Major League Baseball Parlay Of The Day 6-26-21

We posted decent results yesterday as we ground out a small profit on the day with a 7-5 overall record. We had the unfortunate result of missing 3 different parlays by just 1 leg each, coming oh so close to several jumbo payouts. We picked up dog money winners on Giants (-106) and Red Sox (+107) as well as winners on Rays (-155), Padres run line (-136), and Dodgers (-182). We made some money on totals bets as well, when the Braves/Reds under 10.5 and DBacks/Padres over 8.5 both came in.

What a night!

🔗: https://t.co/y0DuZvpio9 pic.twitter.com/5xkPXm5rIn

— Red Sox (@RedSox) June 26, 2021

I would have much rather have nailed a parlay and celebrated a big win today, but every day can’t be a blockbuster, I guess. It stings particularly bad that we lost 2 of those parlays by just 1 run apiece, as the Reds lost 3-2 to the Braves and the Indians lost 8-9 to the Twins. If either one of those close games had gone our direction, today would have been a far bigger celebration. But at the end of the day, we booked another winning day of betting Big League baseball, and that is all that matters. We will get right back at it today, delivering max value, with everyone’s favorite way to play, the parlay! Let’s get started!

Money Line Parlay

Not all parlays are the same. In this first section, we are going to focus on money line parlays. The money line is your most basic way to bet on a baseball game. Because baseball has so few runs scored, we don’t see a point spread on a game like we do with the NFL and the NBA; rather, MLB betting offers a money line bet. With a money line bet, if you want to bet the favorite, you have to lay odds, and if you want to bet the underdog, the book will lay you odds. One example would be the New York Yankees as -200 betting favorites. That means you win $100 for every $200 that you bet on New York if the Yankees win. If you want to take an underdog, an example would be The Seattle Mariners +200. That means for every $100 you bet, you would win $200 if Seattle comes in.

Kansas City Royals at Texas Rangers (-157)

The Texas Rangers picked up the win yesterday as they had a rare offensive explosion, dropping a 9-spot on the Kansas City Royals. I like their chances of running up the score again tonight at home, against Royals starter Kyle Zimmer. Zimmer has spent basically his entire career working in relief, with just 2 career MLB starts under his belt. Only 1 of those starts has come this season, and I would expect that the Royals are going to use Zimmer as more of an opener today, than an actual starter, and he probably won’t be in this game for very long. That doesn’t bode well for Royals fans, as very few teams can pull off bullpen days effectively, and I am not sure that Kansas City and their bullpen that ranks 10th in the AL in staff ERA, is up to the challenge.

Let’s keep the momentum going! #StraightUpTX pic.twitter.com/ihhjmxZ1Fo

— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) June 26, 2021

But even if the Royals can cobble together a nice performance out of several guys today, they are going to be in bad shape, as Rangers starter Kyle Gibson has been stupid good this season for Texas. There haven’t been too many bright spots this year for Texas, as they haven’t played very well, but Gibson is having a career year and looks like a lock to be an All-Star. Gibson is 5-0 with a 2.17 ERA, and much of that success has come here in Arlington, as he is 4-0 with a 1.27 ERA at home this year. Gibson has made 7 home starts this season, and the Rangers are a perfect 7-0. 6 of those 7 starts have come against teams with a winning record, and you have to expect more of the same tonight against this Royals squad that is just 15-22 on the road. I am always a bit leery of laying this kind of wood on a bad team like the Rangers, but Kyle Gibson has been far too good not to want to back, and after seeing Texas pound KC last night, I think they go back-to-back today to lock up the series win in game 2 of 3.

Pittsburgh Pirates at St. Louis Cardinals (-150)

The St. Louis Cardinals briefly had the best record in the National League late last month. But injuries and inconsistent play have led the Cardinals to a lot of struggles this month, and after looking like a pennant contender a couple of weeks ago, the Cardinals now look like a team that is destined to miss the postseason. St. Louis has lost 5 straight games and 7 of their last 8, and despite playing teams with losing records like the Braves, Pirates, and Tigers, wins have been hard to come by in the last couple of weeks for the Red Birds. In his long 16-year career with St. Louis, today’s starter, Adam Wainwright, has seemingly always found a way to deliver a win when his team needs it the most. Even as St. Louis struggles to pull out of this slump, they have still managed to win 4 of his last 5 starts, and in the month of June, he has been great, with a 2.67 ERA. At Busch Stadium this season, Wainwright has a 2.66 ERA in 9 outings.

