Friday’s Major League Baseball Previews, Predictions & Picks

Jason Radowitz gives you his three best bets for Friday. In his last four best bet articles, Jason has nearly doubled his earnings going 9-3 in his last 12 bets.

Register an account at William Hill using bonus code EXPERTVIP50 to receive up to $50 in Free Bets.

We did it again! Another profitable day here at American Betting Experts. We saw some new faces on some new teams. Prospects are starting to get the call to the majors. There’s no better time for baseball than August. This is where contention heats up and the tension rises. The Reds and Pirates brawled a couple nights ago. In total, players involved in the brawl will miss 40 games, including each team’s managers! David Bell of the Reds will miss six games while Clint Hurdle will miss two. Managers apparently can’t appeal these suspensions. This is something to look at for the next few games for those two ball clubs. The New York Mets have won a league-leading seven games straight. They’re now just for games out of the wild card. Maybe buying Stroman at the deadline was a good move after all! Of course, as you can tell, the MLB is getting interesting! Here are my picks for Friday as I look to continue my hot streak. 

Red Sox @ Yankees 7:05 pm

Last week the New York Yankees (59-51) and Boston Red Sox (68-39) played a four-game series at Fenway Park in Boston. The totals of the four games were: 22, 15, 14, 17. The over/under line is set at 10.5. Eduardo Rodriguez (13-4 4.13 ERA) will take the mound for the Red Sox after getting swept at home against the Tampa Bay Rays. On the other side, James Paxton (5-6 4.72 ERA) will take the mound for the Yankees after allowing seven earned runs to Boston in his last outing on the road. Rodriguez had a very good July going 5-0 with a 2.02 ERA. The only game he struggled a little bit was against the Yankees surrendering three runs in five and two thirds innings. In Rodriguez’s two starts against the Yankees, he sports a 4.09 ERA and while he’s struck out 10 in 11 innings, he’s also walked seven. If he walks the Yankees early, it’s not going to be pretty. I’ll take the over for this game. Red Sox and Yankees are slugging right now. There’s no stopping them. Plus, neither team made a move to bolster their inept bullpen at the deadline.

Yankees/Red Sox OVER 10.5 -110 @ FanDuel

Reds @ Braves 7:20 pm

The Atlanta Braves (64-45) will be facing the Cincinnati Reds (50-56) in the first game of a three game weekend series. Kevin Gausman (3-6 5.97 ERA) has had a year to forget. Oddly enough, the Braves have won 5 of their last 8 with Gausman on the mound. They’re 4-1 in his last five home starts and 7-0 when Gausman pitches on full rest. The Reds will be sending out Alex Wood (0-0 3.86 ERA) who will be making just his second start of the year after a back injury that sidelined him all of the first half of the season. Wood went 4.2 innings his last time out, not even able to get five full innings. Braves batters are hitting .337 with a solid sample size of 98 at bats. After all the shenanigans that have went down with the Reds recently, I expect them to struggle against a very good Atlanta Braves team that plays well when Gausman pitches at home. 

Braves Moneyline -150 @ Fanduel 

Nationals @ Diamondbacks 9:40 pm

The Washington Nationals (57-51) will travel to Arizona to start their three game series in the desert. The Diamondbacks (54-55) will be sending out Robbie Ray (9-7 3.91 ERA), a guy that was all over the trade market at the deadline, but stayed put. Instead, he watched Greinke get traded to the Astros. Ray has now taken over as the D-Backs ace. He’ll face off against Joe Ross (0-3 9.85 ERA). Ross has been dreadful this year. In his last two outings, the Nats lost 7-1 and 9-3 respectively. I expect the same in this game. I’m still going to bet against Ross, although his road stats are better than home stats. Ross is also way worse against lefties, something the D-Backs somewhat lack. Like yesterday, Zack Wheeler threw 7 shutout innings for the Mets after not being traded. I expect the same from Robbie Ray with the D-Backs. 

Diamondbacks Moneyline -150  @ FanDuel