Ricky Dimon
The final week of the 2025 Major League Baseball regular season gets underway with a miniscule 3-game slate on Monday. It includes Nationals vs Braves, Brewers vs Padres and Cardinals vs Giants. The Pickswise team is on an 40-22 run in this MLB best bets series. Let’s build on that momentum and hopefully deliver some more winners today!
Make sure you also check out our MLB picks for every game on Monday, September 22.
MLB best bet: Atlanta Braves -1.5 over Washington Nationals (-108)
Odds available at FanDuel Sportsbook at time of publishing
Atlanta is going nowhere in the grand scheme of things, but it is the hottest team in baseball right now. Winners of 8 straight, the Braves will be inspired to keep this surge going through the end of the regular season even if a playoff appearance is not in their future. They certainly have to like their chances of extending the streak to 9 games since Chris Sale is taking the mound on Monday. Since compiling a 4.75 ERA in April, Sale has been incredible. Over his last 79.2 innings dating back to the start of May, the left-hander has pitched to a 1.25 ERA.
The Nationals are countering with Mackenzie Gore, who is 5-14. They have lost his last 3 starts – including 1 against Atlanta – by a combined 15-1 margin. Washington is 2-8 in his last 10 outings with margins of defeat by 5, 5, 4, 4, 9, 8, 1 and 7 runs. Let’s also not forget that half of the Braves’ victories during their current winning streak have come against the Nationals. The head-to-head dominance should continue by the home team pinning another lopsided loss on Gore.
MLB best bet: San Francisco Giants ML over St. Louis Cardinals (-150)
Odds available at DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publishing
Despite being 2 games under .500, the Giants are still in mathematical wild-card contention – 3 games behind the Reds and Mets in the NL standings. And even if they were out of it, Justin Verlander has too much pride to throw in the towel. Like the Braves, Verlander will want to end his 2025 campaign on an amazing hot streak even of the postseason is not the end result. The 42-year-old righty is absolutely on fire coming down the stretch. Over his last 5 starts he has allowed a grand total of 3 runs in 31.0 innings. San Francisco is 4-1 in Verlander’s last 5 outings and has outscored opponents by a combined margin of 30-9 in those 5.
The Cardinals have alternated losses and wins all the way back to September 13. If that trend continues, they are due for a setback following Sunday’s victory over Milwaukee. St. Louis hands the ball to Michael McGreevy, who has surrendered at least 4 runs in 3 of his last 6 starts. McGreevy is a solid pitcher, but on paper he can’t compete with Verlander. The 25-year-old faced San Francisco on September 5 and allowed 6 earned runs on 9 hits during an 8-2 loss. All signs point to a Giants win.
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