Here are our top MLB picks & predictions for Tuesday, September 16.
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Tuesday’s Best MLB Picks & Predictions
(Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook)
Texas Rangers (-119) at Houston Astros (-102) | O/U 7.5 (-119/-102)
We have a meaningful battle in the Lone Star State. Texas has had a major turnaround that has put them back into contention. They have recently won 16 of their last 21 and are now just three games out of the American League West and just two out of the third Wild Card spot.
Just like how they won it all in 2023, they are getting a combination of power hitting and lights-out pitching. Since August 22nd, their ERA is second (3.02) and they are seventh in wOBA. Some of the trade deadline moves they made are helping, especially putting Merrill Kelly into the rotation. In the eight starts since coming over from Arizona, he has a 3.19 ERA, but a lack of run support and the bullpen led to Texas losing three of his first four starts. It's all shifted as they've won his last four outings.
One was against Houston, where he went seven innings and allowed one earned run. Texas looks good for a win in the first game of this series with Critian Javier’s regression lately, allowing four earned runs in his last two starts.
Pick: Rangers Moneyline (-119)
San Diego Padres (+103) at New York Mets (-125) | O/U 8 (-107/-114)
The Mets are hanging on to a playoff spot by the skin of their teeth. They have only a 1.5 game lead for the final Wild Card spot with the Giants, Diamondbacks, and Reds breathing down their necks. Fans are feeling the deja vu of 2007 when they held a seven-game lead with 17 games left, only went 5-12, and got eliminated on the last day.
Pitching was their strongest suit going into the season, and they were at one point the best pitching staff in the league. It's a mystery how they could be so bad in an instant. From the start of the season until May 13, they led the league in ERA (2.74). On July 1, they are 24th (4.53).
Clay Holmes is part of that collapse; he started very well with a 2.74 ERA through eight starts, and it was over, and since then, it's a 41.5 ERA. He gets the Padres, who crushed in a previous start by allowing four total runs (two earned) in a game where the Mets were shut out.
Pick: Padres Moneyline (+103)