Saturday afternoon baseball with Waino on the mound! pic.twitter.com/6jeEHy87DT

— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) June 26, 2021

The Pirates have surprised a lot of people in this series by taking each of the first 2 games of this 4-game set. I can’t count myself as one of those surprised people though, as we took the Pirates as big dogs in game 1 and got paid and laid off the game yesterday as I felt that St. Louis was being overvalued, but that a play on the Pirates was a bit too high variance for my liking. But today, with JT Brubaker going up against Adam Wainwright, I see the Cardinals breaking through with the victory. All the Pirates do when Brubaker pitches is lose, as they have lost 5 of his last 6 starts, and on the year, they are 4-9 with Brubaker on the mound. He has made 2 starts against the Cardinals this year and worked a total of 10.2 innings, allowed 8 runs, and got charged with the loss in both games. St. Louis is super shaky right now, but being able to get Adam Wainwright at this price, in this spot, shows outrageous value.

New York Yankees at Boston Red Sox (-117)

In yesterday’s parlay of the day picks, I explained that I understood why the public liked the Yankees in their matchup with Boston. There was plenty of logic to support a play on the Bronx Bombers, but I just couldn’t bring myself to stay away from getting the Red Sox as home dogs, as they have been so good when getting juice this season. Boston took care of business and cashed our ticket, and today in game 2, I see the Red Sox knocking off their hated rivals once again. Jordan Montgomery has been solid at Yankee Stadium, but away from home, he has been bad, with a 5.71 ERA. I see Montgomery having a long day today against this Red Sox team that is 2nd in the AL in runs scored.

Taking this energy into the weekend. pic.twitter.com/SP49OsaX0N

— Red Sox (@RedSox) June 26, 2021

Nathan Eovaldi has been hot and cold for Boston at Fenway Park, but he has been better recently, as he hasn’t allowed a run in 2 of his last 3 home field starts. He has had more than his fair share of blowup starts, but he also has made 5 starts where he has worked at least 5 innings and allowed 1 earned run or fewer in Boston. The Yankees have plenty of firepower in their lineup, but that hasn’t stopped them from being 13th in runs scored in the American League. Boston has now beaten New York the last 4 times they have played them, and I think they run that winning streak to 5 games today at home.

$100 Bet Pays $507

Game Total Parlay

The game total bet, commonly known as an over/under bet, is when you bet on how many total runs will be scored in a game. These totals tend to range from 7 or 8 runs on the low end up to 12 to 13 runs on the high end, and you have to pay juice on both sides of the action. A typical totals bet would be, for example, 8 total runs with -110 juice on the over or the under. If the teams combine to score 9 runs or more, the book pays out the over bets, if the game comes in at 7 runs or less the books pay the under bets, and if the total lands right at 8 runs, all bets push.

Oakland Athletics at San Francsico Giants Over 8.5 Runs (-110)

There weren’t many runs scored yesterday in game 1 of this series between the Giants and Athletics, as San Francisco shut the A’s out, enroot to a 2-0 win. I see today’s game going much differently, as this game is going to be higher scoring with Frankie Montas and Alex Wood both struggling recently. In his last 2 road starts, Frankie Montas has worked a combined 10.2 innings and has gotten hammered for a whopping 11 earned runs. After the A’s won 6 of his first 8 starts of the year, the A’s have now lost 5 of his last 7. Alex Wood was pitching his brains out earlier this season, but his production has fallen off of a cliff as well, and he has allowed 6 runs or more in a start twice already this month. Both of these guys are capable of being bad enough to push this game to the over on their own, and with a reasonable total like 8.5 runs, really, we only need one of them to struggle to get paid. I am taking the over in this one.

