Wednesday MLB Betting Picks for August 16 - Ride the Line Ep. #44

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

Wednesday MLB Betting Picks

Grant had to hold down the fort on his own Wednesday but did not lack any passion for the picks. He’s determined to go 3-0 and welcome Tanner back on Friday with an undefeated day on the show.

The first pick of the Wednesday episode is the Texas Rangers’ runline (-1.5) against the Los Angeles Angels. The Rangers have won 12 of their last 14 and covered in nine of those wins, including two wins in this series (12-0 and 7-3). The Angels, meanwhile, have fallen flat on their face recently and are only 4-10 against the spread in their last 14 outings.

Reid Detmers (2-9, 5.27 ERA, 1.41 WHIP) will toe the rubber for the Angels coming off two straight starts where he’s given up seven earned runs. He also had a 6.12 ERA last month and has a 6.70 ERA on the road, where this game is being played. Jon Gray (8-5, 3.65 ERA, 1.19 WHIP) hasn’t been amazing recently but threw a seven-inning shutout in his last start and can rely on a better bullpen than Detmers can.

The second pick of the show is under 8.5 runs in the Detroit Tigers-Minnesota Twins matchup. The Twins’ Kenta Maeda has decent numbers this season, but minus his worst start of the season (in which he gave up 10 earned runs in three innings), he has a 2.75 ERA for the year. He’ll take on Reese Olson who has a 4.45 ERA but threw a six-inning shutout against the same Twins team in his last start.

The under has been a popular trend for both teams in this game. The Twins have hit the under in nine of their last 14, while the Tigers have gone under in 10 of their last 15 and five straight outings. Yesterday’s game also ended 5-3, and Grant doesn’t trust either offense to be consistent enough to drive in the over.

The final pick of the show is the Los Angeles Dodgers -1.5 against the Milwaukee Brewers. Clayton Kershaw and Wade Miley have both been dealing lately, but Kershaw is better overall, and the Dodgers’ bullpen has leaped up to second in combined ERA since the start of July. The effects of that helped them blow Tuesday's game open en route to a 6-2 win.

The Brewers have won a lot of games lately, but they’ve come against the Chicago White Sox, Colorado Rockies, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Washington Nationals. The last great team they faced was the Atlanta Braves, and they went 0-3 in the series and did not cover once. Grant expects a similar trend to continue Wednesday.

Check back on Friday for another episode of Ride the Line with NFL preseason betting picks and more!