Don't look now, but we've won 6 of our last 8 baseball selections! The Rays pounded the Reds early and often yesterday afternoon. The Cubs also came through for us with a resounding victory over the lowly A's.
Only the Atlanta Braves kept us from a perfect sweep. The San Diego Padres snapped Atlanta's 8-game winning streak, thanks to Juan Soto's massive bomb off of Charlie Morton. Oh well, we'll take 2 out of 3 anytime we can get it.
Let's stay hot with 4 MLB Best Bets for Thursday, April 20. Best of luck with your picks! Let's keep building the bankroll.
Best Bet: Twins (+106)
I'm still trying to figure out why the Twins are the underdogs today in Bean Town. Sure, Boston has been hitting the ball well, but Minnesota has the better overall ball club. The Twins won in convincing fashion yesterday by a score of 10-4, which is a good sign that the offense is coming around.
The pitching matchup clearly favors Minny in this one. Kenta Maeda doesn't have dynamic stuff, but he has a solid FIP of 3.49 and a hard-hit rate of only 36.3%. On the other hand, Tanner Houck has a FIP of 4.53 and a hard-hit rate of 47.2%.
Although both bullpens have been solid, I'd give the edge to the Twinkies in that regard, also. Minnesota relievers have a combined ERA of only 2.75 and a WHIP of only 0.99. Let's play the Twins at this generous price!
Best Bet: Pirates (-159)
Never thought I'd want to lay this kind of price with the Buccos, but they're playing very well to start 2023. It's great to see Andrew McCutchen back, and Carlos Santana was also a nice addition to this lineup. Speaking of Santana, he's hitting .333 with 2 home runs off of Reds starter Luke Weaver.
Even with the loss of O'Neill Cruz, Pittsburgh is still 7th in runs scored and OPS. They also just swept the Rockies at Coors Field and will have plenty of momentum tonight against a divisional foe. The Pirates will send Roansy Contreras to the hill, and although he's had a shaky start, his hard-hit rate is only 36.7%.
Cincy misses Joey Votto's bat and his leadership in a big way. The Reds rank 21st in OPS and 26th in home runs. We'll lay the moderate price with the P'Rats in this one.
Best Bet: Phillies -1.5
Here we are again playing another run line, but hey, it worked out just fine yesterday with the Cubbies. Philadelphia's bullpen has been atrocious so far this season, but their lineup has been knocking the cover off the ball. The Phillies are batting .285 against righties and shouldn't have any trouble teeing off on Colorado starter Ryan Feltner.
Kyle Schwarber is only hitting .197, but he's already smacked 4 home runs this season. Newcomer Trea Turner is hitting .321 through his first 81 at-bats as a Phillie. Look for these two guys to come up big today as Philadelphia begins its homestand.
The Rockies have only won 5 of their first 19 games, and we don't see them turning things around on this road trip. Outside of Kris Bryant and CJ Cron, Colorado doesn't really have any other hitters that'll scare anyone. Let's look for the Phillies to win in a route tonight!
Best Bet: Mets (-120)
Boy, that was a crazy scene with Mad Max Scherzer getting tossed yesterday for using "sticky" fingers. It'll be interesting to see how all of that shakes out. In the meantime, the Metamucils will continue their west coast trip in San Fran. New York is a solid 12-7 on the year, but they've been fighting some inconsistency.
The starting pitching matchup is about even in this one. However, we love the fact that Lindor, Escobar, and Pham have all homered in their careers off of Giants starter Sean Manaea. Manaea has a hard-hit rate of 44.8% and may be on his way back to the bullpen soon.
In the end, we have to trust our numbers, which tell us that this price should be -140 or so. The Mets are arguably a Top 5 team in baseball, while the Giants are a Top 20 team on a good day. Lay the small number with New York!
