Jackson Merrill Favored Over Paul Skenes for NL Rookie of the Year
August 22, 2024BetMGM Sports Betting App Makes History
August 23, 2024Frustrating is the only word that comes to mind when describing what went down with last Friday’s MLB parlay picks. Though we cashed a nice underdog ticket with the White Sox (+235), easily cashed the over of Spencer Arrighetti’s ER prop, and made oddsmakers at BetMGM Sportsbook look like fools for hanging a 4.5 on Garret Crochet’s K prop, we gave it all back and some after failing to cash a single leg in what I thought would be a pitcher’s duel between Logan Gilbert and Paul Skenes. The three near misses paired with the latter never threatening his 8.5 K prop put us in the red heading into the weekend. I’ll attempt to prevent that from occurring this time around with a new assortment of parlay leg fliers to lock in for Friday night – SLAM YOUR MAN!!
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Cincinnati Reds vs. Pittsburgh Pirates MLB Same Game Parlay:
With the Brew Crew running away with the NL Central pennant, the only option that both the Redlegs and Buccos have to punch a ticket into the postseason is via the wild-card. Presently, Cincinnati sits 5.5-games out after just battling back in the finale to take two of three from the Blue Jays, while Pittsburgh finds itself 8-games off the pace after dropping two of three in Texas. With Skenes going in Thursday’s opener, it’s possible the ‘Natti finds itself trailing in the series heading into Friday’s tilt that pairs Andrew Abbott up against Bailey Falter in a matchup of left-handers.
We’ve rode the Reds’ southpaw on the MLB odds a number of times this season with success, and will do so once again in this spot. This will be his first appearance against the Pirates to date though he threw at them twice last year and allowed eight hits (3 HR) and 4 ER with an impressive 16:2 K/BB ratio over 10.0 combined innings. Pittsburgh is striking out at a near 30% clip against left-handers since August 1! Save for Joey Bart and Bryan Reynolds, the Buccos aren’t a good fastball hitting team which bodes well for Abbott’s 4-seamer which he uses 54% of the time.
You know who is a great fastball hitting team? You get a gold star if you said Cincinnati with a number of their bats possessing impressive run values against the pitch type per Baseball Savant. He throws it 50% of the time and mixes in sliders, curves, and sinkers, and it worked last time out after registering a season-high 8 K against the free-swinging Mariners. Though Cincy owns a 24.6% K rate for the season (#25) and absurd 32.9% K rate against LHP in August (#30), Falter’s only managed 5 K through 11.0 total innings thrown at the Reds over two starts this season. That speaks volumes about his stuff. Cincy gets just enough to take the second game of this extended series!
- REDS MONEYLINE
- ABBOTT OVER STRIKEOUTS
- FALTER UNDER STRIKEOUTS
Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Boston Red Sox MLB Same Game Parlay:
A crucial three-game interleague set is set to open up in Beantown Friday night when the Red Sox welcome the Diamondbacks into Fenway Park with each club out to better their respective wild-card standings. As it stood heading into Thursday, the Snakes three-game road sweep of the Marlins allowed for the reigning NL champs to catch the Padres as the top seed at 72-56. Meanwhile, Boston’s series win in Houston moved the Red Sox to within three-games of the third and final wild-card slot in the American League with 36 games remaining on the docket. It’s clear that both teams have a lot at stake in this series, so the tension will be palpable.
With that, I’m backing the home team in the opener with Brayan Bello seemingly putting it all back together to look like the stud that won 12 games and caught fire against baseball betting lines in the second half of the season. The righty just logged his first win since the middle of July after tossing six innings of 1 ER ball with 6 K at Baltimore. The outing marked his fifth of quality over the last seven tries, and more importantly, moved Boston to 8-1 the last nine times he toed the bump.
Ryne Nelson has made it incredibly tough on the Snakes to revert back to a five-man rotation due to his 2.73 ERA and 55:11 K/BB ratio logged since early July. I fully expect Rafael Devers and Co. to make the decision to do so easier following this start with the righty likely to need more than a 4-seamer to tame a Red Sox lineup that’s crushed RHP to the tune of a .267 average (#2), .329 on-base percentage (#3), and .782 OPS (#2). Nelson’s served up 4 ER in two of his last three road starts, and I don’t foresee the Green Monster being kind. I expect to hear “Sweet Caroline” blaring throughout Fenway deep into the night!
- RED SOX MONEYLINE
- RED SOX OVER TEAM TOTAL
- NELSON OVER EARNED RUNS