MLB fans have plenty of action to take in on Friday, Aug. 7 with 15 games on the diamond, headlined by Atlanta Braves visiting the New York Yankees, AL Central contenders going at it when the Cleveland Guardians face the Chicago White Sox and the Boston Red Sox trying to get their ninth win in a row and maintain their image as the league’s hottest club. SportsLine MLB expert Adam Thompson has scanned Friday’s matchups and provides his best bets for the day’s slate.
An analytics-driven exploiter of matchups, Thompson specializes in NFL, NBA and MLB betting. He also has delivered consistent winners in college basketball, horse racing and golf. Over the past two seasons, Thompson is up over 70 units in MLB and over 60 units in the NBA at sports betting apps. You can find more of his picks at SportsLine, and in the member-exclusive SportsLine Discord server, a community of sports betting enthusiasts and SportsLine experts.
Here are Thompson’s best bets and analysis for Friday’s MLB games.
Best MLB picks for Friday, Aug. 7
Mets money line vs. Pirates (+120)
So far, pretty good for Mets rookie left-handed pitcher Zac Thornton. After a subpar debut on May 20 against the MLB’s top-scoring Nationals, Thornton has given up seven earned runs in five starts. Thornton, and a bullpen with a 1.65 ERA the last two weeks, combine to face a fumbling Pirates lineup that’s scored exactly two runs in four of five.
The Mets scored 13 runs on Thursday to complete a sweep at Cleveland. They scored six runs in all three games vs. a slew of decent Guardians arms. Carmen Mlodzinski will open for the Pirates, and he’s embraced that role. But we prefer the hitting trends of the road side, and Thornton can shut down a team that has the worst OPS against left-handers over the last 15 days.
Red Sox -1.5 vs. Athletics (-114)
The poor Athletics have lost 11 of 12. They were just swept by the Reds, suffering three one-run defeats. So at least they’re competing, despite owning the second-worst record in MLB. This matchup does not look as favorable.
Boston has been the hottest team in baseball over the last month and comes in with a seven-game win streak. Over the last two weeks, the Red Sox OPS at home is .845 and .811 against right-handers. Those splits are roughly 300 points higher than what the A’s are doing.
Payton Tolle (6-6, 3.30 ERA) has been solid, and he should get run sport as the surging Sox lineup faces Jack Perkins (0-4, 7.44 ERA last seven games) and a bullpen with a 6.26 ERA since mid-July.
Yankees money line vs. Braves
Banking on the Yankees to do anything offensively sounds crazy. The pinstripes have scored over two runs in a game just once all week, and it was in a 13-7 blowout loss to the Cardinals. Things are rough in the Bronx right now. But things are even rougher for Tyler Mahle on the road. The Braves starter is 0-6 with an 8.04 ERA in nine road games, and has been far worse under the lights (5.95 ERA in 11 games) as well.
The Braves are on a roll, though their last seven wins have all come at home. The last nine games on the road have produced just four wins. Max Fried can limit his former team; in his three starts since his return from the IL, he’s given up four runs on eight hits with 18 strikeouts.
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