Best MLB Bets Today: Pitching Highlights Thursday’s Matchups

We have a pair of great bets involving some of baseball's best pitchers. The first is an NL Central battle between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Milwaukee Brewers. The other is an AL West duel between the Seattle Mariners and Los Angeles Angels. 

Below, we will share our favorite bet for both of the above games. We’ll use odds taken from FanDuel Sportsbook, which offers new players a welcome bonus of $200 in Bonus Bets when they sign up and make an initial winning wager of $5+.

MLB Best Bets Today: Pirates vs. Brewers (2:10 PM EST)

Pirates ML (-124) at FanDuel Sportsbook

The Pirates’ record remains below .500, but this is a very dangerous team. Although their offensive numbers rank in the league's bottom half, they have been putting up some impressive totals since mid-June. 

Bryan Reynolds (.280 BA, 17 HR, 56 RBI) is putting up another great season, while 25-year-old Oneil Cruz (.247 BA, 14 HR, 41 RBI) is turning into the star the Pirates hoped he would be. The duo leads a streaky lineup, but five the Pirates, two very dangerous batters.

We like the Pirates to put up another impressive total tonight with Aaron Civale (2-6, 5.18 ERA) on the mound for the Brewers. Milwaukee acquired the struggling righty from the Rays, but he put up a dud in his debut. Civale could turn his career around with the Crew, but the Pirates' .254 average against him signals that turnaround won’t start tonight.

We also love this bet because Paul Skenes (5-0, 2.12 ERA) will be starting for Pittsburgh. The 22-year-old rookie has been elite, and he’ll see the Brewers for the first time. While Milwaukee’s lineup has been fantastic, they have cooled off over the last week and will take time to figure Skenes out.

Bet on Pirates ML (-124) at FanDuel

MLB Best Bets Today: Mariners vs. Angels (9:38 PM EST)

Under 0.5 Runs (-142) at FanDuel Sportsbook

This matchup has all the components for an easy under bet tonight. To begin with, both of these teams are struggling at the plate, ranking toward the bottom of the league in batting average and runs scored. Those struggles will be on full display tonight with two fantastic pitchers on the mound.

The Mariners will send veteran Luis Castillo (7-9, 3.72 ERA) to the mound tonight. The righty had a rough June, but he opened July by allowing just one run over 6 ⅔ innings against the Blue Jays. We like him to post a similar performance tonight against an Angels team he held scoreless over seven innings last month.

The Angels will have Tyler Anderson (8-8, 2.81 ERA) starting opposite Castillo. The 24-year-old was awful for the Angels last season but has been one of the best pitchers in the league in 2024. He too had a rocky June (4.15 ERA), but he bounced back last week to throw eight scoreless innings on the road against the Cubs.

As bad as Anderson was last season, he fared well against the Mariners. He allowed two runs over five innings in a loss, but that came against a Mariners lineup hitting the ball well. That isn’t the case this season, with Seattle ranking dead last in the league in batting average.

Bet on Under 0.5 Runs (-142) at FanDuel

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