With industry-leading tools as our allies, it’s time to look at the best MLB picks today (August 21). For future focus on such things, even for guys such as Lucas Giolito, follow on Twitter where the best bets and more are all recapped prior to lock.
Nonetheless, let’s get to our best MLB picks today in a nice, digestible form.
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Best MLB Picks Today – August 21
You can also watch our best MLB picks today, and other locks, video below. If you prefer, you can watch it on YouTube here.
Chicago Cubs (Javier Assad RHP) at Detroit Tigers (Alex Faedo RHP)
- Cubs’ Javier Assad: .259 xBA 18.1 strikeout rate, 10.1% walk rate (Assad’s K rate bolstered by bullpen usage).
- Tigers: 87 WRC+ against RHP sets up Assad nicely.
- Tigers’ Alex Faedo: 440 xSLG. Giving up 17.6 degree launch angle.
- Cubs lineup has been fantastic top to bottom during the second half of the season.
Best MLB Pick Today: LOCK Cubs ML -135 (can find -130 on DraftKings)
Seattle Mariners (Luis Castillo RHP) at Chicago White Sox (Touki Toussaint RHP)
- Touki Toussaint: 1.45 WHIP, starting to fade a bit, the shine is off of late. Was outperforming advanced metrics earlier in the season.
- Toussaint’s 16.7% walk rate could be a problem against this hot Mariners team.
- Luis Castillo: 229 xBA, 27.3 strikeout rate and a 6.1% walk rate against a team that ranks 29th in slugging percentage against RHP on the season.
Best MLB Pick Today: Like Seattle -1.5 run line -105
Cincinnati Reds (Graham Ashcraft RHP) vs LA Angels (Lucas Giolito RHP)
- Lucas Giolito: 41.4% hard%, .328 xwOBA .442 xSLG, has been getting lit up in a Halos uniform, going into a hitter friendly home ballpark.
- Graham Ashcraft: have been backing him routinely since his IL stint with mixed reviews, but has four quality starts in a row.
- Ashcraft: inducing a lot of ground balls (11, 12, 13 in his last 3 outings).
- Ashcraft: 7 degree average launch angle + 50% ground ball rate against a struggling Angels lineup. Going to be targeting some Reds home run props later in the day if they make sense here.
- Watch the weather with hurricane Hilary making its way through southern California.
Best MLB Pick Today: Like Reds ML +110
