Keagan Smith gives you a preview, prediction and pick for today’s game between the Boston Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds on Saturday’s MLB slate.

The MLB is back! There’s just something about the first few weeks of baseball season that seem magical — the emerald-green grass, the chatter from the bleachers before the crack of a bat and the way the crowd builds into a collective cheer or sigh depending on the trajectory of that stitched, leather-bound sphere.

The Boston Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds opened their respective seasons back on Thursday, with the Sox claiming a 3-0 victory in that Opening Day matchup. After taking Friday off, they’re back in action for the weekend with first pitch on game two scheduled for 4:10 p.m. ET at Great American Ball Park.

Here’s a betting prediction and pick for this Red Sox vs. Reds matchup, courtesy of MLB odds and lines on DraftKings Sportsbook.

Red Sox vs. Reds prediction, preview

Last season, the Red Sox finished third among a very competitive top of the AL East with an 89-73 record. After falling short in the Wild Card to the rival Yankees, they loaded up big time over the offseason to make a push in 2026. Young talents Roman Anthony and Jarren Duran already made up key pieces of this lineup, and while they lost Alex Bregman via free agency, trades for Willson Contreras and Caleb Durbin should help shore up an already impressive offense. The stable of arms also grew with the signing of star hurler Ranger Suarez and trades for Sonny Gray and Johan Oviedo, bringing even more assistance around Garrett Crochet. There’s a ton of upside to this roster heading into the new season and the Red Sox should be considered a real threat to come out of the American League.

The Reds had an okay season in 2025 and lost to the eventual champions in the Wild Card following an 83-79 campaign. In a time when the NL Central has a couple of dominant teams at the top, Cincinnati needed to make moves to stay competitive. While it was far from a truly busy offseason, the front office did secure power slugger Eugenio Suarez fresh off a 49-homer season to hopefully add some pop to a lineup that was in desperate need of it. Elly De La Cruz remains the superstar of this lineup and there are other players with upside around him, including TJ Friedl and Spencer Steer. The pitching rotation remains the strength of the team as well when healthy, though Hunter Greene is on the 60-day IL along with Nick Lodolo on the 15-day. Still, there are pathways for this Reds group to improve on last year’s result.

When these teams faced off on Thursday, the Red Sox scored just three runs but racked up 12 hits in total by way of seven different batters. The scoring came late in the game when the bullpens saw work, but the Reds weren’t able to get much of anything going with just four hits on the day — three of which came from Sal Stewart. It’s reasonable to expect a better performance from the Cincinnati bats today.

For Boston, RHP Sonny Gray takes the mound in this jersey for the first time after a very good 2025 campaign for the Cardinals. He logged a 4.28 ERA that was relatively uninspiring, but a 1.23 WHIP and 201 strikeouts over 180.2 innings more than make up for that.

As for Cincinnati’s starter, it’s RHP Brady Singer on the bump here. He pitched 169.2 innings in 2025 with a 4.03 ERA and 1.24 WHIP, striking out 163 batters. His average exit velocity was the second highest of his career though, and he’s never boasted high velocity on his own fastball.

Red Sox vs. Reds pick, best bet

On DraftKings Sportsbook, the Red Sox are -143 road favorites on the Moneyline while the Reds hold +119 odds to win outright. The combined run total sits at 7.5 for this contest.

Best Bet: BOS Red Sox over 4.5 runs (+110)

Singer looked a little rough during Spring Training, allowing 20 hits, 10 earned runs and eight walks over his 16.2 innings of work. That’s not to say that he can’t perform, but I do think this Red Sox lineup will get the better of him early and have another hot day at the plate as they did on Opening Day. Given the hurler’s issues with exit velo plus 30th and 37th-percentile grades in barrel rate and ground ball percentage last season as well, we could see fireworks from Boston’s bats.

Strong Lean: Sonny Gray 7+ strikeouts (+101)

Last season, Gray put up one of the better strikeout rates of his career at 26.7%. He was very effective with an 81st-percentile chase rate, which is something we can target here. The Reds were eighth worst in strikeouts per game in 2025 and went down on strikes 12 times on Opening Day. As a guy who can take advantage of a swing-happy approach, there’s an avenue for Gray’s strikeout prop to cash here.