Caleb Wilfinger
The 2025 MLB season keeps rolling along, and Wednesday features a full slate of games for us to enjoy. I’m 7-1 on MLB best bets and the Pickswise MLB handicapping team as a whole is 24-11-1 on their best bets this season. Let’s keep it going as we get into my MLB best bets of the day! Also don’t forget to check out our MLB picks for Wednesday’s slate.
MLB best bet: Chicago Cubs ML over Los Angeles Dodgers (-105)
Odds available at FanDuel Sportsbook at time of publishing. Playable to -120.
For our first best bet on Wednesday’s slate, let’s target the Chicago Cubs to previal over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Tuesday’s game was a back-and-forth affair that featured a number of chaotic innings, lead changes and a frantic comeback from the Cubs, as Chicago scored 4 runs in the final 3 innings to prevail in extra innings in the series opener. Not only was it a brutal meltdown from the back end of the Los Angeles bullpen that led to this loss, but the Dodgers are now at a major disadvantage in Wednesday’s matchup, seeing as they had to use 6 bullpen arms (including a couple of their high-leverage relievers) in the defeat.
On the other hand, the Cubs got a little more length from their starter, so they’ll be a bit more rested on the bullpen front heading into this one. While the Dodgers are expected to opt for a bullpen game on Wednesday, Chicago is set up pretty well with lefty starter Matthew Boyd taking the mound in front of the home fans. Boyd has been a pleasant surprise to this point in the season, posting a 2.02 ERA (3.33 xERA, top 9% hard-hit rate, 2.29 xBA) and quietly following up last year’s campaign with another rock solid effort. The Dodgers lineup is no easy task, but Boyd should have plenty of run support given the uncertainty with which Los Angeles is approaching this game with. At the end of the day, the Cubs offense is a top 5 unit in batting average, slugging, runs scored and OPS for a reason. Let’s take Chicago to win the series and make a statement against the defending champs.
MLB best bet: Philadelphia Phillies First 5 innings ML over New York Mets (-125)
Odds available at BetRivers Sportsbook at time of publishing. Playable to -135.
For our second and final best bet, we’re heading to Queens for a National League matchup between the Phillies and Mets at Citi Field. Despite suffering losses in each of the first 2 games of this series, this should be a pretty favorable matchup for the visiting team, as the Phillies clear have the starting pitching edge in this one. Zack Wheeler has long been one of the best pitchers in the game, and he’s also due for a ton of positive regression (2.32 xERA, .197 xBA, top 8% strikeout rate) heading into a matchup against a lineup that he’ll be very familiar with. I’d expect another strong outing from the perennial Cy Young candidate in the National League.
On the other side, David Peterson has been solid for New York, allowing just 8 earned runs while striking out 26 batters in 22.0 innings over his first 4 outings. However, this is a lineup that has showed an ability to hit the veteran left-hander, as both Bryce Harper and Nick Castellanos have terrific career numbers off Peterson, to say nothing of Alec Bohm, or even Edmundo Sosa in a small sample size. Look for the Philadelphia bats to give its starter an early lead, and we won’t mess around with the bullpens in this game. Give me the Phillies to lead after 5 innings, and I’ll settle for a push if both teams are tied.
