After a blistering 12-2 run in baseball, we're now 29-18 on the year. Yesterday was kind to us, as we ended up a perfect 2-0 with some daytime action. The Tigers spoiled Justin Verlander's homecoming, and the White Sox cashed our First 5 ticket over the Twins (even though they blew the game in extras).
Let's keep it rolling with 4 MLB Best Bets for Friday, May 5. Good luck with your bets, and have a great weekend!
Best Bet: Blue Jays (-135)
The Pirates have been off to a surprisingly good start, and Rich Hill seems to have resurrected his career. While we're happy for the P'Rats and Hill, we're fading them tonight.
Toronto is batting .269 against lefties, and we think they'll find a way to get to Hill in this one. Brandon Belt and Danny Jansen have both homered off of Hill in their careers.
The starting pitching matchup is about even. Chris Bassitt has a rather high FIP of 5.76, but his hard-hit rate is only 33.7%. We do like that Bassitt's WHIP is only 1.24, which means his command has been decent thus far. Toronto has lost 5 in a row, but we think they will break that streak tonight in Pittsburgh.
Best Bet: Rays -1.5 (+118)
This Yankees team just can't seem to get things going. They're only 17-15 this year, and now Aaron Judge has joined Giancarlo Stanton on the IL.
Meanwhile, the Rays continue to be the best team in baseball at 26-6. Tampa is also an insane 17-2 at home this season, and their bats show no signs of slowing down.
New York will send Jhonny Brito to the mound, and to say he's been hittable would be an understatement. Brito has an ERA of 5.56 and a FIP of 4.47. Tampa Bay will use Yonny Chirinos as an opener tonight. He's got a tiny ERA of only 0.64 and a WHIP of 0.57! Let's play the run line with the Rays!
Best Bet: Royals (-148)
The fade A's train has been good to us, so we'll keep riding it, even with a putrid offense like Kansas City's. The Royals are just 8-24, but they have a huge pitching edge across the board in this one.
Brad Keller is 2-2 on the year with a nice ERA of 3.56, and we think he'll have no problems against this anemic Oakland lineup. The A's are hitting just .209 against righties while scoring only 3.47 runs against them.
We mentioned KC's offensive struggles, but they hit lefties better than righties (.248 vs .222), and they score more runs against them (4.40 vs 3.51). The Royals should be able to knock Kyle Muller around pretty well. Muller has a FIP of 5.46 and a hard-hit rate of 49.4%!
Best Bet: Dodgers (-106)
To finish out the week, let's roll with Clayton Kershaw and the Boys in Blue. The Dodgers started out slowly, but they've won 8 of their last 10, and their bats have woken up!
Freddie Freeman (.318, 2 HR) and David Peralta (.417, 3 HR) have destroyed Yu Darvish in their careers, so that's another plus for us. Darvish has started off pretty well this year, but we can't ignore that LA is averaging over 6 runs per game against righties.
Kershaw just doesn't seem to age, as he's 5-1 with an ERA of only 1.89. The 35-year-old currently leads MLB in WHIP (0.76), and he's struck out 41 hitters through 38 innings this year. San Diego hits lefties pretty well, but we don't see them doing much against Kershaw tonight.
