Entering the weekend, all 30 Major League Baseball teams have played their first games, which means the season is officially underway. Below, I highlight why two pitchers will have differing results in their debuts with new teams, while also expecting an impressive pitching performance from an American League contender in the latest game on Saturday’s MLB slate. Here are the best MLB picks & predictions for Saturday, March 28th.
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Saturday’s Best MLB Picks & Predictions
Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook | This Season: 0-0-0
Athletics at Toronto Blue Jays
It is easy to overlook the Athletics entering this season, as they were left for dead following a 1-20 stretch from May into June last year. But when most weren’t paying attention to them, they quietly went 53-46 over the final 99 games of last season, and have one of the most underrated lineups in the Majors.
The A’s ranked 12th in runs scored last year despite getting just 117 games from budding young star Nick Kurtz. They will need to pitch better than the 27th-ranked ERA they finished with last season, and that starts with a turnaround from southpaw Jeffrey Springs. Springs compiled a 29% strikeout rate from 2021 to 2024 before posting just a 19.4% strikeout rate last year.
I’m also banking on Dylan Cease being too amped up in his first start with the Blue Jays, leading to the Athletics stealing one on the road.
Pick: Athletics Moneyline (+153)
Boston Red Sox at Cincinnati Reds
While I have reservations about Dylan Cease in his first start in Toronto, I have no such doubts that Sonny Gray will light it up in his first start in Boston while facing one of his former teams.
Gray is just two seasons removed from a second-place American League Cy Young finish after he led the league in FIP and HR/9 rate. But he also set a career-high and led the league last year with a 5.29 K/BB ratio, and that should help neutralize a Reds lineup that ranked a respectable 12th in BB/K rate last season.
Gray should also receive run support from the newly acquired Willson Contreras, who entered the season with 12 home runs in 53 career games in Cincinnati, his most home runs at any park outside of Wrigley Field and Busch Stadium.
Bettors profited 16.45 units for a 12% return on investment (ROI) over Boston’s stretch of a 61-41 record to end last season, and I expect it to continue that momentum on Saturday.
Pick: Red Sox Moneyline (-156)
Cleveland Guardians at Seattle Mariners
Seattle went 4-2 against Cleveland last season. With neither team being very active in the offseason, I am leaning towards the Mariners holding the Guardians under their projected team total.
Bryan Woo has finished with a WHIP of 0.927 or better in back-to-back campaigns. When he was on pace to finish with a sub-0.95 WHIP in August of last year, Opta Player Statistics Hub came up with this nugget:
Bryan Woo, who turned 25 in January, is on pace to have his second straight year with a sub-0.95 WHIP.
The only pitcher in MLB history to have consecutive seasons with a sub-0.95 WHIP (minimum 100 IP) prior to turning 26 is Walter Johnson (1912-1913). pic.twitter.com/0DGXn91gVW
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) August 27, 2025
Woo should dominate a Guardians lineup that scored the third-fewest runs in the Majors last season, and 20th in home runs, with only two of their players hitting 15 long balls.
I also wouldn’t put anyone off backing Seattle -1.5 on the run line. Yes, Joey Cantillo was one of four pitchers last season to have a 50% whiff rate or higher on a single pitch (minimum 200 innings) with a devastating changeup. But Seattle also ranked sixth in wRC+ and fifth in ISO against southpaws last season, so it can put up some crooked numbers here.
Pick: Guardians Team Total Under 2.5 Runs (+115)
Mike Spector is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Mike, check out his archive and follow him @MikeSpector01.