This is not a drill, #FAmily. I am indeed providing your MLB Best Bets & Betting Picks for Friday, June 23rd. With a healthy amount of our fantasy baseball season-long and DFS experts getting some much needed R&R this weekend, I’m stepping in to provide some MLB bets to aid you in cashing your tickets heading into the weekend. We have 14 games on tap for Friday with the only two teams being off the slate including the Chicago Cubs and St. Louis Cardinals as they prepare for the 2023 MLB London Series this weekend. But this article is going to target some teams in great matchups against pitchers that tend to struggle on the road for Friday’s slate of games. Be sure to check out all the offerings at FantasyAlarm.com, including our MLB DFS Projections (when considering your own MLB player props), the MLB Weather Center, and our MLB Vegas Odds ahead of tonight’s slate. Here are the MLB Best Bets & Betting Picks for Friday, June 23rd.

 

MLB Best Bets for June 23

Oakland Athletics at Toronto Blue Jays

If you’ve already listened to Friday’s MLB DFS Podcast, you’ll know that I’m interested in attacking James Kaprielian of the Oakland Athletics with a stack of Toronto Blue Jays. But Howard Bender gave me some pause when providing betting analysis against the Oakland Athletics. For starters, the moneyline is never worth taking when predicting the A’s to lose. There’s just no value. And Oakland, while on an eight-game losing streak, was previously on a seven-game winning streak. They’re a bit of a wild card even if they’re way out of contention for the AL Wild Card. Make sense? Of course, it doesn’t. I’d prefer it if the over/under was sitting at 8.5 but I can settle for 9. The implied total for Toronto is 5.06 runs while the Athletics have a 4.28 implied total. James Kaprielian’s sample size on the road is small (only 17.1 innings) but his ERA stands at 7.27 away from Oakland and teams are slashing .282/.414/.479 when Kap is away from home. And to engage the other side of the equation, Chris Bassitt has had his struggles of late. He has pitched much better at home, but in his last six starts (32.2 innings of work) he’s allowed 28 runs to score (22 earned) with 42 hits and nine home runs surrendered in that span. I’ll target the over as we go north of the border Friday night.

Pick: Oakland Athletics at Toronto Blue Jays OVER 9 Runs Scored (-110 DraftKings Sportsbook)

 

Milwaukee Brewers at Cleveland Guardians

Both Howard and myself seem pretty excited about Shane Bieber in this matchup. The Guardians are riding a four-game winning streak and now sit one game back of the Minnesota Twins for the AL Central lead. The strikeouts are a bit down for Bieber, but the Brewers offense is fairly weak as they rank last in the National League in terms of runs scored. Bieber has a 4.58 ERA on the road compared to a 1.89 ERA at home and opposing offenses are only hitting .209 with a .281 SLG when Bieber takes the mound at Progressive Field. So while I don’t love chasing any strikeout props for Bieber, I don’t mind chasing the run line for the Guardians since we’re getting plus-money on it. The Brewers have one of the lowest implied totals on the slate. If you felt better about the moneyline at -150, I wouldn’t fault you. But I’ll roll the dice and step outside my comfort zone a bit and consider Cleveland’s run line.

Pick: Cleveland Guardians -1.5 Run Line (+130 DraftKings Sportsbook)

 

Seattle Mariners at Baltimore Orioles

For this game I’m specifically looking at action on Kyle Gibson. The Mariners come to town and Gibson has recorded seven strikeouts in two of his last three starts. Seattle is striking out nearly 25% of the time against RHP’s over the last couple weeks and Gibson boasts a 7.92 K/9 at home compared to 5.76 on the road. So here’s how I would attack Gibson’s strikeout props on FanDuel Sportsbook tonight.

Pick: Kyle Gibson Over 4.5 Strikeouts (-158 on FanDuel Sportsbook) – 1U

Pick: Kyle Gibson To Record 6+ Strikeouts (+140 on FanDuel Sportsbook) – 0.8U

Pick: Kyle Gibson To Record 7+ Strikeouts (+285 on FanDuel Sportsbook) – 0.6U

The Mariners went scorched earth in the Bronx last night so I’m expecting them to come back to reality against Gibson who thrives in Camden Yards. And if he hits that seven-strikeout threshold as he’s done in two of his last three starts then we’re sitting pretty as long as we’re responsible to our unit size when placing these strikeout props. You can layer the units as you see fit. And you don’t have to chase each prop if you think they get a little too aggressive. As always be mindful of your bankroll and go with just one or two if you aren’t comfortable with all three.

 

Washington Nationals at San Diego Padres

I want to get action on this game in some capacity. Patrick Corbin has been pretty bad regardless of where he’s pitched in 2023. In 15 starts this season, he doesn’t have a single start where he’s held an offense scoreless, or even just to one run. In all 15 starts he’s allowed at least two earned runs. But to his credit, he hasn’t been blown up too bad either. He’s still pitching well into games, but he isn’t striking many batters out and he yields a 1.59 WHIP. So the values on the run line, over/under, and moneyline just aren’t providing much value. But I still like some of the heavy hitting bats to come through for the Padres and think the two player props below present some good value. Tatis ended the series against the Giants going 0-for-10 in his last two games, but I think the value on him simply getting a single is too good on FanDuel. And Manny Machado has a double in back-to-back games and Howard hyped him up quite a bit on today’s MLB DFS Podcast.

Pick: Fernando Tatis Jr.. Jr. To Hit A Single (-106 FanDuel Sportsbook)

Pick: Manny Machado Over 1.5 Total Bases (+110 DraftKings Sportsbook)

** All Bets Are One Unit Unless Specifically Mentioned **