Best NRFI and YRFI Bets Today (Guardians vs Rays Among Three Stellar Pitching Matchups)

It's time to wrap up a winning month of No Run First Inning (NRFI) and Yes Run First Inning (YRFI) bets. We've had a ton of success of late here, and I'm not one to take my foot off the gas as I approach the finish line.

With 15 games scheduled for today's MLB slate, there's a ton of pitching matchups I'm eyeing. But after weeding out the merely "good, not great" contests, I've got three I'm ready to fire on.

Using odds from WynnBET Sportsbook, here are my favorite NRFI/YRFI bets of the day:

Best NRFI and YRFI Bets Today

Mets vs Marlins NRFI (-160)

I'll admit, this is more juice than I typically like to pay. But when you have a pitching matchup like Chris Bassitt vs Sandy Alcantara, it's worth paying.

Bassitt has a 2.50 ERA in the first inning this year and has been stellar of late, throwing six consecutive quality starts. Miami has one of the worst first inning lineups in baseball, scoring in the first just 17.17% of the time.

On the other end, Alcantara is a legitimate superhuman. He's got a 1.80 ERA in the first and allowed two or fewer runs in 18 of his 20 starts. The Mets score in the first in only 24% of their road games, so we're still getting great value to back two excellent starters.

Guardians vs Rays NRFI (-145)

Shane Bieber is perhaps MLB's premier NRFI pitcher. He's allowed a first inning run just once in 18 starts (!!) and though I like the over in the game itself, I think it'll take some time for the runs to start pouring in.

Opposing Bieber is lefty Jeffrey Springs, who brings a 1.76 ERA into today's matchup. The Guardians are terrible against southpaws, ranking 27th in OPS this month, and I don't think they'll suddenly turn into the Blue Jays or Yankees overnight.

Trust both pitchers to toss up zeroes in the opening frame.

Mariners vs Astros NRFI (-130)

This is perhaps the best pitching matchup of the slate, with Robbie Ray battling Justin Verlander. Ray got smacked around by Houston in his last start, but I'm happy to trust his body of work on the last couple of months and chalk last week up to just a poor outing.

Prior to that meltdown, Ray went eight consecutive starts without allowing more than three runs, compiling a 1.76 ERA in the process.

Verlander is pitching even better. He's got a 2.00 ERA in the first inning and allowed just three runs total in his last five starts, all wins.

The NRFI burned us in this matchup last week, but I have faith in the process and will run the NRFI back tonight.

Follow all of Joe Summers' betting picks here.