It's a new week for me on the MLB Best Bets and I am coming in on cloud 9 after the weekend I had in betting! From Friday to Sunday it was a 9-2 stretch that saw profit of 4+ units and pushed the season average back into the green! Hoping that a couple days off didn't break any momentum as this slate for today is loaded with angles to exploit and throw some money at, which is what I intend to do. Today's writeup features a team total, hitters prop, strikeout prop and a game total that I would like to go over! Thank you to all that are following along on this wagering journey its been a fun ride so far, here are today's bets for August 9th. 

  • Sunday's Record: 3-0
  • Season Record: 68-58-3
  • Bankroll: +2.19 units
 

MLB Best Bets for August 9

Kansas City Royals at Boston Red Sox

There is little doubt that the Red Sox goofed up at the trade deadline when they stood by and watched other teams get better while doing nothing. They have seen that decision result in a slide as they have lost 8 of the last 10 games and their playoff hopes are on life support. For these reasons I don't want to pick Boston to win but I do like the matchup they have tonight from other betting perspectives. The Red Sox offense despite the slide is one of the best offensive teams at home this season scoring 4.88 runs per game. That is a good base stat but they will also be going up against Jordan Lyles who is starting for the Royals tonight with his 3-12 record and 6.24 ERA. That has given Boston a projected run total of 5.19 today according to the model and that number is even higher in Vegas at around 5.8 runs. That'll make their team run total of 5 runs on the books firmly in play and one I will be betting on. Let's not stop there though as the runs are expected so let's tack on a player prop. One of the best hitters in this lineup is Masataka Yoshida and he is even better against right handed pitching this season hitting .310 with an OPS of .846. He also has 39 of his 55 RBIs this season against righties. Looks like he will be batting 2nd in the lineup tonight so plenty of at bats are coming his way so go over on his hits, runs, RBIs prop of 2.5!

Pick: Boston Red Sox Team Total Over 5 (-155 on Bet365)

Pick: Masataka Yoshida Over 2.5 Hits/Runs/RBIs (+120 on DraftKings)

San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Angels

Anytime that Ohtani is on the mound your going to have my attention if not just from a pure baseball standpoint but it's even better when he pitches against a team that strikes out as much as the Giants have this season. Granted that in his last 5 starts Ohtani has only topped his K prop line of 7.5 of tonight just twice but the previous start was a fluke as he was done after 59 pitches and the other games he was up against Houston and San Diego, the Giants are not like those team one bit. The Giants score 4.44 runs per game, that's around the middle of the league but they nearly top the league in strikeouts per game at 9.42 times a night. They have been even worse recently too as they've fanned 11 times per game over the last 3 contests. Ohtani has his work cut out for him and getting to 8 strikeouts won't be a walk in the park but the plus money odds should make the medicine go down easier. 

Pick: Shohei Ohtani Over 7.5 Strikeouts (+110 on PointsBet)

Texas Rangers at Oakland Athletics

As we run through the month of August in the MLB many teams are jostling for playoff position but the Texas Rangers are not one of those teams. They sit at 68-46 on the season heading into today and must have pushed all the right buttons at the trade deadline because they've now won 8 straight games! The pitching being much improved has definitely helped but the offense continues to carry the torch as they've scored a league high 5.75 runs per game. According to the model too they are projected even more runs than normal today as they sit at 5.89 and on the books they carry an implied number of 5.58. I see them getting 6-7 runs in this game without too large of an issue so I am already looking at the over in this game and the one hangup would be the Oakland offense but even they hold a projected run total of 3.9 runs! Those two combined we are looking at a projection of 9.79 runs for this game and the total is 8.5 on the sportsbooks so with that large disparity I will be taking the over in this game. 

Pick: Rangers & Athletics Over 8.5 Runs (-110 on BetMGM)

**all bets are one unit unless specifically mentioned.