Caleb Wilfinger
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After a quieter Thursday around Major League Baseball, Friday has a much larger slate. With that comes plenty of opportunities on the card to create a 3-team mega parlay. This parlay could pay out at over 8/1 odds at FanDuel Sportsbook, so be sure to check this out.
But before we dive in, be sure to read our MLB picks for every MLB side and total today.
Let’s get into our mega parlay for Friday and break down each of the legs one by one.
St. Louis Cardinals -1.5 (+112) over Pittsburgh Pirates
The Cardinals have been slumping, but the Pirates represent a good opportunity for St. Louis to pick up momentum heading into the playoffs. To the surprise of no one, the Pirates are 10-16 in September and have dropped their last 6 road games. In the Pirates’ last 6 games against winning teams, Pittsburgh lost all 6 by a combined 28 runs. That is an average loss of 4.67 runs against teams over .500, which doesn’t bode well for today’s matchup.
One team the Cardinals consistently pick on is the Pirates, and that hasn’t changed in 2022. The Cardinals are 13-3 over the first 16 games in this season series with a +33 run differential. St. Louis is also 8-5 against the spread against Pittsburgh in that span. This game shouldn’t deviate from those results, as Jack Flaherty will get the start for the Cardinals and Johan Oviedo gets the ball for the Pirates. St. Louis is familiar with Oviedo, as he was on the Cardinals’ roster prior to being part of the trade that brought over Jose Quintana. While Flaherty is still trying to find his best stuff, he profiles well against a less unproductive Pirates lineup. Look for St. Louis to capitalize on a great spot in this matchup.
Read our full Pittsburgh Pirates vs St. Louis Cardinals predictions
Detroit Tigers ML (+126) over Minnesota Twins
The Tigers have quietly put together a solid final month of the season. Detroit has tallied its most wins of any month this season in September and the Tigers are 8-1 in their last 9 games entering this series. During that span, the Tigers have scored 47 runs for an average of 5.22 runs per game. On the other side of the ball, Detroit has allowed just 23 total runs over the course of the last 9 games, good for an average of just 2.56 runs surrendered per game. This stretch of beating teams by an average of 3 runs across longer than a week span is their best run of the season.
The same can’t be said for the Twins, who have completely crashed and burned since the all-star break. The Twins enter this series with a 4-10 record in their last 14 games and an awful 1-7 mark in their last 8 games on the road. That is part of a 9-18 September. Somewhat surprisingly, the Twins are also 4-8 in their last 12 games played at Comerica Park, as the Tigers have played well against Minnesota this season. The Twins’ are playing extremely uninspired baseball and can’t be counted on as favorites in this spot. It’s not often that a matchup looks good for the Tigers, but this is one of those rare situations in which I’ll back Detroit with confidence.
Read our full Minnesota Twins vs Detroit Tigers predictions
Atlanta Braves ML (+104) over New York Mets
It’s hard to fade Jacob deGrom, but these teams are simply trending in opposite directions. The Braves have chased down the Mets after trailing by nearly 10 games in the NL East earlier this summer. Now these teams are separated by just 1 game in the division standings and this series will very likely determine who will host a playoff series and who will be an NL wild-card team. What’s equally hard to ignore is the Braves’ longtime mastery of the Mets, and how that could play a role in this series. While New York does have a 9-7 edge in the season series, this 3-game set in Atlanta is a bit of a different beast. And there’s no other pitcher the Braves would rather have on the mound than Max Fried.
Fried has been extremely consistent down the stretch this season, posting 7 quality starts in his last 10 outings. The Braves’ ace is in the top 10 percentile in average exit velocity, walk rate, chase rate and barrel rate among all qualified pitchers. His last couple of outings against the Mets have been rock-solid, surrendering just 4 runs in 13 innings of work. And while he’ll be opposed by deGrom, the Mets ace has struggled of late. DeGrom is battling through a rough patch in his last 3 starts, as he’s allowed 11 runs over his last 14 innings pitched. In a game that should come down to the final few innings, I like getting the Braves as home underdogs.
Read our full New York Mets vs Atlanta Braves predictions
Today’s MLB mega parlay (9/30)
St. Louis Cardinals -1.5 (+112)
Detroit Tigers ML (+126)
Atlanta Braves ML (+104)
Best parlay odds: +877 at FanDuel Sportsbook
Odds available at time of publishing.
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