Top 3 MLB Picks & Predictions: Friday (8/7)
Welcome to the Friday baseball slate with the All-Star break in the rearview mirror and playoff baseball on the horizon. I'll continue to be here once a week to provide you with the best bets across the day. Baseball is the best sport to get specific with your bets and there are plenty of angles to attack any given game with almost every day offering a loaded slate of opportunity. It's the best time of year.
We had a perfect outing last time, hitting a multi-unit bet with the Tigers. Be sure to check out my NRFI articles as well because those have been straight cash printers throughout 2026. Anyways, here are the best MLB picks & predictions for the Friday, August 7th slate.
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Friday's Best MLB Picks & Predictions
Last Time: 3-0 | This Season: 28-26
Colorado Rockies vs. St. Louis Cardinals
Starting in St. Louis, I'm trusting the offenses in this one. Ryan Felter gets the start for Colorado and he's been subpar at best with an ERA of 5.75. Over his last four games, it's jumped all the way up to 10.70 ERA. What's unknown is how well Colorado has played offensively. Of course they get the benefit of a friendly park but in the last month of play, they've scored the sixth most runs in baseball.
In that same time frame, St. Louis has been a top half offense as well. For Kyle Leahy, he has a 3.44 ERA with a .262 batting average against so he's due for some regression. The Cardinals also rank 19th in bullpen ERA over the last month of play and 23rd on the year while the Rockies bullpen ERA sits third lowest. The Cardinals might cover this total on their own but I'm expecting a lot of runs in this one
Pick: Over 8.5 Runs (-113 at Kalshi)
Tampa Bay Rays vs. Seattle Mariners
On the other side of the coin we have Tampa taking on the Seattle Mariners out west. Drew Rasmussen gets the start for the Rays and he's been money with a 2.91 ERA across the season. On the road he still limits opponents to a .211 batting average and is coming off a 6.0 inning shutout performance. Tampa's bullpen also ranks seventh over the last two months with a 3.30.
Logan Gilbert gets the start in Seattle with a 3.22 ERA in his last 10 games. The Mariners are sixth in bullpen ERA across the season and their offense in the last month has scored the second-fewest runs. Tampa is right in the middle during that timeline but I'd expect both offenses to struggle in this one. If you want to take Tampa ML and the under SGP I support it but I'm more confident in the under.
Pick: Under 7.0 Runs (-108 at FanDuel)
Atlanta Braves vs. New York Yankees
Finally tonight between two playoff squads we have the Atlanta Braves in New York to take on the Yankees. Tyler Mahle starts for the Braves and has been subpar this year with a 5.13 ERA. The main split to focus on is his 8.04 road ERA in his nine starts away from home with a .921 OPS against. Paul Goldschmidt has hit .379 off Mahle lifetime in 29 at-bats. I expect Mahle to struggle here against the 12th best offense in run production.
For the Yankees, Max Fried gets the nod and he's been solid with a 3.12 ERA and coming off an excellent performance, allowing one run on two hits over 5.1 IP. The Braves who have faced Fried in their career have struggled as well, combining for a .169 batting average over 65 at-bats among active roster players. Considering New York has the second-best bullpen ERA, I'm confident in their ability to handle business tonight.
Pick: Yankees -1.5 (+150 at Kalshi)