Wednesday’s Best MLB & NFL Bets (8/9)

No matter your sport of choice, there's always sports betting action to be had. We'll have you covered each and every day with our daily best bets. Here are all of our best bets across each major sport in action today.

Today's Best Bets

Here are today's best bets.

MLB Best Bets

San Diego Padres (-130) vs. Seattle Mariners (+110) | O/U 8.5 (+100/-120)

Yu Darvish's season has been good news/bad news to this point. The bad news is he is on pace for his worst ERA (4.41) since 2018 and his worst FIP (4.10) since 2019. However, he is well past an illness that sidelined him for a few weeks this summer and has returned strong, especially lately. Darvish has thrown quality starts in four of his last five appearances while holding the top two highest-scoring teams in the league (Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Dodgers) to two runs over 13 innings in his previous two.

Darvish has had great success against current Seattle Mariners hitters over a small sample size, allowing a .156/.236/.235 slash line in 64 combined at-bats. We expect him to outduel Mariners rookie and top pitching prospect Emerson Hancock, who makes his MLB debut today. Seattle scratched fellow rookie Bryan Woo late last night, which is why the odds for this game were taken off the board (San Diego was a small -120 moneyline favorite).

Seattle may be 23-10 in its last 33 games (+10.9 units, 27% ROI), but San Diego is a rightful favorite with a hot pitcher leading the way tonight.

Pick: Padres moneyline (-130)

Check out our other MLB Odds, Picks & Predictions:

NFL Preseason Best Bets

Texans vs. Patriots

Week 1 of the preseason will get underway, with the Texans facing the Patriots on Thursday night. It's unclear who will start for the Texans in the opener. But it'll likely either be C.J. Stroud or Davis Mills. Stroud is the second overall pick and frontrunner to win the NFL Rookie of the Year. Meanwhile, Mills has solid experience in the NFL and still has the potential to do big things in the league for years to come. You'd also have to imagine that John Metchie III gets some work, at least to start the game, so that he can get a feel for the NFL level of competition. Meanwhile, the Patriots will likely ride with Bailey Zappe to begin the game. Zappe earned snaps last season for the Patriots when they benched Mac Jones. He'll be fun. However, in the second half, it'll be Trace McSorley and Malik Cunningham. Cunningham is a terrific athlete, but I'm unsure if his success will translate at the NFL level. Give me the Texans in the opener.

Pick: Texans -1.5 (-110)