Yes, the college football season is underway, but there's still room for baseball in your betting portfolio. There are 15 games on the Saturday, August 26 slate and our MLB betting experts have found the best bets on the board.
Our experts have their sights set on totals today and have picks for Guardians vs. Blue Jays, Royals vs. Mariners and Padres vs Brewers.
The best MLB bets for today — Saturday, Aug. 26 — are below, so be sure to continue reading.
Today's MLB Best Bets
Saturday, Aug. 26
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 |
|---|---|---|
  | 3:07 p.m. | |
  | 4:10 p.m. | |
  | 7:10 p.m. | |
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. | ||
Guardians vs. Blue Jays
By D.J. James
Logan Allen gets the start for the Guardians and will go up against Toronto's Hyun-jin Ryu, who has been effective in a small sample size (19 innings) this season.
The main story in this game is how poorly each team has hit left-handers as of late. Both teams also have a top-10 bullpen this month, so pitching should prove supreme in this matchup. In simple terms, take the under.
Allen has been pretty solid for the Cleveland Guardians this year. The 24-year-old lefty ranks in the 56th percentile in Average Exit Velocity and the 54th percentile in hard-hit rate. His strikeout and walk rates are a touch below average and he boasts a 3.31 ERA and a 4.18 xERA.
In August, Allen has a 1.96 ERA over 23 innings, including an outing in which he yielded just one run over five innings against this same Blue Jays team.
Cleveland has been incredibly weak off of lefties this month. In fact, the Guardians have just a 37 wRC+ off southpaws in August.
On the other side, Ryu looks like a new pitcher and will get to face one of the weakest hitting teams in the second half. Ryu's Average Exit Velocity is 86.8 mph with a 28.6% hard-hit rate. He's also only walking 6.6% of batters.
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Royals vs. Mariners
Jordan Lyles has been a bit of a disaster this season. He's made 24 starts and has an ERA over six to go with an xERA and xFIP well over five. When he does get hit, he gets hit hard.
Lyles is below the 20th percentile in xwOBA allowed, barrel rate allowed and xSLG allowed. The other problem is that none of his pitches have been effective. He has five pitches that he utilizes more than 10% of the time and each one is allowing an xwOBA above .300 and has a Stuff+ rating below 100.
The Mariners have been red hot over the past 30 days, putting up a .361 wOBA, which is the second-best mark in baseball during that timespan. The Mariners are also seventh in wRC+ against right-handed pitching.
Logan Gilbert is starting to trend in the wrong direction. Over his past six starts, he's allowed 16 earned runs, which has caused his xERA to jump to 3.73. Gilbert has one of the lowest walk rates in baseball, but his barrel rate, average exit velocity and hard-hit rate are all below the 30th percentile.
The Royals may have be out of the playoff picture, but they've been hitting well over the past month and have put up the sixth-best wOBA in baseball.
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Padres vs. Brewers
By D.J. James
Pedro Ávila, albeit in limited opportunities, has been an effective opener for the San Diego Padres with a 1.17 ERA and a 3.85 xERA over 23 innings this season.
Slated to start against the Brewers on Saturday, Ávila has an 88.1 mph Average Exit Velocity with a sub-7% Barrel Rate and a 43.1% Hard-Hit Rate.
H'll go up against Freddy Peralta, who has been stellar lately for the Brewers. This season, Peralta has a 3.97 ERA against a 3.35 xERA. His Average Exit Velocity is 87.7 mph with a 8.1% Barrel Rate and a 37.3% Hard-Hit Rate. Since the All-Star break, Peralta has a 2.38 ERA with 61 strikeouts and 12 walks over 41 2/3 innings.
The key in this game is that both the Padres and Brewers have struggled against right-handers this month.
San Diego has a 94 wRC+ and a .696 OPS with a 20.1% strikeout rate and a 9.5% walk rate. Milwaukee is even worse with a 83 wRC+, a .663 OPS, a 20.2% strikeout rate and a 10.5% walk rate.
Finally, the Padres have an August xFIP of 4.05, while the Brewers are at 3.87.
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