Tracking MLB betting action for Friday, August 13th

We have a 14-game slate in the majors on Friday, beginning at 7:05 p.m. ET. There are a lot good matchups happening across the league that will feature a ton of betting implications.

After going a surprising 0-2 on Wednesday night’s best bets, we bounced back on Thursday with a perfect 2-0 day, bringing our record to 31-23. Our first winning bet was the Athletics’ run line -1.5 (-115) as they crushed Cleveland 17-0. With the win, Oakland has now won seven consecutive games and are a noticeable favorite (-165) on the moneyline in their game on Friday night against the Texas Rangers.

To wrap-up Thursday, we picked up a player prop win as Red Sox pitcher Tanner Houck went over 6.5 strikeouts (+110) against Tampa Bay. Houck, who picked up the loss, had 8 strikeouts in only 5.0 IP.

Here we’re going to be tracking all the best MLB picks base on the odds and lines on DraftKings Sportsbook for Friday’s baseball action.

MLB picks for Friday, August 13th — Record YTD (31-23)

Adbert Alzolay over 5.5 strikeouts (-110) vs. Miami

This might be one of the worst games on the Friday night’s slate, but there’s a ton of betting value if you are looking for a play or two. One of those plays is Chicago Cubs starter Adbert Alzolay’s strikeout prop.

Alzolay was a strikeout machine to start the season, but sadly those strikeouts did not end result in wins. The 26-year-old has a 4-12 record, 4.71 ERA, along with 106 strikeouts in 105.0 IP. The Cubs starter has not been great on the road this season with a 1-7 record and 5.06 ERA, but we aren’t necessarily worried about that against Miami. Alzolay has gone over 5.5 strikeouts in 11 out of 20 starts, which includes 2 out of his last 4 starts. Furthermore, in his last 5 road starts, the 26-year-old is averaging 5.4 strikeouts per game. We may or may not be sweating this prop out, but at -110 odds it’s not a bad play. The Marlins’ offense is averaging 9.63 strikeouts per game, which one of the worst marks behind the Cubs and Rays.

Athletics -1.5 (-105) vs. Rangers

We spoke about the Athletics earlier and how well they’ve been playing in their last seven games. We are going to ride the hot team and play Oakland on the run line again, but this time against the Texas Rangers. Over the course of their seven-game win streak, the A’s are averaging 7.71 runs per game and outscoring their opponents by 5.3 runs per game.

Oakland will have Cole Irvin on the mound, who has a 4-5 record and 3.12 ERA on the road this season. He’s also 2-1 with a 4.24 ERA in 3 starts against Texas. The Rangers have lost 5 straight games to the A’s by an average of 4.4 runs per game. Dane Dunning will try to do his best change Texas’ misfortunes as he’s 5-2 with an ERA of 2.51 at home this year. But I still like this Athletics’ offense to do what they need to.

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