days. That won’t get the job done against Nick Pivetta (2.81 ERA, top 20% strikeout rate & walk rate) and an elite Padres bullpen that has shown up in this series.
As for the hosts, San Diego has flipped the script following last weekend’s humiliating sweep at the hands of Los Angeles on the road. The Padres have seen the ball better on their home field, and they should be expected to scratch off at least a couple of runs against Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who has pitched well this season but has struggled a bit on the road in his most recent outings. San Diego is certainly familiar with Yamamoto, and once we reach the later innings, the Padres clearly have the superior bullpen by a decent margin. I’ll take the home team to complete the sweep in this heated rivalry series.
MLB best bet: Cincinnati Reds ML over Arizona Diamondbacks (+115)
Odds available at DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publishing. Playable to +100.
For my 2nd MLB best bet for today, we’ll focus on this National League matchup between the Reds and Diamondbacks. Cincinnati was demolished in Saturday’s game at Chase Field, but I’m confident in the Reds in this series finale, especially since Arizona running out Zac Gallen (5.28 ERA, bottom 25 percentile barrel rate and hard-hit rate). Gallen is in the midst of arguably the worst season of his career, which doesn’t bode well against a Reds lineup that tagged him for 6 hits and 4 runs (including 3 home runs) earlier this season. As for Cincinnati, the Reds are sending out Brady Singer, who has won 4 of his last 5 outings and has only walked 1 batter or fewer in 6 of his lat 8 starts. Let’s back the visitors as short underdogs to get the job done.
Find out our Reds vs Diamondbacks best bet for today
