We split a pair of baseball selections yesterday, and we're ready to roll with Friday's big slate of games. Dylan Cease just barely stayed under his strikeout prop to give us a victory. Unfortunately, we ended up losing the game total by half a run.
Here are 3 MLB Best Bets for Friday, July 28. Let's start the weekend off on the right foot. Good luck with all of your action on the diamond this weekend.
Best Bet: Guardians (-134)
There's an interesting twist with this game involving White Sox starter Touki Toussaint. The young righty was released by Cleveland a few weeks ago and the Chi-Sox picked him up off of waivers. Though Toussaint will be fired up to face his former team, his walk rate of 16.7% is more than a bit alarming.
Cleveland hasn't announced a starter, but it looks like it'll be Xzavion Curry, who is 3-0 this year with a 2.98 ERA. Even if the Guards don't go with Curry, they still have a huge bullpen edge in this matchup. Cleveland relievers are only allowing 4.04 runs per 9 innings, while Chicago's pen is allowing 5.24!
Also, the Guardians offense has been on fire lately. They've scored 19 runs in their last 3 games and we don't think they'll slow down against this depleted Chi-Sox pitching staff. Let's lay this moderate price with the much better ball club.
Best Bet: Mariners (-124)
I've thought all year long that this Arizona team has been playing above their heads. That thought has proven true of late, as the D'Backs have won just 3 of their last 10 games. Seattle has done much better, going 6-4 over that same span.
This one comes down to a good ole starting pitching edge. I trust Logan Gilbert a whole lot more than Tommy Henry. Gilbert has a K-rate of 24.4% and a walk rate of only 4.4% this year. Henry clocks in with a 16.3% K-rate and a walk rate of 9.6%.
The Mariners also have a pretty substantial bullpen edge in this contest. Seattle relievers have an ERA of 3.71, while Arizona's are at 4.57. Look for Julio Rodriguez to keep swinging a hot bat and for the M's to take this one.
Best Bet: Red Sox (+130)
Let's see. You're giving me the better offense at a nice juicy underdog price? I'll bite! This Boston team has been on a roll lately. They've won 7 of 10 and they just swept the Braves in a 2-game series.
The Giants are a good ball club and Logan Webb is pretty good. However, Webb was just lit up by the Nationals for 6 earned runs last Saturday. That's not a good sign for San Fran. Webb's hard-hit rate of 45.7% is also a little concerning.
Kutter Crawford, who oddly enough has a nice CUTTER, has a hard-hit rate of only 36.3%. Crawford's expected batting average is also pretty low, at .225. The bullpens are fairly even. Let's take the Red Sox and hope for a big night from Rafael Devers.
