Friday MLB Best Bets and Favorite Picks! - Ride the Line Ep. #39

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MLB Friday Betting Picks

After a few words of encouragement to the U.S. Women’s National Team at the World Cup, Grant and Tanner dive into their favorite betting picks of the Friday MLB schedule. Tanner kicks it off by taking the under of 10 runs in the Boston Red Sox vs Toronto Blue Jays game, one which he will be attending in person.

Alek Manoah has been awful for the Blue Jays but has been decent on the road and has decreased his ERA to a 4.34 in a four-game stretch since returning from the minor leagues. Sox starter James Paxton has also been excellent his season and, aside from giving up six earned in three innings, has a 2.04 ERA across nine of his last 10 starts.

Grant’s first pick is the over of eight runs in the Los Angeles Dodgers-San Diego Padres matchup. The Dodgers have hit the over in 11 of their last 15 while the Padres, despite trending under, are scoring 5.33 runs per game during the same stretch. 

Bobby Miller (6-2, 4.37 ERA, 1.19 WHIP) and Yu Darvish (8-7, 4.53 ERA, 1.29 WHIP) will get the start in this one and have the responsibility of slowing down the second and fourth-ranked offenses post-All-Star break. The Dodgers bullpen is also fairly weak, and that combined with the offensive power at play and the low line is enough of a reason to go over.

Tanner made it three for three with totals to start the show and picked under 8.5 runs in the Minnesota Twins-Arizona Diamondbacks showdown. The D-Backs have not scored more than four runs in their last seven games and were shut out by the San Francisco Giants in their last game, while the Twins are streaky but rely heavily on their ability to hit home runs to score.

The Twins will have a tough time hitting balls out of the park against Merrill Kelly, who gives up less than one home run per nine innings and averages more than a strikeout per inning.

More Friday MLB Bets

Grant’s second pick is the Baltimore Orioles -1.5 against the New York Mets. The Mets just lost all three games in their recent series against the Kansas City Royals, one of the worst teams in baseball, and look totally lifeless after trading Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, and others. The Orioles, meanwhile, are 13-7 since the All-Star intermission, the second-best record in the league.

David Peterson will get the start for the Mets despite having a 6.57 ERA as a starter this year. He’ll take on Dean Kremer, who had a 3.45 ERA in July and won every game he appeared in. The O’s are also 11th in scoring since the break, while the Mets are 25th. Grant loves the Orioles to get a big win here.

Tanner’s final pick is also from this game, but it is on the Orioles’ first-five-inning moneyline. He too believes Baltimore is in for a strong outing against a Mets team that is only 24-35 on the road, especially with the way the Mets have looked as of late.

The final pick of the show is Grant’s contentious choice of under 8.5 runs in the Atlanta Braves meeting with the Chicago Cubs. 

Grant explained that this pick was made to counteract the oddsmakers trying to “trick: him. The Cubs and Braves rank first and fourth in scoring since the All-Star Game and are first and second in home runs and slugging percentage during that same stretch. Both of the pitchers are also either coming off of their worst starts or worst months of the season, which makes it even more confusing why the line is set so low.

Tanner views this as a “stay away” and a bit of a trap.

Check back next week for new episodes of Ride the Line with MLB betting picks and more!