Free MLB Picks Today for Friday, September 1st, 2023

Our free MLB picks are out for Friday, September 1st, 2023! 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!

Miami Marlins @ Washington Nationals – 7:05PM ET

Tony Battalio

It has been a successful season for the Miami Marlins, and they are on the doorstep of making a playoff appearance for the first time in a long time. They will be looking to grab a crucial victory in the second game of this four game weekend series against Washington on Friday night on the road as they look to get themselves positioned within the top three spots in the National League wildcard race coming into the final month of the season. Miami picked up a comfortable victory in the opening game of the series against Washington on Thursday night and they will be looking to replicate that performance here on Friday night to clinch at least a share of this four-game series heading into the weekend. 

Washington has shown plenty of progress this season, but they are still a couple of years away before they become a competitive baseball team once again. They will be looking to bounce back after their blowout loss to Miami in the opening game of the series on Thursday night at home and even up the series here on Friday night before heading into the final two games of the weekend. Washington comes into the second game of the series on a two game losing streak and as losers of five out of their last 10 on the season. Unfortunately for them, I don’t see them picking up a victory in this game either as I have Miami grabbing the win here on Friday night.

Seattle Mariners @ New York Mets – 7:10PM ET

Tony Battalio

The Seattle Mariners have been one of the hottest teams in all of baseball over the last couple of weeks and they will be looking to keep the momentum rolling when they open up this series on Friday night against the New York Mets on the road in Queens. Seattle currently sits in first place in the American League West division after surpassing both Texas and Houston with their recent play. Now Seattle will have the tough task of holding on to the division lead coming into the final month of the regular season. Seattle comes into this game on a one game winning streak, and they have picked up eight victories in their last 10 games on the season as well.

It was supposed to be a magical season for the New York Mets this year, but they have not lived up to those expectations one bit. They came into the season with one of the highest payrolls in all of baseball this season, but their play on the field has come nowhere close to the amount of money they are paying out for the super stars on their roster. They’ve been one of the worst teams in all of baseball this season, and they currently find themselves in the basement of the National League East division. After they traded away their two best starting pitchers prior to the trade deadline it signaled that they were closing their competitive window for now, and it would be a couple of years before this team was competitive again. Unfortunately for New York, I don’t see them grabbing a victory here in this one either as I have Seattle picking up the win. 

Tampa Bay Rays @ Cleveland Guardians – 7:10PM ET

Tony Battalio

Tampa Bay comes in the opening game of this series in Cleveland looking to get their season back on track. They have struggled ever since Shane McClanahan went down with an injury and they will be looking to get themselves back within striking distance of passing up the Baltimore Orioles in the American League Central division. The last time they faced off against Cleveland they used some come from behind victories to take the series, but I will be looking to jump out in front of the guardians here in this one with Cal Quantrill, taking the mound for Cleveland. They have still been unable to replace the production of Wander Franco in their lineup, which is something they will be searching for in this series as well. 

Cleveland is coming off of a successful week of baseball, where they took two out of three games from Toronto on the road and two out of three games from Minnesota at home. They have managed to slightly close the gap in the American League Central division title race as they find themselves five games out of first place coming into the opening game of the series on Friday. This is a team that is known to be a second half club under the tenure of Terry Francona. It won’t be interesting to see if they have enough left in them to find a way to pass Minnesota and get into the playoffs this season. Unfortunately for Cleveland, I don’t see them grabbing the victory here on Friday night as I have them suffering a minor setback at the hands of Tampa Bay to open up the series.

New York Yankees @ Houston Astros – 8:10PM ET

Tony Battalio

It has been an awful season for the New York Yankees, and for the first time in a long time, it looks as if they will be missing out on the postseason as well. Injuries caught up to them this season, and they have been unable to recover and unless something changes rather quickly, they will be sitting on the couch when October comes around. For a franchise as historic as New York is, not winning the World Series nearly seems unacceptable, but missing the playoffs entirely is enough to make the franchise make some drastic changes. They will be looking to play spoiler at this point in the season as they look to pick up a victory over the defending World Series champions here on Friday night on the road in Houston.

The Houston Astros will be looking to pick up a crucial victory here on Friday night against the New York Yankees as they look to take one step closer to passing the Seattle Mariners in the American League West division race. After winning the World Series last season in Houston at a slow start to the season, they haven’t quite caught up yet, but they have been playing solid baseball throughout the last few months. They are currently tied for the division lead at the moment and they occupy one of the top three spots in the American League wild-card race as well. I expect them to add another victory to their record, as they look to extend their lead in the wildcard race, or potentially move into the first place in the division if the Mariners also lose here on Friday night and the Astros do pick up the victory.

Baltimore Orioles @ Arizona Diamondbacks – 9:40PM ET

Tony Battalio

The Baltimore Orioles have been one of the best teams in all of baseball this season, and they will be looking to keep the momentum rolling when they open up the first game of this three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. They currently have the best record in the American League, and they will be looking to extend that with a victory here against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night. Baltimore will be looking to snap a one game losing streak in this game as well as they have picked up seven victories in their last 10 games on the season and they will be looking to continue winning coming into the final month of the year.

The Arizona Diamondbacks come into the game looking to pick up a huge upset victory over the Baltimore Orioles here on Friday night at home. They are coming off of a less-than-successful series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, and they will be looking to pick it up over the weekend as they look to keep themselves in a position to make a run at a wildcard spot in the National League. Arizona comes into this game sitting in third place in their division, but they are only a half of a game back of the third wildcard spot in the National League right now. Unfortunately for Arizona, I don’t see them picking up the victory in this game on Friday.

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