It may be Easter Sunday, but the 2023 MLB season doesn’t take a day off and neither do the MLB Best Bets & Betting Picks. Happy Easter to those who celebrate and a Happy Passover to those of you who celebrate that as well. Today, my church/synagogue is baseball and we continue to ride high as we come off another 3-0 day thanks to the Angels, Red Sox and those tasty 16 runs scored in the White Sox/Pirates game. It’s been a great run so far and we’ll look to keep it going. The process won’t change – no gimmicks and no same-game parlays -- so let’s not waste any more time. Let’s recap and then get to the best bets for today.

  • Yesterday’s Record: 3-0
  • Season Record: 23-6
  • Bankroll: +13.66 units

We’ve got a full 15-game slate to look at today with some very interesting pitching match-ups. Here’s what looks good.

 

 

MLB Best Bets for April 9 

Boston Red Sox at Detroit Tigers

We aligned with the Red Sox against these Tigers yesterday and thanks to a 14-run explosion, our money line pick was never really in doubt. We’re going back to this series again, but we’re switching things up due to the pitching match-up. While the Tigers are sporting some of the worst offensive numbers in baseball, they are getting a look at Kutter Crawford who pitches to way too much contact and really isn’t very good. He gave up seven runs over just four innings against the Pirates his first time out and is likely to struggle again today. The Red Sox bullpen is middle-of-the-road at best right now too, so I expect Detroit to score some runs today. Lefty Matthew Boyd takes the mound for the Tigers and while he’s had some success in his career against Boston, the Sox are grooving against southpaws, posting a .391 wOBA against them. They’re also not striking out much against lefties so they should be able to work the count, make contact and force Boyd out of the game after five or six innings. Then the Tigers bullpen with its 6.43 ERA over 35 innings takes over. That should be more than enough for us.

Pick: Red Sox/Tigers over 8 runs (-115 on DK Sportsbook)

Cincinnati Reds at Philadelphia Phillies

After a tough start to the season, the Phillies have been getting back on-track thanks to this home-opening series against the Reds. After a postponement on Thursday, they’ve won the first two games and are riding high on an emotional walk-off for Bryson Stott. They’re striking out less, making harder contact and should be able to put some runs up on the board with their .335 wOBA against righties when they face Connor Overton today. The 29-year-old got beaten up by the Cubs in his debut and is going to have trouble, particularly against these lefty bats. Taijuan Walker could stifle the Reds early on, but the Phillies bullpen has been atrocious so far, posting a 6.52 ERA (second-worst in the majors). If Walker doesn’t go deep into the game, I’m just not sure of them clearing that run-line, especially as the home team. With the expectation of runs on both sides – by the way, the Reds bullpen is equally atrocious – we’ll take another game total.

Pick: Reds/Phillies over 8.5 runs (-120 on BetMGM)

Oakland Athletics at Tampa Bay Rays

With the Rays at 8-0 on the season and facing bottom-feeders like Detroit, Washington and now Oakland, you knew it was just a matter of time before the books started to tighten things up. I’m a big fan of Drew Rasmussen on the mound today and will happily back him against an A’s team that sports a .285 wOBA and 26.1-percent strikeout rate against righties. With the Rays facing James Kaprielian, who was torched for five runs by Cleveland in his debut, and posting a .412 wOBA against righties, we’re obviously backing their bats as well. There’s no value on the money line nor is there on the normal run line. However, BetMGM has an increased run line with solid odds for us to use today and we’re going to bite. After looking at every other game, this was the one I came to for my third bet of the day. There’s obviously some risk here with a higher spread, but the rest of the slate looks pretty tight and, in many ways, too close to call.

Pick: Tampa Bay Rays -2.5 run line (-125 on BetMGM)

**all bets are one unit unless specifically mentioned