Free MLB Picks Today for Friday, August 26th, 2022

Our free MLB picks are out for Friday, August 26th, 2022! Make sure you check our MLB picks before the action kicks off.

Look below to find our free MLB picks for the five best games on today’s schedule!

Toronto Blue Jays @ Los Angeles Angels – 7:07PM ET

The Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Angels will be playing the first game of their three game weekend series in this one. This will be the second of two times these two American League teams face off this season. The last time they played the Toronto Blue Jays swept the Angels in a four-game series. 

Tony Battalio

The Toronto Blue Jays will come into the first game of this three game weekend series with a record of 68-55 through their first 123 games of the 2022 Major League Baseball season. They’ve been hot lately as they have picked up seven victories in their last 10 games on the year and come into game one of this series on a three game winning streak as well. They are coming off of a 7 Game road trip where they won six of the seven games, including taking three out of four from the New York Yankees then sweeping the Boston Red Sox. It will be interesting to see how they perform back in the Rogers Centre however as they have only picked up two wins in six games at home during the month of August. 

The Los Angeles Angels will come into the first game of this three game weekend series with a record of 52-73 through their first 125 games of the 2022 Major League Baseball season. The Angels are currently on another cold streak as they have lost nine out of their last 10 games on the year. They will come into the series on a six game losing streak as well. After this series they will finally get off the road after a lengthy 10 game road trip and they likely will be happy to do so as they have a combined record of 1-6 going into the last leg of this trip. They have not had a fun time against the American League East this season as they have played them 28 times this far and have a combined record of 6-22 in those 28 games.

Kyler Wolff

The Angels are in the midst of a rough 10 game road trip that has seen them lose six of the first seven, with a six game losing streak that they are still mired in. That type of losing has been the theme of the Angels season as they sit at 52-73 and in fourth place in the division despite having a roster full of stars including two MVPs with Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani. The Angels problem this year, similar to their problems in other recent campaigns, have been their lackluster pitching behind ace Shohei Ohtani. They rank amongst the middle of the league in most pitching statistics including ERA (14th in the league) and whip (15th in the league). The main factor attributing to those numbers not being worse, is Ohtani, who posts a 2.83 ERA in what has been his best pitching season of his career. The only other pitcher for the Angels that has not been below average has been Reid Detmers (3.66 ERA) who will get the start today against the Blue Jays.

The Blue Jays at 67-55 and are in third place in the AL East. They are coming off of a seven game road trip six of their games against their main divisional opponents in Boston and New York. They should have the statistical advantage over the Angels, but after a tough game against the Red Sox, and them coming back from a week long road trip, I think the Angels might just win this one. The Blue Jays are starting Mitch White at pitcher and he has struggled as a Blue Jay, failing to reach the fifth inning in any of his first three starts. I like the Angels in this one.

Detroit Tigers @ Texas Rangers – 8:05PM ET

The Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers will be playing the first game of their three game weekend series in this one. This will be the second of two times these two American League teams face off this season. The last time they played the Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers split a four-game series.

Tony Battalio

The Detroit Tigers will come into the first game of this three game weekend series with a record of 48-77 through their first 125 games of the 2022 Major League Baseball season. The Detroit Tigers have picked up five wins in their last 10 games on the season and come into this game and series on a one game winning streak. This is going to be a quick 3 game road trip for the Tigers and the last time they were out on the road they finished with a record of two and five when they traveled to the Windy City to play Chicago and then finished off the trip in Cleveland. They are 0-4 on the road against the American League West this season after being swept by the Astros. However, the last time they played the Rangers both teams split a four game series in the Motor City. 

The Texas Rangers will come into the first game of this three game weekend series with a record of 57-67 through their first 124 games of the 2022 Major League Baseball season. They have picked up six victories in their last 10 games on the year and will come into this series on a one game winning streak. They have already played 14 home games this month but they haven’t done too well as they have only managed to win six of those 14 games. In fact they have looked a lot better on the road over the last couple of months than they have in their own home ballpark.

Kyler Wolff

The lowly Detroit Tigers, sitting at 48-77 play the red hot Ranges in Texas in this one following the Rangers epic domination of the Rockies in Colorado when they scored 16 runs on their way to their 57th win. The Rangers are swinging the Bats well and they get another opportunity to put up big numbers here as they bat against Tyler Alexander starting for the Tigers. Alexander has a subpar ERA of 4.03 and is only making his tenth start of the season today.

The Rangers will be setting up Glenn Otto (4.66 ERA) against this Tigers team, which despite their historically bad offensive production this season, (30th in the league in RBIs with only 382) they were able to put up six runs in their last game against The San Francisco Giants and have averaged 3.9 runs per game in their last eight games. This could be a high scoring game.

Baltimore Orioles @ Houston Astros – 8:10PM ET

The Baltimore Orioles and Houston Astros will be playing the first game of the three game weekend series in this one. This will be the first of two times these two American League teams face off this season. As they will play a four game series late next month in Baltimore. 

Tony Battalio

The Baltimore Orioles will come into the first game of this three game weekend series with a record of 65-59 through their first 124 games of the 2022 Major League Baseball season. They have come on strong at the end of the year as they are looking to make a late season playoff push. They are heading into this series with a ton of momentum after the miraculous comeback victory over the Chicago White Sox on Thursday afternoon. Their victory on Thursday capped off a solid seven-game homestand where they won both of their three-game series. The last time Baltimore hit the road to play in Texas they swept the Texas Rangers in a three game series. 

