Expert Baseball Picks

Burnes gets the check-mark in the pitching match-up while we call the splits with the sticks and the bullpen comparisons about even. However, Burnes certainly seems to pitch in bad luck much of the time, and while San Diego is 16-11 against right-handed starters, Milwaukee is only 6-8 against lefties. Plus, the Padres are catching a home-dog price. We like the betting value with San Diego here. 

In Monday night's matchup between the Giants and Mets, I recommend taking New York on the moneyline. Not only are the Mets the hotter team, but they also have the top batting average vs right-handed pitching. Go ahead and grab New York at +113 on the moneyline.

In today's matchup between the Angels and Athletics, I expect Los Angeles to pick up the win and cover the runline. Even though A's starter Cole Irvin has been pitching well of late, he has done so against some struggling offensive units. In today's matchup, he will be facing one of the league's best hitting lineups vs left-handed pitching. I like the Angels -1.5.

In this matchup between Chicago and Arizona, I recommend taking the Diamondbacks on the moneyline. Zac Gallen has yet to give up more than 2 runs in any of his 6 starts. In addition, he will be facing a Chicago offense that struggles against right-handed pitching, ranking just 25th in home runs, and 20th in batting average.

We're calling this pitching match-up a wash, and while Philadelphia might own an edge in the splits with the sticks, San Diego owns an edge in the bullpen comparison. Also, the Phillies might be without Harper again. So we're playing the Padres Wednesday night at the underdog price. 

Eovaldi may own nicer numbers than Urquidy, but we're calling this pitching match-up a wash. From there, we give Houston edges in the splits with the sticks and in the bullpen comparison. Plus, despite Monday's result, the Astros are just playing the better ball as of late. So we like Houston to even this series up Tuesday night.      

Mikolas gets the check-mark in the pitching match-up, New York owns an edge with the sticks and we’ll call the bullpen comparison about even. From there we’ve been expecting the Mets to level-off a bit following their great start to this season while we also expect St. Louis to improve following a somewhat slow start. So we’re betting the Cardinals here, hopefully at an underdog price.   

We give Rodon the check-mark in the pitching match-up, but we give St. Louis a slight edge in the bullpen comparison while calling the splits with the sticks a wash. So our belief is the line on this game is much too high. Betting baseball is often about finding value on the dime line, and we like the value here with the Cardinals getting the underdog price  

We give Cole the edge in the pitching match-up, and New York gets our handicapping check-mark with the sticks. Plus, the Yankees are just hot. So we like New York here. And in knowing the visitors will bat nine times, we'll play the Yanks against the run line at a price of around +100. 

I worry that the Twins have the better pitching matchup to start the game, but I think the Astros have the better overall pitching team and will be ready to best the Twins for the second straight game. I’m not picturing another shutout in this game, but it’s certainly a possibility with what the Astros have done for much of the past two weeks.

I like Houston’s bullpen to take control here. Give me the Astros.

Most signs point toward Los Angeles here, with Ohtani and some hot Angels sticks. But we have a feeling they might suffer a letdown Wednesday night, following that 12-0 romp Tuesday. Tampa Bay, meanwhile, is a scrappy outfit, with great pitching, and probably embarrassed by its performance over the first two games of this series. And the Rays surely don’t want to get swept. So we’re going with Tampa here at the underdog price.

We're calling this pitching match-up a wash, but we give Atlanta our handicapping check-marks in both the splits with the sticks and in the bullpen comparison. Also, we're expecting the Braves to trend upwards in the near future while Boston just stinks right now. So we like Atlanta for Tuesday night.   

We give Webb the edge in the pitching match-up, but St. Louis owns edges with the sticks and in the bullpen comparison. Also, while the Cardinals have won four of their last five, San Francisco has lost seven of its last eight. And the hot/cold trends mean a lot to us when handicapping baseball games. So we're siding with St. Louis here at the nice underdog price.     

In this matchup, I recommend grabbing the Angels on the runline (-1.5), as the LA offense should be in line for a big scoring night vs Joan Adon. On the season, the Angels are the 9th ranked scoring offense vs right-handed pitching. This includes posting the 2nd best slugging percentage.

We see this pitching match-up as very close, but we give Tampa Bay our handicapping check-marks in the splits with the sticks and in the bullpen comparison. Also, the Rays are going in a good direction, Seattle, not so much, and trends like that mean a lot to us when picking baseball games. So we're betting the Rays Thursday night.  

We give Giolito a slight edge in the pitching match-up and we also expect the White Sox, following a slow start to this season, to begin to pick up the pace. The ChiSox are playing against a wins over/under this season of 91.5, with decent reason, while the Cubs O/U is 75.5, again with decent reason. We’re betting the White Sox here. 

The New York Yankees come into this game as the hottest team in baseball, led by the top-scoring offense in the MLB. In today's matchup, look for the Yankees to keep things rolling, as Nestor Cortes should put up another strong start. To start the year, Toronto's offense has yet to perform up to expectations, ranking 20th in runs scored. Look for the Yankees to win and cover the run line.

Between the two teams, Los Angeles has the advantage on offense, as they rank 10th in runs cored vs right-handed pitching. This includes ranking 10th in batting average vs righties. On the other side, Boston figures to struggle against Noah Syndergaard. Look for LA to pick up the win.