Ricky Dimon
The week in Major League Baseball continues with a full 15-game schedule on Saturday. I’m on an absolute heater to start the year, with a 11-6-1 record so far in this best bets piece while going 3-for-3 on Same Game Parlays at +481, +632 and +439 odds. Pickswise’s MLB handicapping team on the whole is 17-6-1 on their best bets. 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 Saturday’s slate.
MLB best bet: Miami Marlins ML over Washington Nationals (-146)
Odds available at DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publishing
Sandy Alcantara may have been forgotten a bit heading into 2025 since he missed all of last season due to injury, but the right-hander is reminding everyone of who he is when healthy. Alcantara has been effective in each of his first 2 outings, going 1-0 with a 3.72 ERA and 0.93 WHIP while striking out 11 batters in 9.2 innings. The Marlins are 2-0 when he toes the rubber.
More success should be in store for the Fish this afternoon against a mediocre-at-best Washington ballclub. The Nationals are a respectable 6-7 overall, but they are just 1-3 on the road. Trevor Williams gets the ball today and is 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA and 1.70 WHIP. Miami shortstop Xavier Edwards is batting .300 this year and he is 4-for-4 lifetime against Williams with 2 doubles. I also like Miami on the first 5 innings money line, but the price isn’t as good – so let’s go with the full game.
MLB best bet: Tampa Bay Rays ML over Atlanta Braves (-134)
Odds available at Bet365 Sportsbook at time of publishing
The Braves are 0-8 on the road so far this season. They started the 2025 campaign 0-7 by getting swept at the Padres and Dodgers before dropping the first game of this series 6-3 on Friday. Atlanta will try to turn things around with A.J. Smith-Shawver on the mound, and that could be a tall task. Smith-Shawver is 0-2 with 5.19 ERA and simply hasn’t found any success at the big-league level in limited work over the past couple of seasons.
It is a much different story for the Rays, who are 6-4 at home and have a red-hot starter on the mound in Drew Rasmussen. The right-hander is 1-0 with a 0.90 ERA and 0.60 WHIP across 10.0 innings in 2 appearances. We shouldn’t really be surprised since in his only full season as a starter (2022) he compiled an 11-7 record with a 2.84 ERA and 1.04 WHIP. There is no need to overthink this one with the superior pitcher benefiting from home-field advantage.
