We've got a loaded Friday Night Lights Major League Baseball slate on August 21, starting with Cardinals vs. Phillies (6:40 PM ET, Citizens Bank Park) and closing with Pirates vs. Dodgers (10:10 PM ET, Dodger Stadium).
Read on for our 5 MLB Best Bets Today.
MLB Best Bets Today
The team logos in the table below represent each of the matchups that 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 |
|---|---|---|
  | 6:40 PM | |
  | 7:15 PM | |
  | 8:10 PM | |
  | 8:15 PM | |
  | 10:10 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. | ||
Tanner McGrath's Cardinals vs Phillies Best Bet
The Cardinals played an insane game yesterday against the Reds. They jumped out to a 4-0 lead, then blew it and trailed 5-4 entering the ninth inning.
There were two men on and two outs when this happened:
The Cardinals went on to score four more runs before allowing four more runs to the Reds in the bottom of the ninth, narrowly sneaking out of Cincinnati with a 10-9 win.
Following that thrilling result, the Cards traveled overnight to Philly with an unnamed starter and a completely exhausted bullpen — I have no idea who is even available for St. Louis out of the ‘pen today.
They have the honor of facing Jesus Luzardo, who is absolutely shoving (1.98 ERA and 2.71 xFIP over the past 12 starts, including a six-earned-run performance against the Marlins a few weeks ago), and the Phillies’ top-five bullpen.
Better yet, the Phillies had an off-day yesterday after a home series with Miami, which they swept.
I find there aren’t many situational spots in baseball, and I rarely bet run lines. That said, this is as bad a situational spot as it gets for the Cardinals. This game has blowout written all over it.
Pick: Phillies -1.5 (+100 or Better)
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Ryan Minion's Rays vs Orioles Best Bet
By Ryan Minion
I'm willing to take a shot on Rays slugger Junior Caminero to exceed his 1.5 HRR (Hits + Runs + RBIs) mark on Friday’s divisional clash.
In 10 previous at-bats against Trevor Rogers, Caminero has recorded three hits while also driving in two runs.
After finishing his 2025 campaign with 45 homers and 110 RBIs, Junior has continued his reign of dominance this season, ranking inside the top 10 in all of baseball with 35 HRs (4th) and 79 RBIs (T-10th).
Given his elite form at the plate and his previous success versus Rogers, backing Caminero to exceed his 1.5 HRR mark should be a good bet.
Pick: Junior Caminero Over 1.5 HRR (-150 or Better)
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Sean Zerillo's Athletics vs Astros Best Bet
By Sean Zerillo
Our own Sean Zerillo projects some value on the A's in this game.
If you'd like to dive deeper into this matchup, I reccomend checking out BARTOLO, our new PRO baseball betting tool giving our PRO subscribers access to all the data we use to project MLB games each day.
Here's all the information that BARTOLO can give you for this game alone:
Pick: A's ML (+150 or Better)
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Nick Martin's Angels vs Rangers Best Bet
By Nick Martin
Despite some fairly poor results when it counts, MacKenzie Gore's recent underlying metrics have been quite impressive, and he should continue trending upward.
He fared well in a soft matchup versus the Angels last week, and should be capable of authoring a similar performance Friday in a very pitcher-friendly venue.
The Angels' depleted bullpen following the trade deadline is a little scary, but some young arms have stepped into new roles throughout a small sample of play.
Reid Detmers has quietly been one of the hotter pitchers in the AL for a fairly lengthy sample, and should have a good chance of handling the Rangers effectively once again on Friday.
At -125 or better, I see value in backing this game to feature less than 7.5 runs.
Pick: Under 7.5 (-125 or Better)
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Derek Carty's Pirates vs Dodgers Best Bet
By Derek Carty
Editor's Note: This written pick is a transcription from today's episode of the Payoff Pitch Podcast.
Generally, the Bat X is not a big fan of Bubba Chandler. The model wasn't as high on him coming into the year. It's the lowest system on him on FanGraphs right now, but it's still projecting under 4.5 hits allowed at plus money. I like this pick all the way down to -128.
It's a scary bet because the Dodgers are really good, and they could get 10 hits off of the Pirates starter, and it wouldn't be surprising.
But you know, it's one of those picks where I just trust the projection on it because the projection knows more than I do, and it knows the Dodgers are good. It's not like we're not accounting for something. The model knows the Dodgers are the best offense in baseball, and it likes this anyway, so I'll take it.
I'm trusting the projection. The Bat X is projecting 4.3 hits for Chandler.
The system is also probably seeing that the Pirates SP can struggle with walks. The Dodgers draw a lot of them, and this could get Chandler to rack up his pitch count pretty quickly and maybe not even be in the game long enough to allow that many hits.
I think this is more a bet against the Dodgers than it is a bet on Chandler. Not that the Dodgers aren't great, but a lot of times, when a bet looks ugly, that's where they're offering us the value, which seems to be the case here.
Pick: Bubba Chandler Under 4.5 Hits Allowed (-128 or Better)
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