Ricky Dimon
The week in Major League Baseball wraps up with a full 15-game slate on Sunday. The lineup features Astros vs Yankees, Mets vs Brewers, Red Sox vs Padres, Blue Jays vs Dodgers and Cubs vs Cardinals. The Pickswise team has been in fine form this season. I’m 59-45-2 record so far in this best bets piece while going 4-for-10 on Same Game Parlays at +481, +632, +439 and +600 odds. Pickswise’s MLB handicapping team on the whole is 121-88-7 on their best bets.
Let’s keep it going as we get into my MLB best bets of the day! Also don’t forget to check out our MLB picks for Sunday.
MLB best bet: Philadelphia Phillies ML over Texas Rangers (-148)
Odds available at Bet365 Sportsbook at time of publishing
The pitching matchup is Philadelphia’s Zack Wheeler against Texas’ Patrick Corbin. Needless to say, there is no need to overthink this one. Wheeler is 9-5 with a 2.64 ERA, 0.92 WHIP and 182 strikeouts with just 28 walks through 139.2 innings. Admittedly, Corbin has been serviceable for the Rangers this season (6-7, 3.91 ERA, 1.31 WHIP). Still, I can’t discount the fact that he was among the worst pitchers in baseball on a consistent basis from 2021 through 2024. Corbin’s ERAs in those years were 5.82, 6.31, 5.20 and 5.62.
Pitching matchup aside, the Phillies are simply the better team overall. They are 8 games ahead of the Rangers in the overall MLB standings and have won 5 of their last 6 games. Their lineup is more dangerous than that of the Rangers and it’s one that should feast on Corbin. J.T. Realmuto is hitting .378 all time against the veteran left-hander; Bryce Harper comes in at .311; Bryson Stott is batting .385 with a triple and a double; Trea Turner is hitting .308 with 2 doubles; Kyle Schwarber has knocked Corbin around to the tune of a .286 average and 2 home runs.
Read our full Phillies vs Rangers prediction
MLB best bet: Chicago Cubs F5 ML over St. Louis Cardinals (-124)
Odds available at FanDuel Sportsbook at time of publishing
Chicago should be in good shape with Shota Imanaga toeing the rubber for the Sunday Night Baseball Game of the Week on ESPN. Imanaga comes in with an 8-4 record and a 3.12 ERA, 1.00 WHIP and 70 strikeouts compared to only 17 walks. The left-hander most recently went up against Cincinnati on Tuesday and threw 6.1 innings of 1-run baseball on 3 hits and no walks while recording 7 strikeouts. He has faced the Cardinals once in 2025, blanking them on 1 hit and 1 walk through 5.0 innings on the way to 3-0 Cubs victory.
Sonny Gray is going for the Cards; he is good, no doubt, but not as good as Imanaga. Moreover, whereas St. Louis isn’t familiar at all with Imanaga, Chicago’s batters have seen Gray a ton of times. Justin Turner is 7-for-13 all time in the head-to-head matchup with 2 home runs and 2 doubles. Ian Happ is 7-for-19 with a homer and 3 doubles; Dansby Swanson is 5-for-14 with a triple and a double; Tucker is 3-for-8 with a double; Suzuki is 3-for-9 with a home run. I like the Cubs, but I like them even more on the F5 money line since their bullpen is weaker than that of the Cardinals and Imanaga is pitching on 1 fewer day of rest than Gray.
