It’s another sunny summer MLB Saturday and DraftKings Sportsbook offers plenty of ways to play. There are Money Lines, Run Lines and Player Props. Check out the best bets for the Saturday, August 3 MLB betting card.
Here are my favorite DraftKings Sportsbook picks for Saturday’s slate of MLB games.
Follow along on Twitter (@Race4thePrize) for updates.
Cleveland Guardians vs. Baltimore Orioles
The Pick: Cleveland Guardians Moneyline (+110)
The best home team in the MLB won at home on Friday. The Guardians are home dogs on Saturday. What gives? The public and the books don’t believe in SP Joey Cantillo. The whole bet comes down to the Hawaiian prospect. His Major League debut was messy. He’s a messy prospect. His stuff was great but he was all over the place. Control has always been Cantillo’s Achilles Heel. He recorded a 13.3% Swinging-Strike Rate and his changeup, slider and curve combined for around a 45% Whiff Rate in his first start. If Cantillo can control his control, then he’ll be in control.
Baltimore is a dangerous offense, but this isn’t a great matchup. Cantillo has terrific stuff and is unfamiliar. The book is still out on him. “Good stuff but a lack of control” is the extent of the notes. His offspeed pitches have always been his calling card. Scouts raved about his changeup coming out of high school. Those pitches worked in his first start. His fastball didn’t in his debut. He added velocity as he matured and his fastball moves — sometimes too much. So goes the fastball, so goes Cantillo. He earned a 2.79 ERA and 44.9% Grand Ball Rate in Triple-A with a 15.5% Swinging-Strike Rate and 65% Contact Rate.
Los Angeles Dodgers at Oakland Athletics
The Pick: Jack Flaherty Over 6.5 Strikeouts Thrown (+110)
A change of scenery turned Flaherty’s career around. Joining the Detroit Tigers was the best thing that ever happened to him. That was until his next change of scenery — Los Angeles. Player movement doesn’t get the attention it deserves. It’s not emotional or psychological. There is more to leaving a place that doesn’t fit. The couches in St. Louis weren’t less comfortable than in Detroit. There is a simple explanation for the success of the change of scenery. It’s who is in the scene. A new staff can fix what the old staff didn’t see.
Flaherty’s strikeout rate jumped from 9.2 K/9 in 2023 to 11.2 K/9 in 2024. His walk rate plummeted to 1.6 BB/9. It’s unclear what changed in Flaherty’s delivery but he’s delivering. All that matters is the stats have changed. He’s striking out hitters and limiting walks. That’s a perfect approach. It works against any team in any league from Little League to the Big Leagues. That approach should suit him well against the A’s — 26% K-Rate vs. right-handed pitchers.
Cincinnati Reds vs. San Francisco Giants
The Pick: Hunter Greene Over 7.5 Strikeouts Thrown (-135)
So long July. It’s sad to see you go. Summer is slowly slipping away. No one is more disappointed to see the end of July than the Reds’ ace. Greene became an All-Star for the first time. His stats were more special — 0.33 ERA (one run in four starts). All of his stuff is working. His fastball and slider have been elite. There’s no slowing down.
The prospect of pitching in Great American Ball Park isn’t appealing. It’s not attractive when betting on or against runs. Cincinnati’s small park is a booster for some pitcher’s stats. Greene knows batted balls fly over walls in the Queen City. He must approach the Giants with a strikeout-first mentality. The Giants can hit left-handed pitchers but struggle with right-handed pitchers (.142 ISO, .301 wOBA and 97 wRC+). They get the park boost if they put the bat on the ball. The Giants have a league average 22% K-Rate vs. right-handed pitchers. That’s against average right-handers. Greene isn’t the average Major Leaguer.
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All odds provided by DraftKings Sportsbook and all odds subject to change.
I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is greenflagradio2) and I may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.
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