Ricky Dimon
Show Bio
The young 2024 Major League Baseball season continues with a 7-game slate on Thursday. Five of the 7 are afternoon contests as teams wrap up series and head off on the road to begin new ones. That quintet precedes the nightcap between Baltimore and Boston at 7:10 pm ET on NESN.
Below is my mega parlay for Thursday; also be sure to check out all of our MLB picks.
Braves -1.5 (+115)
Rangers -1.5 (+112)
Pirates ML (+125)
MLB parlay odds: +926
For this parlay I am going with 2 favorites on the run line and 1 underdog on the money line. Let’s break down each of the 3 legs.
Braves -1.5 over Mets (+115)
The Braves are hitting an impressive .313 through 5 home games, scoring 33 runs in the process. They have won 4 of those 5, including a 6-5 defeat of the Mets on Tuesday night prior to Wednesday’s postponement. Allan Winans will be on the mound for Atlanta in replace of Spencer Strider, but Winans was serviceable while doing similar duty during the 2023 campaign. And it’s not like the Braves need a shutdown performance from their starting pitcher in order to be successful. Their lineup is arguably the best in baseball and their bullpen is stellar. The ‘pen is also rested following Reynaldo Lopez’s extended outing on Tuesday followed by the unexpected off day. Look for the Braves to win by multiple runs.
Texas Rangers -1.5 over Oakland Athletics (+112)
Texas is coming off a 6-2 victory over Oakland on Wednesday. Key contributors to the Rangers’ success included Jonah Heim and Adolis Garcia, both of whom tallied 2 RBIs and accounted for 5 out of the team’s 12 hits. Looking to capitalize on their momentum, the Rangers aim to clinch a series win against the Athletics with Jon Gray on the mound. Gray hasn’t been great so far in 2024, but he obviously has a favorable matchup on his hands in the form of Oakland. The Athletics are batting a mere .202 so far this season. Given the respective lineups, I have much more faith in Gray than JP Sears. The latter has surrendered 9 runs in 9.1 innings and now has to face Texas bats such as Jared Walsh (batting .667 against lefties with an OPS of 1.67), Marcus Semien (.556 with an OPS of 1.34) and Adolis Garcia (.333 with an OPS of .899). Give me the Rangers on the run line.
Pittsburgh Pirates ML over Philadelphia Phillies (+125)
Break up the Pirates! They have already won 9 games this season; only the Dodgers and Yankees have won more (and the Dodgers have played a lot more games). Pittsburgh was thought to be maybe a year away from success, but this franchise appears to be on a faster track at this point. That’s not to say the Pirates are suddenly better than the Phillies, but they have good value in this matchup at +125. Jared Jones is on the mound and he has probably been the best rookie pitcher so far in 2024, giving the Pirates 17 strikeouts through 11.2 innings of work. He has pitched to a sub-4.00 ERA, but most of the metrics suggest it should be even lower. In short, there is a ton of ceiling and upside with this guy – and this team as a whole. Righties usually fare well against Philly, and that should especially be the case on Thursday with both Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber scuffling. Sound the upset alert.
