After a busy afternoon of baseball, only one baseball matchup is in primetime this Saturday–the MLB Speedway Classic. The Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds will meet at the Bristol Motor Speedway as Major League Baseball continues its series of playing games in a variety of venues and locations in an attempt to grow the game. It should be a fun and unique setup for a game, so let’s take a look at a few of my Braves vs. Reds best bets to play this Saturday.
This matchup is expected to draw the largest crowd of any MLB game in history, with over 85,000 tickets sold to the event. It will also be the first MLB game ever played in the state of Tennessee.
The two teams have split the first two games in this series, which were played in Cincinnati at Great American Ball Park. The Braves won a wild game on Thursday, 12-11 in 10 innings. The Reds bounced back to win on Friday afternoon before the teams headed to Bristol.
The Braves have had a brutal season and are 46-63 and out of playoff contention. The Reds are just 3.5 games out of the third and final NL Wild Card spot and still could make a playoff push, trying to track down the Cubs, Mets and Padres.
In this matchup, the Braves are very slight -115 favorites as they give the ball to Spencer Strider against the Reds’ young phenom Chase Burns. The run line is eight runs for the MLB Speedway Classic’s matchup.
Check out all the options available on the MLB page of DK Sportsbook, and here is a look at my best bets for Braves vs. Reds on Saturday night.
Best Bets for Braves vs. Reds on 8/2/25 on DraftKings Sportsbook
Over 19.5 Total Strikeouts Thrown (-140)
Both starting pitchers are high-strikeout pitchers and both lineups are prone to striking out a lot, so the over on the total strikeouts in the matchup makes a lot of sense.
The park has pretty standard dimensions as you can see in this video about how it was made and what it will look like this Saturday.
The offensive environment is a little unpredictable, but the pitchers should be able to pick up strikeouts.
I highlighted Chase Burns’ strikeout props in my top starting pitcher prop bets for the day, and the rookie is coming off of three straight games with 10 strikeouts. Even if he doesn’t get quite to that level, the Reds’ bullpen should be able to help get that side of the matchup to where it needs to be.
Spencer Strider has battled multiple injuries this year but also brings plenty of strikeout potential. He has 92 strikeouts in 77 2/3 innings, averaging 6.6 strikeouts in 5.5 innings per outing. Since he’s producing over a strikeout per inning, though, he should be able to help push this up to 20 or more on Saturday night.
Over the last two weeks, the Braves have struck out 9.4 times per game, and the Reds have struck out 7.6 times per game. With both of these pitchers well above average with their strikeout rates, though, this total should end up going over.
Michael Harris II 2+ Hits + Runs + RBI (-105)
Like many of the Braves, Harris has had a disappointing season overall. However, the 24-year-old has shown some positive signs lately and is a good pick to produce multiple HRR (Hits + Runs + RBI). I even like playing him at 3+ HRR at +200 for an extra-spicy pick. A single home run takes care of 3+ HRR, but there are multiple paths to victory with HRR props instead of just a home run prop.
Harris has 176 total HRR in his 107 games this season for 1.6 HRR per game. He’s only hitting .233 with a .269 wOBA. However, he’s been heating up lately with 31 HRR in his last 10 games for an average of 3.1 HRR per game.
In those 10 games, Harris is 19-for-41 (.463) with seven multi-hit games, two doubles, two home runs and three triples for a .544 wOBA. Over his last nine games, he had a 52.9% hard-hit rate and a 20.6% barrel rate with an average exit velocity of 92.9 miles per hour, which are huge improvements from his previous 98 games, when he had a 40.5% hard-hit rate, 6.1% barrel rate and an average exit velocity of 89.3 miles per hour.
Harris should be able to get 2+ HRR against Burns, who has allowed three homers and a .360 wOBA to lefties in his few starts this season.
Elly De La Cruz over 0.5 stolen bases (+205)
On the biggest stage, the MLB will want the biggest stars to shine bright, and Elly’s speed in the Speedway Classic is a script that almost writes itself.
On the season, De La Cruz has 29 stolen bases in 35 attempts in his 111 games. He has been a little more aggressive lately with stolen bases in seven of his last 18 games (39%). He hasn’t stolen a base in this series yet, but if he gets on, you know he’ll have the green light.
The Braves have allowed the fourth-most stolen bases in the league, so it should be possible for De La Cruz to get a stolen base if the opportunity arises.
