Friday MLB Betting Picks and More - Ride the Line Ep. #42

A new episode of Ride the Line with Grant Mitchell and Tanner Kern is now live on all WSN platforms!

Friday MLB Betting Picks

Tanner and Grant returned to their microphones to provide the best MLB betting picks for Friday! The show started with Tanner taking the Milwaukee Brewers -1.5 against the Chicago White Sox largely because Corbin Burnes is on the mound for the Brewers, while the struggling Michael Kopech will go for the White Sox.

Chicago has won four of its last five games but is still not on the same level as the Brewers. Neither team possesses a devastating offense, but Milwaukee is more consistent and has a strong pitching advantage with Burnes.

Grant’s first pick is the Atlanta Braves against the New York Mets. The Braves are an offensive juggernaut and get to start Charlie Morton against Tyler Megill, who is coming off of a month in which he posted a 6.75 ERA. The Braves also have the best bullpen ERA in the league since June 1 and outscore the Mets by more than two runs per game on average since the All-Star break.

The Braves have lost four of their last six, but they’ve kept their bats hot during that stretch. Grant doesn’t believe that the Mets—who are 27th in scoring post-All-Star—have the offensive firepower to stand up for themselves against the Braves.

Tanner’s second pick is the Tampa Bay Rays -1.5 against the Cleveland Guardians. He loves Aaron Civale in a battle against his former employer despite a slow start to life in Tampa Bay and doesn’t like that the Guardians will seemingly use their bullpen throughout the game. He also credited the Rays for regaining their momentum at the plate and thinks they’re in store for a big win.

Grant is more confident in the under in this game because of the Rays’ pitching dominance, and also because both teams struggle to score. The Guardians are averaging just 2.5 runs over their last 12 outings, while the Rays scored a total of 10 in their last three games.

More MLB Bets

Grant’s second pick is the under of 9.5 in the Boston Red Sox-Detroit Tigers matchup. Tarik Skubal has four shutouts in six appearances this season and will take on Chris Sale who, despite a slow start to the season, had a 2.42 ERA in four starts in May before suffering an injury. Sale has, however, thrown six shutout innings with 10 strikeouts and a .94 WHIP in AAA as part of his rehabilitation and is sharp coming back to the Big Show.

The Red Sox have also completely lost their juice at the plate and are averaging just 3.2 runs over their last 13 games. They’ve also hit the under in 11 of their last 16 outings, while the Tigers are a totally inconsistent offensive team and average less than four runs per game since the All-Star break.

Tanner’s final pick is the Texas Rangers’ moneyline against the San Francisco Giants. Jon Gray will take on Scott Alexander before Logan Wood is expected to come in for a long push home, and while Gray has not been amazing, he’s been decent. 

Tanner’s main motivation for this pick is the difference in offensive ability between the ball clubs. The Rangers have asserted their dominance all season and are still swinging the bats well, while the Giants are hitting .205 since the All-Star break.

Grant’s final pick is the Houston Astros -1.5 against the Los Angeles Angels. Justin Verlander will look to continue a dominant stretch back in a town where he won a couple of World Series recently against Reid Detmers, who just had a 6.12 ERA in July.

The Astros are playing their best baseball of the year and are already up 4-2 in the season series. They also score an average of 1.5 runs per game more than the Angels over the last couple of weeks and are fifth in bullpen ERA, whereas the Angels are 20th.

Check back next Monday for a new episode of Ride the Line for more betting picks and good laughs!