Ricky Dimon
The week in Major League Baseball wraps up with a full 15-game slate on Sunday. It features Phillies vs Braves, Blue Jays vs Red Sox, Cubs vs Astros and Twins vs Tigers. The Pickswise team has been in fine form so far this season. I’m 42-32-2 record so far in this best bets piece while going 4-for-8 on Same Game Parlays at +481, +632, +439 and +600 odds and 6-2 on YRFI/NRFI picks. Pickswise’s MLB handicapping team on the whole is 78-58-6 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’s slate.
MLB best bet: Philadelphia Phillies vs Atlanta Braves Under 8.5 (-110)
Odds available at FanDuel Sportsbook at time of publishing
How bad has the Phillies’ offense been (aside from 1 breakout game on Friday against a minor-league caliber pitcher)? Well, they have scored 1 run or fewer in a ridiculous 4 of their last 5 contests. Missing Bryce Harper (out since June 6 with a wrist issue) has not helped. Now they have to face Spencer Strider, who is much better than his 4.07 ERA suggests. Strider is returning from an elbow injury that forced him to miss basically all of last season, so he understandably struggled early in 2025. Over his past 3 outings, though, the right-hander has allowed only 4 earned runs in 17.9 innings while recording 29 strikeouts.
The visitors are going with Ranger Suarez, who has absolutely owned the Braves in the past. Ronald Acuna Jr. is by far Atlanta’s best player right now, but he is just 4-for-21 lifetime against the southpaw. Suarez has been good against pretty much every team so far this year; he enters Sunday with a 6-2 record and a 2.08 ERA. The Braves won 6-1 on Saturday and another low-scoring affair should be in the cards.
Read our full Phillies vs Braves prediction
MLB best bet: Detroit Tigers -1.5 over Minnesota Twins (-126)
Odds available at DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publishing
Even though the Tigers will probably bat only 8 times as the home team, they should still have no trouble beating the Twins by multiple runs on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball. First and foremost, Tarik Skubal is toeing the rubber for Detroit. Skubal is 9-2 with a 2.29 ERA, 0.87 WHIP and 125 strikeouts compared to just 13 walks in 102.0 innings. The Tigers are an amazing 10-1 in his last 11 starts and have won by 2 runs or more on 7 occasions during this stretch – including 4 times in a row.
There is no reason to think that anything will change today. Detroit is the best team in baseball at 52-32 (tied with the Dodgers), while Minnesota comes in at 40-43. The Twins are an especially bad 18-26 on the road following Saturday’s 10-5 loss at Detroit. Chris Paddack (3-6, 4.64 ERA) gets the ball for the visitors and he is saddled with a 5.48 road ERA so far this season. Don’t overthink this one; let’s back the Tigers to win big.
