MLB Best Bets: Baseball Picks, Predictions, Odds to Consider on DraftKings Sportsbook for April 18

It may be Sunday, but fear not. We’ve got a loaded 15-game slate on the diamond to deal with the Scaries, including a double-header between the Sox and the Sox! With that in mind, here are my favorite MLB bets to consider on DraftKings Sportsbook.

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San Francisco Giants at Miami Marlins

Marlins -134

I’ve always been a huge fan of Alex Wood, but this matchup may be too much for him to handle. Miami is seeing the ball incredibly well right now, and after ranking ninth last year in wRC+ to lefties, Miami ranks second so far this season with a 151 wRC+. It should also be said that Wood’s spin rates are down and he hasn’t pitched well since the 2018 season when he posted a 3.68 ERA. The Giants’ offensive outburst was an outlier on Saturday, helped by one big inning which included two homers. It should go back to where it’s been all season, as San Francisco ranks 24th in wRC+ against righties.

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Pittsburgh Pirates at Milwaukee Brewers

Brewers Lead After Five Innings (-143)

Do I need to remind everyone just how good Freddy Peralta is? This guy has allowed just one run in 13 innings, with an insane 24 strikeouts. That’s right, he’s struck out 47.1% of the hitters he’s faced! He’s got just a .111 expected batting average against and has posted a 22.2% hard-hit rate. All of these are astounding numbers, which surely will get hit by a little regression, but perhaps not much. Peralta was elite in all these categories last year, and he’s still growing as a young pitcher.

He should keep the Pirates off the board here, and while I don’t think Chad Kuhl is the worst pitcher in the world, the Brewers’ offense has shown some signs of life in recent games and should get to him here for at least one or two.

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Baltimore Orioles at Texas Rangers

Orioles -109

Through three starts, the numbers from Kyle Gibson don’t look too pretty. But Statcast would tell you that, because of his average contact numbers, he’s been a bit unfortunate on the hill. I’ll tell you what’s fortunate — facing the Royals, Blue Jays and Rays, all of whom were struggling when he ran into them. He still managed to get shelled by Kansas City, but he’s coming off two straight great starts and folks are beginning to wonder if this former first-round pick is figuring something out.

I’m here to tell you, he’s not. Gibson has a very, very long track record of being bad. He followed up an ugly 5.06 xERA in 2019 with an even uglier 5.70 xERA in 2020. What’s even more concerning is that he’s turned into a walk machine in the last two seasons! There’s nothing good I can say about Gibson. At least John Means is only four years into the league and has modest numbers. To make this even sweeter, Texas ranks 26th in wRC+ against southpaws.

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I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is jetsfan196) 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.