Cleveland Indians at Minnesota Twins Over 9 Runs (-110)

Yesterday we saw all kinds of fireworks between the Twins and Indians, as 17 runs hit the board in what was an explosive affair. Today, I see another barnburner coming our way, as neither Sam Hentges nor Kenta Maeda can be trusted. Maeda should be better than this, as he called himself the Twins ace coming into this season, but just hasn’t lived up to that billing, with an ERA of nearly 5 runs. Similar to the game we just talked about between the Giants and the A’s, only 1 of these guys needs to be bad to get us a winning ticket. And with both bullpens getting abused yesterday, as neither starter went deep into the game, we can expect at least a couple of guys to not be available for today’s game, and late inning runs are almost certain to come at some point. It probably won’t hit 17 runs again today, but we don’t need it to be that high scoring to get paid.

Pittsburgh Pirates at St. Louis Cardinals Under 8 Runs (-110)

This bet is mostly just a play on Adam Wainwright. If he continues to pitch as well as he has at home this year, in this game, he isn’t going to give up very many runs. It is awfully tough to go over an 8 run total if 1 of the teams doesn’t score, and I just don’t see the Pirates being able to do much off of the veteran hurler tonight on the road. JT Brubaker might get lit up a little bit, actually, he will probably get lit up, but St. Louis has scored 2 runs or fewer in 10 of their last 13 games, so they just aren’t hitting the ball well enough to expect them to score too many runs, no matter how weak JT Brubaker ends up being. I’ll call this one at 4-1 St. Louis, where we pick up a win on the side and the total and scoop up all of the money.

$100 Bet Pays $700

The Daily Dog

Do you want a chance at jumbo payouts? The best way to stack the cash fast is by parlaying underdogs! You can find high-value underdogs on the board basically every day betting Major League Baseball, and there is no way to win faster than by parlaying a couple of dogs together and getting paid.

Atlanta Braves (+110) at Cincinnati Reds

I wrote up an article earlier this week where I said that I felt Luis Castillo was the single most disappointing pitcher in the Major Leagues this season. Castillo is a former All-Star that has, at times, looked like a legit ace for the Cincinnati Reds. Which makes his struggles this year that much more disappointing, and while his production has increased a bit this month, it hasn’t really mattered, as the Reds are still losing basically every time that he pitches. At home this season, Castillo is 1-5 with a 5.68 ERA, and the Reds have lost 6 of his 7 starts at Great American Ballpark. That lone win for the Reds, with Castillo on the mound at home, came way back on April 7th against the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates, and I absolutely can’t believe he is a favorite in this game when matched up with the Braves Ian Anderson.

RECAP: Smyly conquers hitter’s haven, #Braves top Reds.#ForTheA: https://t.co/p5XHjhTlbc pic.twitter.com/hMxVbNCtus

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) June 26, 2021

Anderson is a stud, and he has been great on the road, with a 2.37 ERA. Anderson hasn’t allowed a run in 2 of his last 3 starts, and this year, he has worked at least 5 innings and has allowed 1 earned run or less in 7 different starts. A couple of blowup starts has inflated his ERA somewhat, but this guy is great, and this line is laughable, as the Reds should not be favored against anybody when Luis Castillo is pitching, let alone against a decent team like the Braves, with an elite pitcher like Ian Anderson, getting the start.

Cleveland Indians (+145) at Minnesota Twins

We already talked about how this game is going to be high scoring, and in a game that is going to be a wild one, it could go either way. Sam Hentges has been putrid on the road, so I guess I get why people like the Twins in this game, but Cleveland is 10 games better than Minnesota on the year, and the Twins have lost 8 times in Kenta Maeda’s 11 starts. On principle alone, the last place Twins shouldn’t be laying this kind of wood against a playoff-caliber team, and when you throw in the fact that Maeda loves to lose baseball games, this line is indefensibly bad. I’ll call this game a coin flip at absolute best, and in a coin flip type of game, I am always going to be on the side getting juice, not laying it. This is a higher variance play, but at the end of the day, all of the value is on Cleveland.

Seattle Mariners (+165) at Chicago White Sox

The Seattle Mariners continue to impress, as they beat the White Sox yesterday, in Chicago, with Carlos Rodon and his sub-2-run ERA getting the nod for the South Siders. Seattle is 9-2 in their last 11 games, and all of these young guys for the Mariners are starting to grow up at the same time, and that is leading to a lot of success for Seattle. Lance Lynn is a monster on the mound for Chicago, and I hate to be on the other side of him, but Rodon was pitching out of his mind this year until Seattle roughed him up yesterday, so betting against Seattle right now, feels a lot like jumping in front of a steaming locomotive.

