Major League Baseball Betting Picks For Wednesday, Sept 18

Justin Verlander is great, but he's not the best pitcher on the mound tonight in Detroit.
Justin Verlander is great, but he’s not the best pitcher on the mound tonight in Detroit.

Two games on the Major League Baseball betting schedule this afternoon. It’s always tempting to get involved because it’s fun to have some action during the work day, so it’s difficult not to force any bets that you wouldn’t otherwise make.

Twins at White Sox is not a matchup for baseball purists. Two struggling lefties (Diamond and Danks), two God-awful teams. But it caught my eye for both the side and total. Grabbed the under 8.5 -115 yesterday (it’s now at 8), and I think the Twins offer some value at +125 on the moneyline. Diamond has a 3.18 ERA in two starts this season against the Chisox, and Danks has a 7.36 ERA in two starts versus the Twins. Chicago has also lost 16 of his last 23 starts vs Minny. The under play is primarily situational as these two teams aren’t likely to work the counts too deep on getaway day late in the season.

Don’t see much reason to get involved in the other afternoon game, the Angels at A’s. Oakland should win, but there’s no reason to lay -150 or higher against an Anaheim team that seems motivated to get back to the .500 mark before the end of the season. The total of 8 could also go either way.

In the night games, Atlanta is a short favourite at Washington and likely deserves to be higher based on the pitching matchup. But there’s no way I want to get in front of the Nationals train right now, especially after they swept the day-night doubleheader yesterday from the Braves. Pass.

I hate the Mariners, but there’s a ton of value with them at +160 in Detroit. Verlander might scare people off Seattle, but M’s starter Iwakuma has an ERA nearly a run lower than the Tigers “ace” (Scherzer might have something to say about that). In Iwakuma’s last start, he held the Cardinals to three hits in seven innings. He also pitched six shutout innings vs the Tigers earlier this year. I’m on Seattle +168, but it might be a good idea to take the M’s in the first five innings instead.

Texas got a big monkey off its back yesterday with the 7-1 win in Tampa. Now the Rangers have ace Holland on the bump catching a nice underdog price. I grabbed the Rangers yesterday at +130 (before they won last night’s game), and the line has since moved to +115. Archer is decent for the Rays, but this game should be around pick ‘em.

One other game I’m on is the Orioles +137 over the Red Sox. This is a pure value play, though you could argue Baltimore needs this game much more than Boston does. The O’s rallied for a nice win last night and has now won 13 of its last 18 games at Fenway. Chen should keep them in the game, even against Peavy.

Good luck.