A new week in Major League Baseball gets underway with a 10-game schedule on Monday. It includes Padres vs Yankees, Giants vs Cubs and Mets vs Diamondbacks. The YRFI/NRFI market is extremely popular in baseball betting. After all, you don’t have to sit around for 3 hours to see if your wager hits; the satisfaction (or in some cases disappointment) is immediate. It all comes down to the first inning.
I’m on an absolute heater in the early stages of the season, with a 22-11-1 record on best bets while going 3-for-5 on Same Game Parlays at +481, +632 and +439 odds and 4-0 on YRFI/NRFI plays. Here are my favorite YRFI/NRFI bets for Monday, and also be sure to check out all of our MLB picks.
The Diamondbacks are expected to start Ryne Nelson on Monday night as the opener of a bullpen game. Nelson is saddled with a 5.82 ERA and the Mets absolutely own him. Brandon Nimmo is 4-for-7 lifetime with a homer; Francisco Lindor is 4-for-8 with 1 home run and 2 triples; Pete Alonso is 4-for-9 with 3 dingers; Juan Soto is 3-for-12 with 2 HRs and a triple.
Griffin Canning has been solid for the Mets, but he faces a Diamondbacks squad that is scoring in the first inning a third of the time. The top 2 guys in Arizona’s lineup (Geraldo Perdomo and Corbin Carroll) on Sunday combined to go 6-for-11 with 6 RBIs and 3 runs scored during an 11-9 win over Philadelphia. All things considered, each club has a good chance to cross the plate right away in this one.
Read our full New York Mets vs Arizona Diamondbacks prediction
Both Bryce Miller and Luis Severino are getting along quite nicely so far this season. Miller has compiled a 3.52 ERA for Seattle with 31 strikeouts through 30.2 innings. Two of his last 3 outings have featured 5.0 innings of shutout baseball and he has worked 5.0 innings with no more than 1 run allowed in 3 of his last 4 starts. For Oakland, Severino is sporting a 3.30 ERA and 1.17 WHIP. He has logged at least 6.1 innings with 2, 1 and 0 runs given up in 3 of his last 4 appearances.
The matchup for each pitcher should be favorable. The Athletics are putting at least 1 run on the board in the first inning just 29.41 percent of the time in 2025. Lawrence Butler is 2-for-4 with a homer off Miller, but nobody else has ever done anything against him. He pitched to the NRFI against Oakland on March 30 and was one-third of an inning away from earning a quality start. The Mariners have operated at an effective level in the first inning this year, but they were completely shut down when they previously faced Severino (6.0 innings, 3 hits, 0 runs).
Don’t miss our expert’s MLB best bets for today’s action — he has an INSANE 12-4 record this season!