Game ✌️ on the Southside. pic.twitter.com/gDct8IrhsY

— Seattle Mariners (@Mariners) June 26, 2021

Logan Gilbert was the M’s 2nd best prospect coming into this season, and after a slow start to his Big League career, he has really started to figure out how to get guys out in the show, and the Mariners have won each of his last 5 starts. This is another high variance play, but I am certain that if you let me make this identical bet 100 times, that I would show a hefty profit backing Seattle. I only get to take one swipe at this game, and it could go the other way, but focusing on long-term expected value (EV) is the name of the game when you are handicapping baseball, and the +EV play is to take the Mariners as big dogs.

$100 Bet Pays $1,364

Get Rich Or Die Trying

In this final section, we are going to go for the jumbo payouts! These are your lottery ticket types of plays that aren’t going to come in all that often but pay off big time when they do. A wise man once said, if you don’t swing hard, you never hit any home runs. Well, in this section, we swing for the fences!

Philadelphia Phillies at New York Mets -1.5 Runs (-109)

Prior to this season, the New York Mets had this terrible habit of losing games when Jacob deGrom pitched, no matter how great that he was on the mound. But this year, that hasn’t been the case, as New York, after dropping his first 2 starts of the season, have won 9 of his last 10. What deGrom is doing is unmatched in recent baseball history, and if he keeps it up, he could end up having the best season ever for a modern-day MLB pitcher. DeGrom hasn’t allowed more than a single earned run in any start this season, and he hasn’t allowed any runs in his last 5 starts combined. Not only are the Mets winning games when deGrom pitches, they are winning them by multiple runs and covering the run line, as they have won 7 of those 9 games by at least 2 runs. Until deGrom stops looking like Bob Gibson, and the Mets revert back to their losing way when he pitches, I am going to keep firing hard on New York.

Los Angeles Angels at Tampa Bay Rays (-165)

Tampa Bay is just a far better team than the Angels, and I don’t think LA is going to win this game. Alex Cobb has been pitching fairly well lately, and you could argue that he is the better side of this starting pitching matchup with Shane McClanahan, but baseball is a team game, and the Rays are the better team. I don’t have an overly strong opinion on how this game plays out, but I do think Tampa Bay finds a way to win it. Normally I will give you stats and data supporting my position, but in this game, I will just leave it at Tampa Bay finds ways to win games that they shouldn’t, and the Angels always seem to disappoint. Give me the Rays from St. Pete.

Oakland Athletics at San Francsico Giants (-122)

Yesterday when we took the Giants, it was based on the fact that they have been amazing at home all season long and that the books continually undervalued them and refuse to price them like an elite team. San Francisco has the best record in MLB, and as much as everyone wants to stick their heads in the sand and ignore that, we are nearly at the All-Star break, and the G-men show no signs of slowing down. The A’s have played well on the road most of the season, but on this road trip, they have lost 5 of their last 7 games. The starting pitching matchup is a tossup, but the Giants are too good at home to not back at this price.

Arizona Diamondbacks at San Diego Padres -1.5 Runs (-127)

Well, our streak of betting against Arizona on the run line every time that they play on the road and winning money, continued yesterday, as the DBacks again got embarrassed away from home. Arizona extended their all-time record for consecutive road losses to 24 games with the blowout loss, and like I said yesterday, the DBacks aren’t even trying to win games on the road right now. And it’s not like winning in San Diego is ever easy for any team, as the Padres are really good at home, and they are 8-0 on this current homestand. No team in the NL has more road losses than Arizona, and no team in the league has more home wins than San Diego. This one is going to get ugly again. Give me the Friars laying that run and a half as they again smash the DBacks.

$100 Bet Pays $1,002

Wrap Up

Parlays are a great way to make quick cash, and here you have four different ways to get in on the parlay bet action! Betting on Major League baseball can be both fun and exciting, as well as being very profitable! Make sure you swing by TheSportsGeek’s Major League Baseball betting page, where our team of pro handicappers bring you sharp betting advice and free MLB picks each and every day!