MLB Best Bets Today August 24:
The start of college football season and a big NFL Preseason slate may overshadow the baseball card for today, but we’ve got 15 games with all 30 teams in action, ranging from 2:05 p.m. ET to 9:10 p.m. ET with the first pitches. Division races and Wild Card chases are all very exciting at this time of the year and just about every game means something, so don’t let baseball get too far off of your radar.
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Here are the MLB best bets today for August 24:
Tampa Bay Rays at Los Angeles Dodgers (-218, 7.5)
9:10 p.m. ET
The Rays and Dodgers square off here with a battle between Taj Bradley and Clayton Kershaw. This is going to be a one-way handicap from me, as I’m looking at Bradley and his recent struggles. Over his last four starts, Bradley has allowed 18 runs on 26 hits in 20 innings. He has a 17/9 K/BB ratio and has allowed five homers. He’s also allowed an average exit velocity of 92.3 mph and has surrendered a 52.2% Hard Hit% and a 10.4% Barrel% in that span.
He’s faced the Marlins, Cardinals, Astros, and Athletics in that span. In the second half, those teams rank 13th, 17th, 14th, and 16th in wOBA, so they’ve all been pretty average units. The Dodgers are seventh in that department and remember that they were missing Freddie Freeman and Mookie Betts for a good chunk of it.
I gave a lot of thought to Bradley Over 2.5 Walks because he’ll likely try to be too fine, but the Dodgers have been a little more aggressive swinging the bats this month. So, I do expect Bradley to set up some innings or maybe make things worse for himself with free passes.
The Dodgers are one of seven teams with 100 runs scored this month and I think they add to the total today.
Pick: Dodgers 1st 5 Team Total Over 2.5 (+100)
