Best NRFI Bets Today: Back a Former Cy Young Contender Against the Athletics

While Shota Imanaga’s chances of winning the NL Cy Young award are non-existent, he can still end the season on a high note with a dominant performance in a favorable matchup against the lowly Oakland Athletics offense. Before that takes place, we target the divisional matchup between the Minnesota Twins and Cleveland Guardians as a pair of productive pitchers are set to take the mound.

For more information about the NRFI market and what factors into them being worth a wager, check out our breakdown of Daily No Run First Inning.

When looking to make a wager on a NRFI, it’s important to have as many sportsbooks as you can get in order to line shop the volatile market. Each sportsbook has their own unique signup bonus, giving new users a head start to their bankroll to wager with. FanDuel Sportsbook for example is giving new users $200 in bonus bets for simply creating an account and making an initial wager of at least $5.

Oakland Athletics vs. Chicago Cubs - Joey Estes vs. Shota Imanaga (7:40 PM, EST)

Under 0.5 Run (-135) at FanDuel

The Chicago Cubs may not be out of the playoff picture just yet, but their hopes of playing in October are on life support as they are 5 games back from the Atlanta Braves for the last wildcard spot and 10 games back from the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Central standings. With 13 games remaining in the regular season for Chicago, the Cubs need to be near perfect while hoping the other current wildcard contenders go through a cold stretch.

Luckily for the Cubs, their defense gets a favorable matchup to help spark a win streak as the Oakland Athletics offense has struggled to play at a competitive level. While the Athletics as a whole have far exceeded preseason expectations by already cashing the over on their win total, their offense has played a minimal part to their success as they rank well below league average in Team Total Hits, RBIs, Total Runs Scored, and On Base Percentage.

The Athletics struggles on offense are poised to persist as they are set to face off against the Cubs Shota Imanaga. Once considered a heavy favorite to win the NL Rookie of the Year award, as well as a contender for the Cy Young, Imanaga quickly fell down the oddsboard after a lengthy cold stretch of play. Post cold stretch, Imanaga has seemingly rounded back into form and has continued to keep opposing runners off the bases and out of scoring position as his ERA of 3.03 and WHIP of 1.017 indicates.

On the other side of the field, the Athletics roll out Joey Estes who has had an unfortunate 2024 campaign. Opposing offenses have continued to maximize their minimal scoring opportunities against Estes as his WHIP of 1.130 does not correlate with his shockingly high ERA of 4.36. With the Cubs offense struggling to make contact at a league average rate, expect positive regression to swing towards Estes way by shutting down the top of their order.

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Minnesota Twins vs. Cleveland Guardians - Pablo Lopez vs. Matthew Boyd (6:40 PM, EST)

Under 0.5 Run (-125) at FanDuel

Shortly before our previously mentioned NRFI kicks off, we target the AL Central divisional matchup between the Minnesota Twins and Cleveland Guardians as a pair of productive pitchers are set to take the mound. While the Guardians playoff hopes look great as they possess a four game lead for first in the AL Central standings, the Minnesota Twins are in a battle for the last wildcard spot as they hold a 2.5 game lead over the Detroit Tigers in the wildcard standings.

Should the Twins want to hold on to their wildcard spot, then their defense must take advantage of the Guardians inability to get on base at a league average rate to help limit their scoring opportunities. Pablo Lopez is certainly capable of doing just that as he has excelled at avoiding opposing contact, taking the mound averaging less than one Hit Against per Inning Pitched while generating a WHIP of 1.134.

As for the Guardians, they roll out Matthew Boyd who has excelled in his minimal appearances so far this season. In six games played, Boyd enters the contest with an ERA of 2.18, a WHIP of 0.909, a FIP of 3.05, just 23 Hits Against, and 8 Earned Runs Allowed. Even if Boyd regresses, expect the Guardians back end to help minimize the damage done as Cleveland’s defense ranks fourth overall in Defensive Efficiency.

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