MLB best bets: Put a few bucks on Million-Dollar Bibee

Well, this has to be one of the more desolate days on the sporting calendar, with just five MLB games, and only three tonight. While that limits options a bit, it also makes it all the easier to find some potentially strong spots. We're seeing two worth a look.

Betting on Bibee

Cleveland's Tanner Bibee has put together five solid starts in a row, allowing just four total runs in his last 29.2 IP. He's gone under this 2.5 earned runs line in each start, and on the season, he's allowed two or fewer runs at a 73% rate.

It's seeming like a great day for Bibee to keep it rolling with the Chicago White Sox on the docket. Chicago owns the second-worst on-base percentage against right-handed pitching, and their wRC+ is fourth-worst in the league, using a metric employed to better quantify the quality of a team's hitting against a pitcher's handedness.

So, it's relatively simple for us. Bibee is rolling, and the White Sox can't hit righties. We're in at +100.

Betting: Tanner Bibee under 2.5 earned runs (+100 DraftKings)

NRFI between the Nationals and Mets

We do hope our regular readers are hopping down to Quick Picks each day. If you have, you might have noticed we've quietly been rolling with our No Runs First Inning (NRFI) bets.

Thursday offers us a nice intersection of trends to push a play to the finish line, and it's between the Washington Nationals and New York Mets.

The Nats are trotting out Josiah Gray, who is 17-3 this season to the NRFI and 10-2 in his road starts. The Mets send out Kodai Senga, who is 8-1 at home to the NRFI and 13-5 overall on the year. 

Both offenses also tend to find themselves in quiet first innings far more often than not. Washington has hit the NRFI in 69% of its road games and 66% overall, while the Mets have hit the NRFI at an absurd 80% clip on the season.

Betting: Under 0.5 runs in the first inning of WSH-NYM (-105 DK)

In the news ...

USWNT ties Netherlands — In a rematch of the 2019 World Cup Final, the U.S. and the Netherlands played to a draw Wednesday night, with the match ending 1-1. USWNT captain Lindsey Horan buried a header off a corner in the 62nd minute to draw even with the Dutch, and that would ultimately seal the game's result. The tie ends the USWNT's 13-match win streak, but the team remains at the top of Group E's board, tied with the Netherlands with four points each. Their final group-play match is against Portugal on Tuesday. The U.S. is -370 to beat Portugal and remains the Cup favorites at +275.

Aaron Rodgers agrees to reworked contract with Jets — Rodgers and the New York Jets have agreed to a new two-year contract that sees Rodgers take a substantial pay cut. This move does two things: for one, Rodgers is confirming that he plans to stay in New York for more than just this season, and also gives the team more cap flexibility to build a winner around him. We've touched on Jets futures already, but the present and future are bright in New York with the young nucleus they have around their new star QB. We're in on the Jets winning the AFC East at +270.

Shohei Ohtani staying put — So much for Shohei Ohtani being shipped off. The two-way superstar is reportedly off the market with the MLB trade deadline just a few days away. Either the Angels have shifted to being buyers in order to maximize what could be the last season with Ohtani, or no team was willing to part with significant assets for what would become nothing more than a half-season rental. Los Angeles is currently four games back from the final wild card spot and still awaiting updates on when Mike Trout may be able to return. The Angels are +700 to make the playoffs.

Today's Bark Bets is written by Griffin Carroll