Weekend MLB Best Bets

Save for one huge swing and miss, it was a weekend full of MLB bets bet winners which added to our bottom line for the season. Hats off to Nestor Cortes Jr. who continued his torrid K streak upping his K/9 to 14.4 by going for eight against Cleveland Saturday afternoon to clear all numbers and hand us a loss to kick off the weekend. We bounced back nicely however cashing three straight tickets on the first five and full game over between the White Sox and Twins as well as the Texas Rangers who weren’t nearly as big of underdogs as I expected against Oakland. Sunday kicked off with a nice comeback win by the Rays over the Red Sox with McClanahan dominant as expected. Unfortunately, the weekend closed out with a terrible call on the Padres who got skunked by Los Angeles. I was extremely wary of that pick after San Diego ousted the Dodgers in extras the night prior. Anyway, here’s to cashing in on some more baseball betting goodness at SugarHouse Sportsbook over the weekend – Slam Your Man!

YTD: 12-7 ($554) +197

Saturday MLB Best Bets

Arizona Diamondbacks vs. St. Louis Cardinals

The Redbirds are one of only 11 teams that’ve logged a double-digit win tally to this point of the season. However, Dylan Carlson and Co. only stands 4-3 and down $13 for MLB bettors in their home digs. This series against a bad Snakes outfit should allow for them to get back in the black, and I fully expect them to be in a position to bust out the brooms once Sunday rolls around. But before that, we’re going to back them for the first five innings and full game with the resurgent Miles Mikolas making his second start of the week after taking a no-decision in Monday’s standoff with Max Scherzer and the Mets. Though Merrill Kelly is arguably the Snakes best pitcher, he’s always been better in the desert than on the road. Look for the Cards to get to him early and for the bullpen to seal the deal late after another quality effort from Mikolas.

Seattle Mariners vs. Miami Marlins

We’re yet to see the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner get back into his 2022 form. While Robbie Ray has been more than serviceable in going 2-1 with a 3.91 ERA and .239 batting average against, his 6.4 K/9 is well off the pace of what we’ve seen from the powerhouse lefty over the least eight years. Insert a Miami Marlins offense that’s struggled mightily against south paws in going 1-2 and averaging just 2.7 runs per game. More importantly, they strikeout against lefties nearly 34 percent of the time! Look for the Fish to be just what the doctor ordered to allow for Ray to tally a crooked number. It wouldn’t shock me in the least if he went for 10+ Ks in this spot!

New York Yankees vs. Kansas City Royals

We’ll take a two-pronged attack in Saturday’s matchup between the Yankees and Royals. While the season got out to a tough start for the Bronx Bombers, things look to have gotten back on track with Aaron Boone’s squad logging wins in seven of eight heading into Thursday’s finale with the O’s. I’m expecting a dominant effort to be put forth by Gerrit Cole who seemed to have finally flipped the switch last time out against Cleveland by tossing 6.2 innings of shutout ball while logging a season-high 9 Ks. Carlos Hernandez is yet to log a quality start through four tries, and I don’t foresee the peppering stopping in this one. Cole has dominated KC throughout his career in allowing just 21 hits and 9 ER with 40K over 33+ innings. I like the Yanks in the first five innings and will also target the under of the Royals team total. I’m expecting a sterling effort from the Yanks staff ace and for NY’s No. 6 bullpen to seal the deal once he departs.

Sunday MLB Best Bets

San Diego Padres vs. Pittsburgh Pirates

The Friars brought out the big guns in the first two games of this series with Yu Darvish going Friday and Sean Manaea going Saturday. Former Pittsburgh Pirate Joe Musgrove will close it out, and I suspect he’ll be way up for this matchup against his former team in pitcher friendly PNC Park. Mitch Keller has been every bit as awful as his 0-3 record and 6.62 ERA suggests. However, his last two starts came against Milwaukee. He actually looked great in the first go-round, but got beaten up in the second. I still have high hopes for this kid and think he rises to the occasion in this his fifth overall start. I’ll be targeting the under both for the first five innings as well as the full game so long as I can get 4.5-5 and 8.5-9.

Los Angeles Angels vs. Chicago White Sox

I’ve always thought Michael Lorenzen had the build and stuff to be a front end starter in a rotation. Kudos for the Los Angeles Angels for figuring it out! Save for a blowup outing in his first road start at Houston, the end results have been solid with the righty 2-1 with a 2.93 ERA and 12:6 K/BB ratio. The same can’t be said for the Pale Hose Dallas Keuchel with it looking like the clock has struck 12 on his career. The lefty is 1-2 with a bloated 9.00 ERA through three starts, and he hasn’t sniffed the sixth in any of those outings. LA’s been tough on LHP all season, and I expect Sunday to be no different. Look for Anaheim to take the series lead heading into Monday’s superb pitching matchup between Patrick Sandoval and Dylan Cease.

Philadelphia Phillies vs. New York Mets

Let’s close the weekend slate out with a bang by backing Zach Eflin and the heavily dogged Phillies against Max Scherzer and the hated Mets. Philly has already stared back at Mad Max once this season. Though he logged the win, Bryce Harper and Co. forced him to throw 96 pitches in five innings to send him to the showers early. It was his shortest stint to date! Eflin has been more than serviceable in going 1-1 with a 3.20 ERA and solid 15:4 K/BB ratio. If Philadelphia is to challenge New York for the division pennant already sitting five games back in the standings, this is the type of game that needs to be won. I know it’s early, but this is a huge series for the Phillies after dropping the initial series to the Mets at CBP. I’ll take a stab for the F5 and FG!