Some people like to sweat out a bet for 9 hard innings – others like immediate satisfaction. Count us as being in the latter, which is why we like to get down with MLB NRFI and YRFI picks. And we’ve decided to pass that knowledge on to you with our NRFI bets for May 17.
Of course, there are plenty out there taking blind guesses at this stuff. It’s easy to pick the best-hitting team or look at what happened in the last game. However, we spent the time pouring through the analytics to make sure that we give you the best odds to stay in the green on these NRFI and YRFI props for May 17. Come check out what we have cooked up for this slate of games.
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MLB NRFI and YRFI Picks – May 17
Houston Astros vs. Texas rangers
First Pitch – 7:05 pm EST
Globe Life Field – Arlington, TX
Broadcast – MLB TV
Don’t look now, but Tyler Mahle has been not just one of the Rangers best pitchers, but one of the better pitchers in the American League. In nine starts this year, he’s still yet to allow more than two earned runs in a game. That’s lead to a 1.47 ERA. And it’s not just keeping runs off the board, he’s kept walks and hits to a minimum during this span too. Of course, it should be even easier for him to start up our NRFI for us being that it’s the Astros he’s facing. They rank dead last in the majors in first inning runs per game with 0.19.
We’ve got another set of lackluster bats when the bottom of the inning rolls around. The Rangers rank 26th in the majors in runs scored per game with 3.44. It’ll be hard to get that up facing Ronel Blanco, who has begun to figure things out on the year. His last outing showed the brilliance that he had last season. Facing a solid Reds lineup, he went 8.0 innings scoreless. In that outing, he allowed just two hits and one walk while striking out 11. If that version of him shows up, I think we’d be hard pressed to see any scoring out of the Rangers.
NRFI/YRFI Bet for May 17: No (TBD)
St. Louis Cardinals vs. Kansas City Royals
First Pitch – 7:10 pm EST
Kauffman Stadium – Kansas City, MO
Broadcast – MLB TV
Seth Lugo toes the rubber in the beginning of this one. He’s been locked in this year with a 3.03 ERA. He’s been even better as of late, holding a 2.89 ERA through the month of May. He’s face a Cardinals team that has been great with the bats through. They rank 7th in runs scored. Despite that, they have been awful in the first inning. They rank 28th in the majors in first inning runs per game. They’ve posted 0.26 per game in that category and I imagine Lugo can help make that worse.
Another pitcher who has found his footing lately is Miles Mikolas. While his season-long ERA is not really pretty, he’s allowed just four earned runs in his last four starts (21.2 innings). That comes out to a 1.66 ERA in that span. Kansas City doesn’t strike me as the team that is going to get him off track. They rank in the bottom third of the league in terms of runs scored and have been in rough shape lately.
NRFI/YRFI Bet for May 17: No (TBD)
If you’d like even more info to help make your NRFI picks for May 17, check out the MLB Gambling Podcast. They’re dropping episodes five days a week to make you the smartest guy/gal at the bar with their MLB picks today.
