MLB Betting Picks (8/23/2020) - Moneylines, Totals, and Runlines

August 23, 2020

Tom Bellucco recommends betting picks for the MLB slate on 8/23/2020. He breaks down each team's situation and suggests the top picks on moneylines, totals, runlines, and more!

Welcome back, RotoBallers! We finally had a rough day after about two weeks of consistent profit. It was bound to happen! After the Nationals couldn't hold on to a 5 run lead to cash my -1.5 bet, we saw the Blue Jays and Phillies both lose on walk-off hits. Then, to top it all off, the Dbacks couldn't give Zac Gallen an ounce of run support through the first seven innings, and the Giants came through in a big way against the Arizona bullpen. The perfect storm of negatives circumstances leading to a 0-for-4 sweep. All we can do is smile, remember how many breaks we've caught over the past month, and move on!

As I'm sure you already know know, Steve Janik and I will be sharing the duties of writing up an MLB Betting article every day of the week! All season long we'll be supplying you MLB betting articles with a few of our favorite picks for the day in baseball. Along with the picks, we'll give a little write-up with some supporting evidence for the picks, and we'll keep track of our records throughout the course of the season. You can always find my updated picks for the day as well as my running tally @BellRoto on Twitter. I'll also do my best to continue posting my picks there on my "Off Days" for this series.

• Saturday, August 22: 0-4
• 2020 Season Total: 63-46

Without further ado, let's get to the picks for today's slate. Please make sure to follow me on Twitter @BellRoto, as I'll post any updates and/or additions to these picks there throughout the day. I'll also field any questions or comments on Twitter as well as in our Premium RotoBaller Slack Chat under the Sports Betting channel. Here we go!

Boston Red Sox (-138) at Baltimore Orioles

O/U: 10.5

BOS: Zack Godley, BAL: Wade LeBlanc

I'll keep things simple for you here: Wade LeBlanc has been BAD. Like, really bad. And while Godley has been shaky himself thus far, he's got a more trustworthy pedigree in my mind, and he seemed to have things moving back in the right direction his last time out. So, when we factor that in with the large discrepancy in firepower between these two offenses, this is a no-brainer. The only true variable is the Red Sox bullpen and if this game turns into a shootout. Let's hope Godley settles in for four or five innings and Boston can build a nice lead in the mean time.

Pick: Red Sox ML (-138) 1 Unit

Houston Astros (-122) at San Diego Padres

O/U: 8.5

SEA: Zack Greinke, SD: Adrian Morejon

I don't understand this line in the slightest...

Sure, the Padres have won the first two games of this series, and yesterday they exploded for 13 runs. However, the Astros are still the better team in my eyes, even if they're dealing with a couple of injuries in Yordan Alvarez and Alex Bregman. This is one of the deepest positional teams in the MLB, so that doesn't tick them down a whole lot in my eyes.

THEN, we get the pitching matchup of an absolute stud who's picked up right where we expected him to in Zack Greinke, going up against a reliever who's thrown one inning this year and opening up for a bullpen game. Things are getting fishy... but there's more!

As I go to place my 2-unit bet, the line DROPS down to -112. I don't know what's happening. I think Vegas might know something that we don't. So, if you can, make sure you get Zack Greinke as "Must Start". With that being said, I went ahead and TRIPLED down for my first 3-unit bet of the season. Let's go 'Stros. Get us back on Track!

Pick: Astros ML (-122/-112) 3 Units

Arizona Diamondbacks (-129) at San Francisco Giants

O/U: 9

ARI: Luke Weaver, SF: Trevor Cahill

All the logic from my Diamondbacks bets on Friday night and Saturday night roll over to Sunday. I feel as though I should roll this into a two or three unit bet to try and cover my losses from the first two games of this series, but I'm going to try and avoid the sweep at this point. Luke Weaver is a significantly better pitcher than Trevor Cahill, and I'm sticking to my guns that this Dbacks lineup CAN and WILL put up runs in bunches EVENTUALLY! Let's hope tonight is the night, or I may hold an inherent bias against this team for a few weeks at least. Fade me on this one if you'd like, but I'm giving Arizona my money again, and hoping they show up on Sunday.

Pick: Diamondbacks ML (-129) 1 Unit

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