Wise n' Shine: MLB picks and college baseball predictions for Friday, June 16

Good morning, Pickswise Nation, and welcome to another fantastic Friday of sports. The US Open got off to a great start on the links at LACC yesterday and we also have a busy MLB slate plus college baseball today, so let’s get straight to making your next bet better.

About Last Night

2-0 on YRFI/NRFI  picks
Shohei Ohtani got the win and hit his 22nd home run of the season in the Angels’ 5-3 win over the Rangers, which clinched the series victory too. There were a couple of overtime games, with the Nationals beating the Astros 4-1 in 10 innings and the Dodgers needing 11 to beat the White Sox 5-4. It was a good day for our YRFI/NRFI picks, which went 2-0.

Fowler, Schauffele out in front
The US Open got off to a sensational start with Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele each shooting opening rounds of 62 to record the lowest rounds the tournament has ever seen. Dustin Johnson and Wyndham Clark are 2 shots back with Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau and Scottie Scheffler also in contention, so we look set for a great weekend of golf. Schauffele is FanDuel’s +300 odds morning favorite, with McIlroy at +500 and Fowler and Scheffler at +650.

USA beats Mexico in Nations League
The USMNT advanced to the final of the CONCACAF Nations League A tournament with an impressive 3-0 win over Mexico, but it was no ordinary game, with 4 red cards shown, so the teams ended playing 9 vs 9, while the match was also ended early due to homophobic chants from fans. The US team now plays Canada in the final on Sunday.

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Today’s Slate

15 MLB games on Friday
We are back up to 15 MLB games today, with Pirates vs Brewers at 8:10 pm ET and White Sox vs Mariners at 10:10 pm ET being shown on Apple TV+. Read all of today’s MLB predictions.

College baseball action
We also have College Baseball World Series predictions for today’s games.

Best Bet of the Day

MLB: Cleveland Guardians vs Arizona Diamondbacks Under 8
9:40 pm ET

Arizona’s ace Zac Gallen is 6-0 at Chase Field this season with a 0.96 ERA and a 0.851 WHIP. Opponents have just a .190 batting average, a .229 on-base percentage and a .492 OPS against him during those 7 starts. Gallen will be facing a Guardians lineup that is terrible against fastballs and curveballs, which are Gallen’s bread and butter. Triston McKenzie is back in the Cleveland rotation, and he was spectacular last season with a 2.96 ERA in 30 starts. Since the Arizona lineup has a combined .174 batting average against McKenzie and the Cleveland lineup is hitting only .143 against Gallen, the under looks good. Read our full Guardians vs Diamondbacks predictions.

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Must-read

Our MLB mega parlay and YRFI/NRFI Best Bets for today are ready to read, along with our College Baseball World Series preview. Our soccer picks for tomorrow’s MLS slate are also available, along with our UFC on ESPN 47 best bets and UFC four-fight parlay for Saturday’s big fights.

Read all of our great sports analysis as it arrives throughout the day on the Analysis tab.

Stat of the Day

A #1 seed has not won the College World Series since Miami in 1999.

Quote of the Day

“It’s definitely been long and tough. But it makes it so worth it having gone through that and being back where we are now.”

— Fowler is back after falling to as low as 173rd in the world golf rankings a year ago.