Ricky Dimon
The week in Major League Baseball continues with a full 15-game schedule on Friday. I’m on an absolute heater to start the season, with a 20-10-1 record so far in this best bets piece while going 3-for-5 on Same Game Parlays at +481, +632 and +439 odds. Pickswise’s MLB handicapping team on the whole is 31-14-2 on their MLB best bets. Let’s keep it going as we get into today’s top MLB picks! Also, don’t forget to check out our experts’ MLB picks for Friday’s slate.
MLB best bet: New York Yankees F5 -0.5 over Tampa Bay Rays (-132)
Odds available at DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publishing.
To start off our MLB best bets, I’m targeting the Yankees in the first 5 innings of their game against the Rays. Max Fried is toeing the rubber on Friday, and to say that is good news for the Yankees would be an understatement. The left-hander is 5-0 with a 1.19 ERA in his first season in pinstripes and he has surrendered only 3 earned runs in 33.0 innings across his last 5 appearances. Fried now faces the Rays, who crossed the plate a grand total of 3 times while getting swept at home by Kansas City earlier this week. They have not scored more than 4 runs in any game since April 24.
This a rematch of an April 20 matchup – the same teams and the same pitchers, with Fried facing Ryan Pepiot. The previous meeting went New York’s way in routine fashion, as it led 2-0 through 5 innings en route to a 4-0 victory. Fried fired 7.2 innings of shutout baseball while yielding a mere 2 hits and 2 walks. Let’s eliminate the Rays’ bullpen from the equation (their relievers are fifth league wide in ERA at 2.90) and back Fried to give the home team a lead through 5 innings.
Read our full Rays vs Yankees prediction for today
MLB best bet: Detroit Tigers -1.5 over Los Angeles Angels (+100)
Odds available at FanDuel Sportsbook at time of publishing.
When Tarik Skubal takes the mound, the question is not “should I bet on the Tigers?” The question is: “what bet should I make?” There are plenty of playable options, including Detroit on the -0.5 F5 run line. However, the visitors are guaranteed 9 innings’ worth of at-bats – which makes giving 1.5 runs for the full game more appealing. Moreover, they boast a great bullpen. As such, let’s back them on the -1.5 run line.
Skubal won the 2024 American League Cy Young Award and early returns suggest he will be in contention for it this year. The right-hander is sporting a 2.34 ERA and 1.04 WHIP with a 40-to-5 strikeout-to-walk ratio through 34.2 innings. Skubal will be backed by a Detroit bullpen that ranks fourth in all of Major League Baseball in ERA (2.74). In other words, it’s hard to see the Angels’ lineup finding many – if any – runs on Friday. Los Angeles is countering with Jose Soriano, who is 2-4 with a 4.50 ERA and 1.47 WHIP. He compiled a 5.67 ERA in 5 April outings. Skubal should get enough run support for the visitors to prevail by multiple runs and hopefully deliver another winner for our MLB best bets.
Go big tonight with our MLB parlay picks for today at +894 odds!
