MLB Betting Picks, Favorite Bets and More - Ride the Line Ep. #31

A new episode of the Ride the Line podcast with Grant Mitchell and Tanner Kern is now live on all WSN platforms!

MLB Betting Picks 7/17

As is tradition, Monday’s show was all about the best MLB betting picks of the day, and for both co-hosts, that started out in a matchup between the Cincinnati Reds and the San Francisco Giants.

Tanner likes the under of 9.5 in the Reds-Giants matchup. He noted that Brandon Williamson is playing better than his numbers suggest, specifically over his last five starts, and he also likes Logan Webb to come in and shut down a Reds offense that has struggled since returning from the All-Star break.

Grant’s favorite bet in this particular game is on the Reds at +1.5. He believes that the value on that runline is too much to ignore given how strong of a team the Reds have proven themselves to be over the last couple of months, even if they have lost four straight and are a young, inexperienced squad.

Tanner’s second pick is the Boston Red Sox to cover the runline against the Oakland Athletics. Paul Blackburn has been one of the A’s more productive pitchers, though he still has not been that great, and the Red Sox offense knows how to score a ton of runs. Tanner believes that the Sox—who are now just 1.5 games out of the final Wild Card spot—will look to take advantage of their inferior opponent and jump up in the standings.

More MLB Best Bets

Grant’s second pick is for the Miami Marlins to take down the St. Louis Cardinals. Both the moneyline and the runline have value here, but Grant believes the Marlins can go all the way to the runline with Jesus Luzardo on the mound against a tired Miles Mikolas that just threw three innings on Friday. Miami has been one of the most impressive and improved teams in the league and consistently takes care of business against lesser teams such as the Cardinals.

Tanner’s final pick of the day is on the Seattle Mariners to take down the Minnesota Twins. Seattle is starting Logan Gilbert against Sonny Gray in what is a strong matchup between starting pitchers—however, Tanner doesn’t like the boom-or-bust style of the Twins’ offense and called out players such as Carlos Correa, Byron Buxton, and others for having poor seasons at the plate. Seattle is also racing to catch up in the Wild Card standings and could use a win Monday.

The show took a minor detour from here to talk about the absurdity of the Twins leading the AL Central with a record that would be dead last in the AL East if they were transplanted there. Situations such as these are going to serve as motivation for an increase in calls for the MLB to abandon automatic playoff qualification through the division and to simply give postseason berths to the teams with the best record, regardless of division or even of league.

The final pick of the show comes courtesy of Grant and is on the Detroit Tigers to defeat the Kansas City Royals. The Tigers are starting Matt Manning against Jordan Lyles, who is 1-11 with an ERA over six thus far. The Royals not only have the worst record in baseball against the spread but are 3-14 ATS in games where Lyles starts, and the Tigers have already beaten the Royals in four of six matchups this season.

Check back for another episode of Ride the Line on Wednesday!