Thursday is one of the smallest MLB slates recently. Only four games dot the calendar, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t still giving you our MLB picks for August 31st. There are plenty of juicy lines to get excited about on the docket, so without further ado – here are our MLB bets for August 31st.
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MLB Picks for August 31st
New York Yankees @ Detroit Tigers
Start Time – 1:10 pm EST
Comerica Park
Broadcast – ESPN+
The Yankees have bounced back a bit since their nearly monumental losing streak. That includes taking the first three games in the series against the Tigers. Clearly, that’s got them listed as slight favorites here against Detroit, but I’m not buying that price.
Clarke Schmidt is rocking a 5.04 ERA in August, and the Yankees have lost three straight of his starts. On the contrary, Matt Manning is sporting a 3.38 ERA this month, and the Tigers have won three straight of his starts – largely due to the fact that he’s only allowed one earned over that span. You could get picky and play the Tigers on the first five line, but I actually just like the dog moneyline at home, which sits at +105.
Miami Marlins @ Washington Nationals
Start Time – 7:05 pm EST
Nationals Park
Broadcast – ESPN+
The Marlins have been particularly bad as of late. Going into Wednesday night’s games, they were 3-9 over their last 12 games. In their last ten games, they’ve scored more than three runs just twice. So even when their pitching is clicking, they don’t have much hope. Their starter for Thursday has begun to slip a bit as well. Braxton Garrett has allowed three earned in back to back games – which includes allowing seven hits to these same Nationals last time in a loss.
The Nationals haven’t been great, but they’ve been a lot better lately. They’re 9-5 in their last 14 games, which is a huge improvement on their record in general. They also send out Joan Adon, who shut out the Marlins in his last start over six innings. Despite all these factors, the Nationals are still +136 underdogs – which is a price I love.
Prop of the Day – Spencer Strider o7.5 Strikeouts
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but I like Spencer Strider’s strikeout line. It’s a little juiced to the over at -165, but he’s the MLB’s runaway strikeout leader for this year for a reason. He’s striking out 13.85 per nine innings. While some might be worried about the Dodgers getting to him and getting him out of there – he’s only come up short of this number twice in the last two months.
If you’d like even more MLB bets for August 31st, be sure to check out the MLB Gambling Podcast. The guys are dropping daily episodes to make you the smartest guy at the bar.
