Top 4 MLB Picks & Predictions: Wednesday (8/19)
The 2026 Major League Baseball (MLB) regular season continues today, with five afternoon games starting at 4:10 p.m. ET or earlier. The evening window has 10 games, with the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles available at 6:35 p.m. ET on Amazon Prime Video and/or MLB Network. Let’s build our bankroll with our best MLB picks & predictions for Wednesday, August 19th.
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Wednesday’s Best MLB Picks & Predictions
Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook | All bets are for 1 unit
St. Louis Cardinals (+132) at Cincinnati Reds (-142) | O/U 8.5 (-106/-114)
After a rain-makeup doubleheader on Monday, the Cardinals (65-62) and Reds (60-66) play the fourth contest in a rare five-game series between these National League Central division opponents.
St. Louis picked up a 3-0 victory as slight favorites (-112) on Tuesday, as the under (nine) cashed for a third consecutive game in the series.
Righty Kyle Leahy worked five scoreless innings en route to the win, while Masyn Winn had himself a night, collecting two doubles and a solo home run, going 3-for-4. The rest of the team had four combined hits. The Cardinals are still three games back in the National League for the final Wild Card spot.
Cincinnati has lost four of the past five games and is now 7.5 games off the pace for the final Wild Card spot in the National League. The Reds are probably lucky to be even in that good of shape, as they have a dismal -89 run differential overall, while going 31-35 at home. The offense is struggling to plate runs.
The Reds turn to righty Chase Burns (14-2, 2.47 ERA, 1.09 WHIP) for his 24th start of the season. He has been tremendous at Great American Ball Park this season, going 8-1 with a sparkling 1.98 ERA and 1.07 WHIP, while teams are hitting just .187 against him. He has allowed just six homers in 68.1 innings at home.
The Cardinals counter with lefty Matthew Liberatore (5-10, 5.07 ERA, 1.48 WHIP), who has really struggled in recent months, going 3-8 with a 5.50 ERA and 1.46 WHIP in his past 15 starts.
St. Louis has won four of the past five games; however, it has gone 6-2 in the past eight games. St. Louis is 5-1 in the past six games as an underdog, too, while going 9-2 on the run line in the past 11 as an underdog.
Despite the Cardinals’ impressive record, especially as an underdog, Burns and the Reds are the play, especially at home, even though St. Louis is probably the better team overall. And we’ll keep leaning low on the total.
Picks: Reds Moneyline (-142) & Under 7.5 Runs (-124)
Seattle Mariners (+110) at Milwaukee Brewers (-118) | O/U 7.0 (-120/-102)
The Mariners (59-67) and Brewers (78-48) meet in the middle contest in a three-game Interleague series at American Family Field.
Seattle is going to be in a foul mood after an embarrassing 22-0 loss against Milwaukee in the series opener on Tuesday night. All starters outside of Brice Turang collected at least one hit, while eight different players drove in at least one run.
Jake Bauers was 2-for-3 with a double, home run, walk, two RBI and three runs scored. Christian Yelich went 2-for-5 with a home run, two runs scored and four RBI. Luis Lara ended up 3-for-6 with a homer, two runs scored and four RBI. Garrett Mitchell had four singles in six at-bats with two runs scored. David Hamilton finished 3-for-5 with a homer, two runs scored and four RBI.
If you were a DFS player on Tuesday, it was a profitable night if you had a Brewers stack.
Seattle is 3-2 in the past five games, while the over is 3-1 in the past four outings. The Mariners have allowed 10+ runs in three of the past six games. That’s not optimal for a team trying desperately to stay in the Wild Card race.
The Mariners turn to righty Logan Gilbert (9-7, 3.28 ERA, 0.99 WHIP), who is 2-3 with a 2.25 WHIP across 60 innings in 10 road starts. Teams are hitting just .215 against Gilbert on the road, too.
The Brewers will use righty Dustin May (6-7, 4.13 ERA, 1.25 WHIP), the pitcher they acquired at the non-waiver trade deadline for a postseason push. He is 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA and 0.92 WHIP across 13 innings in two starts since coming over from the Cardinals.
We’re going to go under on the total, even though seven is a very low number. Normally, we’d consider Gilbert and the Mariners due to his solid splits, but a 22-0 loss in the opener is hard to forget.
Baseball is baseball, and a new day is a new day. But that’s hard not to think about, and it’s not like the Brewers lucked into a win. This is one of the best teams in baseball. Let’s back Milwaukee at a very low, affordable price.
Picks: Brewers Moneyline (-118) & Under 7.0 Runs (-102)
Joe Williams is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Joe, check out his archive and follow him @winwithjoe