Top MLB Picks and Predictions Today (Cubs and Marlins Live Dogs, Cardinals to Bash vs. Bumgarner)

16-games get underway this Saturday in Major League Baseball, and BetSided's team of writers and editors have you covered with betting breakdowns, picks and analysis for everyone of them!

With a full slate of action spread throughout the day, here are our team's favorite bets of the day, with all odds coming from consensus sportsbooks.

Brewers vs. Cubs Odds, Prediction and Pick

• Run Line: Brewers -1.5 (+125) | Cubs +1.5 (-150)
• Moneyline: Brewers -118 | Cubs +108
• Total: 9 (OVER -120 | UNDER +100)

The Cubs weirdly decided not to trade Willson Contreras and others at the deadline and have been rewarded for doing so. The Cubs are 10-7 in August and actually have one of the hottest offenses in baseball. 

Conversely, the Brewers were leading the division at the time of the trade deadline and moved off of Josh Hader. They are 6-10 in the month of August and have had a lot of problems. Though most of them have come offensively so Hader would not remedy that. 

In the past week, the Cubs have won four-straight games, have a team OPS of .793 the fifth best mark in the league over that stretch. They also have the most homers in the league with 12. They added two more last night in the 8-7 win over Milwaukee. 

Marcus Stroman is on the mound tonight as a home underdog and while Freddy Peralta has been slightly better this year, Stroman will give the Cubs a chance to outscore the Brewers. Milwaukee’s offense has a .607 OPS in the past week, 26th best in baseball. -- Josh Yourish

PICK: Cubs +108

Follow all Josh’s bets HERE

Cardinals vs. Diamondbacks Odds, Prediction and Pick

• Run Line: Cardinals -1.5 (+110) | Diamondbacks +1.5 (-105)
• Moneyline: Cardinals -142 | Diamondbacks +132
• Total: 9 (OVER -115 | UNDER -105)

This Cards lineup can do no wrong and I expect it to keep rolling against Bumgarner on Saturday night.

For starters, St. Louis is leading baseball in slugging percentage in the month of August, posting a .507 percentage that is 19 points ahead of the next best team the Dodgers. With Goldschmidt in the middle of the lineup, this team is raking.

Against lefties? They are as good as anyone, hitting .269 and posting the best slugging percentage in the bigs. Goldschmidt in particular destroys lefty pitchers, posting a .438/.533/.865 splits against southpaws. Video game like stuff from the MVP.

I'm keeping it simple here, Bumgarner's diminishing velocity is a problem against quality clubs and there is none better than the Cardinals right now. -- Reed Wallach

LEAN: Cardinals TT OVER 5 (-105)

Track all of Reed's bets at Betstamp HERE!

Marlins vs. Dodgers Odds, Prediction and Pick

• Run Line: Marlins +1.5 (+114) | Dodgers -1.5 (-137)
• Moneyline: Marlins +260 | Dodgers -320
• Total: 7.5 (OVER -102 | UNDER -120)

The Dodgers deserve to be favorites; heavy favorites at that. But -320 against a very good pitcher while their starter makes his first appearance since Tommy John surgery ? That's outlandish.

Dustin May gets the ball for L.A. for the first time since May 1 of 2021 where he left the game with an elbow injury. He made five starts in Triple-A, striking out 33 batters in 19 innings with a 1.89 ERA.

Meanwhile, Braxton Garrett gets the ball for the Fish, and has turned in a very good season in 2022. The 25-year old southpaw has a 3.67 ERA on the season with a 3.47 Fielding Independent Pitching, or FIP this year. He's also coming off six innings of shutout baseball against a very good Atlanta Braves team last Sunday.

To me, there's a level of expectation I can have for Garrett, compared to what might be the case for May. There's no doubt the Dodgers' right-hander has the stuff to be excellent, but so much is up in the air for me to lay down 1/3 odds or more that he's that guy in his first MLB start in 16 months. -- Ben Heisler

LEAN: Marlins ML +260

Follow all of Ben's betting plays in real-time HERE!