I have to regrettably announce that I won't be handicapping MLB for the rest of the 2024 season. We might as well take our perfect 3-0 record and wait for football season to start...APRIL FOOLS!
Faithful readers of my column know that I love the daily grind of MLB betting, and that I'll do my best to build on last year's profitable campaign of +35 units. I couldn't find any player props that caught my eye, but here are 3 MLB best bets for Monday, April 1. Good luck, sports betting family!
The ever so lovable P-Rats are off to a sizzling 4-0 start to the season. Y'all know that a key component of my baseball betting strategy is to ride team's that are on hot streaks. Pittsburgh definitely fits that criteria.
This is the first time in 40 years that Pittsburgh has started off a season with a 4-0 record, and I think they'll continue to stay hot against the Nats. The Pirates were down 5-0 to the Marlins yesterday before storming back for a thrilling 9-7 win. That's the kind of victory that can carry a team for weeks.
New Pirates first baseman Rowdy Tellez (how can we not love a guy named Rowdy) talked about the good vibes in the clubhouse after the weekend sweep. I know MacKenzie Gore is arguably Washington's best starter, but I just have to ride this Pirates team that's currently averaging 6.6 runs per 9 innings. Give me the hotter team that just happens to be the underdog!
Are they really giving us the defending world champs at an underdog price? Maybe this is too good to be true, but I'm buying Texas in this spot. The Rangers offense has picked up right where they left off, as they're averaging 7.6 runs per 9 innings while batting a torrid .320.
Sure, the Rays can hit the ball too, but they're averaging 5.4 runs per 9 innings while batting .287. I love the fact that Dane Dunning is on the hill for Texas. He has a 1.13 lifetime ERA against Tampa Bay.
Dunning isn't a strikeout guy, but he has a K-rate of 29.7% versus this Rays lineup. Tampa Bay is countering with Ryan Pepiot, a youngster who has good stuff but has a bad habit of walking a ton of guys. That could be problematic against this dynamic Rangers offense. Give me the dog!
Oh yes, let's keep on fading the Oakland Triple A's! I'll be the first to admit that I'm not crazy about Tanner Houck of Boston. That being said, he should fare quite well against this below average Oakland lineup.
Houck doesn't have overpowering stuff, but his ground ball rate was one of the best in the majors last season. This is mainly because he has a nice slider that most big leaguers can't seem to hit sharply. Boston's bullpen has also started off better than Oakland's (4.82 runs per 9 vs 6.00 runs per 9).
Lastly, even though the Red Sox offense has gotten off to a slow start, this is the perfect series for them to get things going. I'm trusting that Rafael Devers and Masataka Yoshida will provide some pop for the BoSox in this one. Let's lay the moderate price here!