The Houston Astros will come into the first game of this three game weekend series with a record of 81-45 through their first 126 games of the 2022 Major League Baseball season. They are currently the top seed in the American League after the New York Yankees collapsed over the last couple of weeks. The Astros have picked up six victories in their last 10 games on the year and will come into this series on a four game winning streak. As of right now they’re the second best team in all of major league baseball and they have pretty much all but officially locked up the American League West division As they have a 19 1/2 game lead with around 36 games left to play this season.

Kyler Wolff

The Astros have put up a typical Astros-like season this year, as they top the AL in wins with 81 so far this season with only 45 losses. They run up against an Orioles team that has surprised a lot of people this season. In what will be a three game series, in which the Astros will undoubtedly have the pitching advantage in each game, (predicted pitchers for the Astros are McCullers, Urquidy, and Verlander, while the Orioles are scheduled to start Bradish, Kremer, and Voth) it might not be a straight cut as the pitching matchups make it look.

The Orioles tend to find ways to win games, despite having a pitching staff that ranks 17th in ERA with 3.92 and 20th in whip with a 1.30 in that stat. The Orioles are survivors, they find ways to escape defeat against overpowering teams like the Astros all the time. Winning series against the Blue Jays twice just this month alone, and beating the Yankees and Cardinals in three games series earlier this year, expect the Orioles to sneak a win or two out of the Astros in this series, perhaps today, against McCullers in what will only be his third start this season.

San Francisco Giants @ Minnesota Twins – 8:10PM ET

The San Francisco Giants and Minnesota Twins will be playing the first game of the three game weekend series in this one. This is the first and only time these two teams will meet this season. As both teams come into this series needing some wins to stay in the playoff race. 

Tony Battalio

The San Francisco Giants will come into the first game of this three game weekend series with a record of 61-62 through their first 123 games of the 2022 Major League Baseball season. The Giants have been slumping as of late as they have lost five of the last 10 and will come into this series on a one game losing streak. This three game series against Minnesota will be the last leg of a eight game road trip and so far they have gone 2-3 in five games against the Colorado Rockies and Detroit Tigers. They have lost their last two three game series on the road as they will be looking to get their first series win since their three game sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates back in mid August. 

The Minnesota Twins will come into the first game of this three game weekend series with a record of 62-61 through their first 123 games of the 2022 Major League Baseball season. The Minnesota Twins have absolutely fallen apart as of late as they have lost six of their last 10 on the year and come into this series on a six game losing streak. They have fallen four games out of first place in the American League Central as they are coming up on their toughest stretch of schedule this season. What’s the way they have been playing over the past week I just can’t see them winning game one of the series.

Kyler Wolff

The Twins have looked really rough on this six game losing skid that they are stuck in, and now they return home only to play a Giants team that looks determined to claw their way back over .500, sitting currently at 61-62, while at the same time, the Twins seem to be hurtling back down to .500 as they sit at 62-61. This game could bring them both even at 62-62, but assure that the feeling in the dugouts of each team wouldn’t feel as though they are both in the same spot. The Giants would be a lot happier, and could start looking to the wildcard race, and the Twins could start looking to the off-season.

With this game so important, the Twins will look to their most reliable starter, Joe Ryan, as they look to breakup their losing streak. At 9-6 on the year and throwing at a roughly league average ERA of 3.86, Joe Ryan will face off against a Giants offense that ranks 13th in the league in OPS with .709, three spots below the twins at tenth with an OPS .727 who should be able to easily get on base and rack up runs against Giants starting pitcher Alex Wood who has an ERA of 4.54.

Cleveland Guardians @ Seattle Mariners – 10:10PM ET

The Cleveland Guardians and Seattle Mariners will be playing the second game of their four game weekend series in this one. In game number one the Mariners picked up the win. Now they will be looking to clinch at least a share of the series in this game. 

Tony Battalio

The Seattle Mariners will come into the second game of this four game weekend series with a record of 68-57 through their first 125 games of the 2022 Major League Baseball season. They picked up a huge win in game one of the series as they cooled off a red hot Cleveland Guardians squad that was coming off of a sweep over the San Diego Padres. It was complete domination by Marco Gonzalez as he went seven full innings and gave up only a single run. The Mariners currently hold a 2 1/2 game lead over the Baltimore Orioles for the third and final wildcard spot in the American League. 

The Cleveland Guardians will come into the second game of this four game weekend series with a record of 66-57 through their first 123 games of the 2022 Major League Baseball season. They will be looking to bounce back here in game two after their loss in game one on Thursday evening. It wasn’t exactly a bad performance by the Cleveland Guardians but one mistake cost them. As the usually reliable Tristan McKenzie gave up a three run homerun in the first inning to Mitch Hanniger and the final score would end up being three to one in favor of Seattle. Have they not made that simple mistake and the first thing they may have picked up the win here in game on. However, with Shane Bieber on the mound I think they will bounce back and get the win in game two.

Kyler Wolff

At 66-57 the Guardians small ball approach seems to be working as Cleveland everyday looks more and more like the team that will eventually represent the AL Central in the playoffs. They haven’t lost a series since early July when they lost a three game series to the lowly Royals before turning a corner around the All-star break, and now they look determined to win the division and make a run in the playoffs. The Guardians hope to avoid their first series loss in nearly two months by evening the four game series against the Mariners today as they put their “ace” on the mound with Shane Bieber, who I call their ace despite Triston McKenzie putting up better numbers.

Bieber has a really solid ERA at 3.10 which is the 22nd best among all pitchers this year, and a whip of 1.10 which also ranks 22nd among all pitchers this year, and he tends to go far into games as well, as he has recorded a quality start in each of his last five appearances. The Mariners also have a solid pitcher set to start tonight with Logan Gilbert getting the start. His 3.52 ERA ranks 33rd in the league and his 1.24 whip ranks 42nd among all pitchers.

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*Odds and spreads correct at time of publication, courtesy of BetMGM.