Wise n' Shine: MLB picks and CONCACAF Gold Cup predictions for Friday, June 23

Good morning, Pickswise Nation, and welcome to another fantastic Friday of sports. The NBA Draft was a wild one while the Travelers Championship got off to a great start on the links. We also have a busy MLB slate today, so let’s get straight to making your next bet better.

About Last Night

Miller scoots ahead at #2
The NBA Draft produced plenty of entertainment on Thursday and the pivotal moment of the night turned out to be Brandon Miller getting drafted by the Charlotte Hornets at #2 overall, which was our +175 best bet. Miller beat out Scoot Henderson, who was favored to be the 2nd overall pick but is now in Portland alongside Damian Lillard. Elsewhere, Amen and Ausar Thompson went back-to-back at #4 and #5, and Cam Whitmore joined Amen Thompson in Houston at #20.

McCarthy shoots low at the Travelers
Denny McCarthy had a round to remember on Thursday at the Travelers Championship, shooting a 10-under 60 to lead the field after the first round. McCarthy was as high as 80/1 to win the tournament earlier in the week and now sits at +500 behind Scottie Scheffler (+230), who shot a 7-under 63 and sits in 4th place.

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Today’s Slate

15 MLB games on Friday
We are back up to 15 MLB games today, with Pirates vs Marlins at 6:40 pm ET and the Mets vs Phillies at 7:10 pm ET being shown on Apple TV+. Read all of today’s MLB predictions.

Best Bet of the Day

MLB: Boston Red Sox vs Chicago White Sox: Under 8.5 (-110)
8:10 pm ET

The pitching matchup in this one is a sneaky strong one. The home team will turn to Lucas Giolito, who has been surprisingly consistent this season. With only a couple of exceptions, he has been solid in nearly every outing in 2023. The Red Sox’ lineup will present a challenge to him, as Boston is loaded up with left-handed bats and is thus one of the better teams in baseball against right-handed pitching, but Giolito is capable of a strong performance on Friday. Boston will look to Brayan Bello. Bello has been far better than anyone expected, and his 3.49 ERA is backed up by one strong performance after another. He has turned in a ton of quality starts, and Chicago is not great against right-handed pitching anyway. Check out our full Red Sox vs White Sox 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 CONCACAF Gold Cup odds and predictions. Our UFC on ABC 5 best bets and UFC four-fight parlay for Saturday’s big fights are also available.

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 still not won the College World Series since Miami in 1999.

Quote of the Day

“I’m losing everything, it’s like a bad divorce.”

— Amen Thompson describes how he and his brother, Ausar, will handle living apart for the first time. The twins were drafted at #4 and #5 respectively in the first round of the NBA Draft on Thursday.