After a Thursday slate of baseball that only had five games, Friday’s Major League Baseball schedule doesn’t just feature every single team but also a number of aces including the Yankees’ Gerrit Cole, the Mets’ Max Scherzer, the Rays’ Shane McClanahan, and the debut of newly acquired Angels’ starting pitcher Lucas Giolito.
With an abundance of stud starters on the bump, sports bettors need to be cautious about putting too much faith in a “brand name” when determining which teams deliver the best opportunities to cash-in on the day’s action. Let’s review a few of the games that we believe offer that winning advantage.
New York Yankeees (-125) @ Baltimore Orioles (+105) – 7:05 PM EST
The Yankees are in Baltimore to start a series against the Orioles with Gerrit Cole opposing Grayson Rodriguez.
Cole has only one previous start this season against Baltimore, but it was an ugly one with 5 earned runs over five innings pitched, while allowing two home runs, three walks, and only registering two strikeouts. Baltimore hitters had six hits against Cole in that start on May 23rd, and lifetime against Cole, the hitters on Baltimore’s roster have a combined .284 batting average against him.
Fortunately for the Yankees, the Orioles starting pitcher, Grayson Rodriguez, has been struggling of late. In July, the rookie has gone winless with a 5.06 ERA over 10.2 innings pitched with four walks, ten strikeouts, while allowing a .263 OBA.
One additional note, the OVER is 18-12-1 in Baltimore’s games against the AL East this year. The OVER is 16-13-1 in the Yankees games this year against division opponents.
MLB Best Bet for July 28th: Over 8.5 Runs (-115)
Washington Nationals (+160) @ New York Mets (-190) – 7:10 PM EST
The Washington Nationals travel to Queens to play the New York Mets and former Nationals ace and future Hall of Famer, Max Scherzer. Opposing Scherzer is the Nationals Mackenzie Gore who has struggled in the month of July.
Thus far, Gore has a 2-1 record with a whopping 7.04 ERA over 15.1 innings pitched. Plus, he’s given up three dingers, walked seven, and opponents hitting .279. Gore will need to reverse his recent trend of disappointing performances if he’s going to keep pace with Scherzer.
In his lone appearance against the Nationals this season, back on May 14th, Mad Max earned the win while allowing just one run over five innings with no home runs, two walks, and six strikeouts. He held Nats hitters to just two hits.
On top of the pitching advantage for the Mets in this game, the Nationals are just 9-16 in NL East games this year – that’s the 5th worst record against division opponents in Major League Baseball.
MLB Best Bet for July 28th: New York Mets ML (-190)
Boston Red Sox (+120) @ San Francisco Giants (-140) – 10:15 PM EST
Finally, the scorching hot Red Sox travel west to San Francisco to play the Giants. The starting pitching matchup for the opener of this series is Kutter Crawford for Boston and Logan Webb on the mound for the Giants.
Though Crawford is lesser known and Webb has been successful over the past few seasons, don’t overlook the Red Sox right-hander. Crawford on the road this year has been surprisingly good with a 4-3 record, a 2.48 ERA over 40 innings pitched, allowing six home runs, eight walks, collecting 42 strikeouts, and holding hitters to just a .215 OBA.
On the other side, Logan Webb has struggled of late going 0-1 with an 8.64 ERA over his last 15 days in which he’s had 8.1 innings pitched. Those struggles include three home runs allowed, one walk, nine strikeouts, but allowing a .273 OBA. And, despite being on the road, the Red Sox are 28-21 on the run line as the road team this year while the Giants are 25-25 on the run line as the home team.
MLB Best Bet for July 28th: Boston Red Sox +1.5 (-175)
You can make all of these bets at either a legal sportsbook in your jurisdiction, a legit social sportsbook like Fliff, or an online sportsbook and casino like Stake which has a great monthly bonus.
