Best MLB Bets for Every Game Today (Odds, Predictions and Picks for Saturday's Wild Card Slate)

Three road teams were able to best their opponents in Game 1 and put us in an interesting situation heading into Game 2 of the first every Wild Card weekend.

Can the Cardinals recover from allowing six runs in the ninth inning to lose to the Phillies? What about the Mets, who saw their ace Max Scherzer get shelled in four-plus innings of work against the San Diego Padres. Can Jacob deGrom extend the Mets season?

Here are our favorite bets for Game 2 of MLB Wild Card weekend:

Tampa Bay Rays vs. Cleveland Guardians Game 2 Prediction and Best Bet

• Pick: Rays ML

Seattle Mariners vs. Toronto Blue Jays Game 2 Prediction and Best Bet

• Pick: Blue Jays ML

The Blue Jays hit lefties above league average, posting the 10th best batting average and OPS this season, and could be in line for a bounce back offensive performance after being shutout by Castillo against Ray. The southpaw has an ERA north of 4.00 across his last six starts and his ERA is more than a run higher on the road than at Safeco Field.

However, I'm very concerned about the Blue Jays ability to keep the Mariners off the scoreboard. Gausman has been a positive regression candidate all season with an MLB best FIP mark (2.38), but has actually pitched worse as the year has gone on.

Gausman has seen his ERA go from 2.87 to 3.90 between the first half of the season and the second half and has an ERA of 4.57 at the Rogers Centre vs. 2.37 on the road this season. Not to mention, the Blue Jays are right around league average in terms of bullpen ERA while the Mariners boast the sixth best unit.

While Toronto has had the best offense in baseball in terms of wRC+ since September 1st, Seattle has the fourth. Both pitchers come in with questions, but at this number I'll side with the Mariners to make this a 2-0 sweep.

New York Mets vs. San Diego Padres Game 2 Prediction and Best Bet

Pick: Under 5.5

Philadelphia Phillies vs. St. Louis Cardinals Game 2 Prediction and Best Bet

• Pick: Phillies ML

Nola has been pitching his best of late, posting a 2.36 ERA over his last six starts, as he helped propel the Phillies into the postseason. He will face a Cardinals lineup that has a ton of talent, but hasn't been producing of late. Since the start of September, the Cards are 15th in wRC+ and tied for 24th in the big leagues in terms of batting average (.227).

Likely MVP front runner Paul Goldschmidt is one of the key names that has cooled off since the start of the final month of the regular season, posting .245/.333/.383 slashes, all season lows.

Nola has the edge on the mound against a struggling Cardinals lineup and also when comparing him to the St. Louis starter, Miles Mikolas. While he got off to a strong start in 2022, 2.54 ERA across his first 19 starts, he has cooled off since the All-Star break, posting a 4.39 ERA with a diminishing strikeout rate.

The Cardinals are also likely down their closer Jonathan Heasley, who collapsed in the ninth inning and left the game with a hand injury.

The blown lead is going to trickle over into today and I like the Phillies to make this a two game sweep and face their NL East rival the Atlanta Braves.