We have a full 15-game slate on tap for this Dinger Tuesday, including Tarik Skubal's much-anticipated debut in Dodgers vs Cubs at 8:05 PM ET (Wrigley Field).
We also have picks for Angels vs Orioles at 6:35 PM ET (Camden Yards) and Padres vs Diamondbacks at 8:40 PM ET (Chase Field).
Read on for our 4 MLB Best Bets Today.
MLB Best Bets Today
The team logos in the table below represent each matchup our MLB betting staff is targeting from today's slate of games. Click on the team logos for any of the matchups below to navigate to a specific bet discussed in this article.
| Game | Time (ET) | Pick |
|---|---|---|
  | 6:35 PM | |
  | 7:15 PM | |
  | 8:05 PM | |
  | 8:40 PM | |
Specific betting recommendations come from the sportsbook offering preferred odds as of writing. Always shop for the best price using our MLB Odds page, which automatically surfaces the best lines for every game. | ||
Sean Paul's Angels vs Orioles Best Bet
By Sean Paul
Firstly, let's talk about the outgoing players from the Angels and Orioles, both of whom were sold at the deadline.
The only position player the Angels dealt was Jo Adell, so the lineup remains mostly the same. The biggest change came in the bullpen, where the Angels got rid of Chase Silseth, Kirby Yates, Brent Suter and Ryan Zeferjahn.
On the Orioles' side, three position players got moved: outfielder Taylor Ward, backup catcher Jake Rogers and All-Star catcher Adley Rutschman. They also traded reliever Tyler Wells and starter Dean Kremer to finish off the deadline.
At the time of writing, the Orioles have yet to announce a starter, but I think it'll be Trevor Rogers.
The Angels had to do some rotation shuffling after skipping Reid Detmers and Jose Soriano's last starts in anticipation of possible trades. Soriano went to Toronto and Detmers stayed put, but they'll give former Oriole Grayson Rodriguez the ball here.
Remember when Grayson Rodriguez was the top pitching prospect in the sport? Yeah, those days are long gone. He's been brutal for the Angels, posting a 7.98 ERA in 44 innings this year. The underlying stats aren't pretty, either — his xERA is 7.92, and his FIP is 5.82.
Injuries have taken several ticks off of Rodriguez's fastball, leading to a career-low 7.43 K/9. Meanwhile, his BB/9 is 4.30, by far the highest in his three big league seasons.
I get why the Angels want to see if Rodriguez has anything left in the tank, but they're 3-7 in his 10 outings. He also doesn't give the Angels length, as his longest outing this year is 5 2/3 innings.
This lineup just lacks pure talent. Mike Trout is still a threat and doing his thing, but Vaughn Grissom and Wade Meckler lead the team in wRC+ over the last 20 games. The other bats who should be up there with Trout, such as Zach Neto and Nolan Schanuel, aren't carrying their weight.
With the laundry list of outgoing Angels bullpen arms, they'll have to ask for innings from other players. The new closer is likely Sam Bachman, who has a 4.14 ERA, but don't sleep on the very nasty Samy Natera Jr.
It's been a tale of two seasons for Baltimore's starter, Rogers. Let's flip to 2025, where Rogers had a 1.81 ERA in 18 starts. A fairly small sample, sure, but enough to breed optimism heading into the next season.
Optimism quickly turned into a fluke, as Rogers posted a 6.19 ERA over his first 12 outings in 2026. Since June 10, Rogers has totally flipped his year, posting a 1.99 ERA in his last eight starts, spanning 49 1/3 innings.
The underlying numbers look strong too — Rogers has a 2.91 xERA and 2.27 FIP in those eight starts. I think Rogers has proven himself as a pretty reliable top-of-the-rotation arm.
Even with Ward gone, the Orioles' lineup is immeasurably better than the Angels'. Baltimore has a 97 wRC+ since August 10th, ranking 14th in MLB. Losing Ward will hurt because he leads the team in walk rate and doesn't strike out much.
Pete Alonso is living up to his contract, posting a 127 wRC+ in that span, which is right around his 128 for the year. The primary reason for the Orioles' success of late is the emergence of Christian Encarnacion-Strand and former top prospect Coby Mayo, who both have 3 homers in their past two weeks of games.
You can probably chalk both of those stretches up to a small sample. Mayo still punches out an absurd amount, and Encarnacion-Strand has had hot streaks before.
Still, I trust the Orioles lineup way more from top to bottom.
I have to take the Orioles here. Even if Rogers doesn't start, I'll gladly fade Rodriguez whenever there's a reasonable price. He's one of the least reliable pitchers in MLB against an Orioles team with a competent lineup that draws walks at an elite rate.
Pick: Orioles ML (-150 or Better)
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Frank Ammirante's Marlins vs Braves Best Bet
I'm taking Marlins/Braves Under 9. We're getting a high number because of the starting pitching matchup, but both teams have good bullpens that are completely fresh, as they had a day off yesterday.
Ryan Gusto has poor numbers, but he's not going to pitch more than five innings in this game, as his outs prop is at 14.5, juiced to the under at -121. That means the Marlins will rely on their bullpen here. That's good news for the under, since Miami's bullpen has a 3.83 xERA on the season (11th).
Grant Holmes has an ugly 4.80 xERA, but just like with Gusto, he's not going to pitch deep. His outs prop is at 15.5, juiced to the under at -153. As with the Marlins, the Braves have a good bullpen, putting up a 3.70 xERA this year, which ranks 5th in MLB.
So here we have a game that might be 3-2 or 4-2 after five innings, but then both bullpens come in and completely shut the door, hitting the under for us. In short, this is an attempt at capitalizing on a higher number due to the pitching matchup, taking advantage of two fresh and effective bullpens.
Pick: Under 9 (-110 or Better)
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Jon Anderson's Dodgers vs Cubs Best Bet
By Jon Anderson
I don't see much value in Tarik Skubal lines. I'll just sit back and watch how it goes in his first start with the Dodgers. It seems like 90% of the country will be rooting against them viciously the rest of the way home.
It seems like a death spot for Javier Assad, and he must know his days in the rotation are coming to an end with Gausman, Garrett, and Holmes entering the fold. It could be a shorter outing for Assad.
The Cubs got a little bit of bullpen help yesterday, but it's still not a great group of pitchers, so I like the Dodgers to come out swinging and do some damage in this spot.
Pick: Dodgers TT Over 5.5 (+100 or Better)
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Sean Zerillo's Padres vs Diamondbacks Best Bet
By Sean Zerillo
I project some value on the Over in this matchup.
If you'd like to dive deeper into this matchup, I recommend checking out BARTOLO, our new PRO baseball betting tool allowing PRO subscribers live access to all the data we use to project games each day.
With BARTOLO, you'll see my full projection for this game…
But also why I project this score so high.
For example, the weather adjustment for this total is relatively high, as the roof is expected to be open in Arizona tonight:
It also helps that these are two horrific starting pitchers:
Go deeper into every matchup and find more edges with BARTOLO.
Pick: Over 9 (-102 or Better)
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