Who doesn’t love an underdog?
Betting on an underdog is the easiest way to get the most bang for your buck with a single wager, yet it’s always a somewhat risky endeavor. I mean, they’re underdogs for a reason, right? Still, there’s no sport where the underdog comes through more often than in baseball. Over the course of a 162-game season, even the best teams are going to lose about 60 times a year.
With that in mind, let’s go looking for dogs this Monday night on the DraftKings Sportsbook.
Best MLB Underdog Bets, Picks
Angels Moneyline (+132)
The Angels have entered the “let the kids play” portion of the season after trading five players at the trade deadline and designating veteran Jorge Soler for assignment. The Angels brought in young catcher Moisés Ballesteros from the Cubs and are expected to let their younger bats carry the load (or at least try to) the rest of 2026. They’ll also bring up a young arm for this start, recalling George Klassen from Triple-A.
Klassen has been very effective in the minors, as I highlighted in my value plays for the day, and he gives the Angels a chance if he can keep the Marlins’ slump at the plate ongoing this Friday. Klassen catches the Marlins at a good point after they scored only six runs total in their three-game sweep at the hands of the Braves to start the week. The Fish have been very streaky over the last few months, going on big runs of success and then flopping for stretches, as well.
Miami is favored at home against the Angels, who have been even worse at the plate lately. The Halos did avoid a sweep with a 4-1 win on Thursday afternoon, thanks to a three-run blast from Zach Neto. They’ll look to build on that momentum as they take on the Marlins’ Tyler Phillips, who has given up exactly two earned runs in four straight games. He hasn’t pitched deep into games at all this season, as the team monitors his workload closely. Overall, he’s 3-5 with a 3.53 ERA, and after the Braves hit the Marlins so well to start the week, the Miami bullpen could also be a way the Angels take advantage and steal the first game in this series.
The Angels’ easiest path to victory as a plus-money underdog is a strong outing from Klassen, who has shown more recent promise than the odds indicate for this contest.
Orioles Moneyline (+129)
After taking two of three games from the Angels, the Orioles are in Texas facing Nathan Eovaldi and the Rangers on Friday night. While the Rangers have slipped one game under .500, they are still just 1 1/2 games out of the AL West lead after winning back-to-back games to get a series win over the Giants to start the week.
The big question in this matchup is which version of Nathan Eovaldi will show up for the Rangers. Eovaldi has been very inconsistent this season and especially recently. He gave up six runs on 10 hits to the Astros in five innings in his last start, after giving up four runs on six hits in four innings to the Braves in his first start after the All-Star break. Sandwiched between those two bad outings, though, Eovaldi went seven strong innings against the Mariners, allowing just one run on three hits to earn his 10th win of the year. He has been better at home than on the road all season, but he hasn’t been consistent enough to trust on either side of the splits.
He faced the Orioles in Baltimore earlier this year and gave up six runs on eight hits in four innings, in a game the Orioles eventually won, 8-3.
Baltimore is 10-8 since the All-Star break, and they have been slowly climbing back into the fringes of the AL Wild Card race. Shane Baz has had mixed results overall in his first season in Baltimore, but he has been pitching better lately, allowing three earned runs or fewer in six straight starts with a 2.62 ERA and 2.22 FIP, while picking up 30 strikeouts in 34 1/3 innings.
The Orioles have lost his last three starts even though he has pitched well, and his 4-10 record indicates how bad his run support has been this year.
With Baz throwing better lately, and the boom-or-bust results from Eovaldi, there’s definitely a chance that the O’s pull off the upset on the road to start this series in Arlington. Both teams have posted similar records over many recent splits, and I don’t see enough of an advantage to skew the odds this far and make the Rangers such a heavy favorite. As a result, I think the Orioles bring nice value this Friday.
Rays Moneyline (+104)
I know we’re all supposed to be scared of Seattle down the stretch, and I do like a lot of elements in the Mariners’ lineup for the playoff push. However, the first-place Rays on the road as plus-money dogs is too good to pass up.
The Rays roll into Seattle with good momentum after sweeping the Rockies in Colorado, and have won six of their last eight games. They’ll give the ball to Drew Rasmussen, who is 10-5 in his 21 starts with a 2.91 ERA and 3.01 FIP. He didn’t allow a run in either of his two most recent starts, going 13 scoreless innings with just five hits allowed and 19 strikeouts against the Guardians and White Sox. He hasn’t faced Seattle this year, but he has solid splits across the board in what could end up as a breakout season for the 31-year-old. Rasmussen will match his career-high with his next victory, which he could pick up against Seattle.
The Mariners will give the ball to Logan Gilbert, who has also been pitching well. He has given up three runs or more in four straight outings, though, even though he’s been working deep into games. However, for the season, he’s 7-3 at home with a 0.97 WHIP, which is why the Mariners are favored.
The Mariners haven’t been quite as hot as the Rays, and they still trail the Rangers and Astros in the AL West. The Mariners lost two of three to start the week against the Tigers and are 3-5 over the last eight games coming into this series. The Tigers shut them out in two of the games in that series, beating them 8-0 and 11-0 on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively.
Since the Rays have more momentum and the better starting pitcher, they have a good chance to pull off this upset to finish out my top three MLB underdog picks with a win on Friday.
If you choose to stack the three MLB underdog picks in this post into a parlay, you can get juicy +983 odds if the three picks run the table. Since they do come with plenty of risk, though, it also makes sense to play them individually and as a round robin, so that if any two of the three hit, you’ll still secure some serious payouts.
