MLB Picks Today:<\/p>\n
Expert baseball handicapper Greg Peterson shares his top MLB picks today for Friday, May 23.<\/p>\n
Check out Greg\u2019s\u00a0Daily MLB Lines<\/a>\u00a0and his\u00a0Baseball Betting Show Podcast<\/a>. Also, check out our\u00a0MLB Betting Splits<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n 6:40 PM Eastern<\/p>\n Milwaukee Brewers vs. Pittsburgh Pirates<\/p>\n The Pirates entered Thursday having scored four runs or fewer in 26 straight games\u2014the longest streak in the live-ball era\u2014and send ace Paul Skenes to the mound. Skenes owns a 2.44 ERA with just four home runs allowed across 10 starts.<\/p>\n Pick: Under 7 Runs (Greg\u2019s Handicapped Total: 6.6)<\/p>\n Chicago Cubs vs. Cincinnati Reds<\/p>\n Reds starting pitcher Hunter Greene is making his first start in a little over two weeks. He has a 2.36 ERA with 12 strikeouts per nine innings. Cubs starter Matthew Boyd owns a 2.98 ERA but has a 3.98 fielding independent pitching (FIP), allowing 1.2 home runs per nine innings. He is backed by a bullpen ranked 19th in ERA at 4.23, while the Reds\u2019 bullpen ranks seventh with a 3.30 ERA.<\/p>\n Pick: Reds Moneyline -101 (Greg\u2019s Handicap: Reds -139)<\/p>\n 7:10 PM Eastern<\/p>\n Los Angeles Dodgers vs. New York Mets<\/p>\n Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw is coming off an outing in which he allowed five runs in four innings against the Angels\u2014his first start of the season. Mets starter Griffin Canning has allowed just five total runs over his past five starts, posting a 2.47 ERA overall. He\u2019s backed by a bullpen that ranks third in ERA at 2.91, while the Dodgers bullpen ranks 17th with a 4.00 ERA.<\/p>\n Pick: Mets Moneyline +104 (Greg\u2019s Handicap: Mets -121)<\/p>\n Cleveland Guardians vs. Detroit Tigers<\/p>\n Guardians starter Slade Cecconi allowed three runs in five innings in his first start of the season, after posting a 6.66 ERA with the Diamondbacks last year. Tigers starter Jackson Jobe has a 4.12 ERA and is backed by a bullpen with the best ERA in baseball since the 2024 All-Star Break.<\/p>\n Pick: Tigers Moneyline -128 (Greg\u2019s Handicap: Tigers -149)<\/p>\n 8:10 PM Eastern<\/p>\n Kansas City Royals vs. Minnesota Twins<\/p>\n Royals starter Noah Cameron has allowed just one run over 12 2\/3 innings, but owns a 4.34 FIP with 4.3 strikeouts and 3.6 walks per nine innings. Twins starter Pablo L\u00f3pez holds a 2.40 ERA overall, though it rises to 3.94 at home. The Twins average 4.6 runs per game at home, which ranks ninth in the league.<\/p>\n Picks: Twins Run Line -1.5 +135 and Over 7.5 Runs (Greg\u2019s Handicaps: Twins -1.5 +123 and Total: 8.3)<\/p>\n Seattle Mariners vs. Houston Astros<\/p>\n Mariners starter Emerson Hancock owns a 6.21 ERA with 1.9 home runs and 3.2 walks per nine innings. Astros starter Ryan Gusto has a 4.65 ERA with 1.2 home runs and 3.8 walks per nine. He faces a Mariners lineup that ranks fourth in runs per game on the road at 5.2.<\/p>\n Pick: Over 8.5 Runs (Greg\u2019s Handicapped Total: 8.9)<\/p>\n 8:40 PM Eastern<\/p>\n New York Yankees vs. Colorado Rockies<\/p>\n The Rockies\u2019 offense ranks 28th in run production, averaging 3.3 runs per game\u2014and just under 4.3 even at Coors Field. Yankees starter Clarke Schmidt has a 4.41 ERA, supported by a bullpen ranked 10th at 3.43 ERA. Rockies starter Tanner Gordon owns an impressive 2.29 FIP.<\/p>\n Pick: Under 12 Runs (Greg\u2019s Handicapped Total: 10.8)<\/p>\n 9:38 PM Eastern<\/p>\n Miami Marlins vs. Los Angeles Angels<\/p>\n Angels starter Yusei Kikuchi owns a 3.50 ERA with a 4.43 FIP, allowing 1.2 home runs and 4.3 walks per nine innings. Marlins starter Sandy Alcantara carries a 7.99 ERA, giving up 1.5 home runs and five walks per nine innings. He\u2019s backed by a Marlins bullpen with a 5.11 ERA (26th in the league), while the Angels bullpen is worst in the league at 6.66.<\/p>\n Picks: Angels Run Line -1.5 +140 and Over 8.5 Runs (Greg\u2019s Handicaps: Angels -1.5 +119 and Total: 8.6)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MLB Picks Today: Expert baseball handicapper Greg Peterson shares his top MLB picks today for Friday, May 23.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5,44,4,163,164],"class_list":{"0":"post-48581","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-featured","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-mlb-best-bets","12":"tag-mlb-picks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114557017449168079","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}