This article is part of our MLB Picks series.
MLB Bets Tonight: Free MLB Expert Picks for Friday, June 3
RotoWire.com's Michael Rathburn has dug into the best online sportsbooks across the country to identify his MLB bets and MLB player props to target today.
Previous article 1-3 -2.14
Season 71-78-1 +12.95
Cleveland Guardians 
at Baltimore Orioles 
7:05 pm EDT
Shane Bieber vs. Bruce Zimmermann
One of the angles I love is when we have a strong starting pitcher vs. a weaker pitcher with a middle-of-the-road team vs. a bad team. When the stronger pitcher is on the road, we get better odds on the play. The reasoning here is that the bad team (home) doesn't have much of an advantage anyway.
The F5 play is great because it really looks at each starting pitcher and you can work the odds on the run line. Laying just -0.5 runs in the F5 here at -106 on FanDuel is the play for me tonight.
Neither team is playing well but Zimmermann is really starting to fade. In his last three starts, Zimmermann has allowed 6, 4, and 5 earned runs. Outside of one very bad start against Toronto, Bieber has been his usual solid self. In those eight starts minus the Toronto one, he has a 2.15 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 9.1 K/9, and 2.0 BB/9.
MLB Best Bets for Guardians-Orioles
- Guardians -0.5 F5 for 1.06 RW buck (FanDuel -106)
Detroit Tigers 
at New York Yankees 
7:05 pm EDT
Elvin Rodriguez vs. Gerrit Cole
The Yankees are over a -300 favorite at home against the Tigers as the pitching matchup is about as lopsided as it gets. +300 underdogs can win as we saw with the Pirates vs. the Dodgers, but in this case, the Tigers just can not score and keep the game close. Unknown starting pitchers can be feast or famine. No matter how lopsided things look, I learned my lessons last year laying -2.5 runs. It never worked out for me.
MLB Best Bets for Tigers-Yankees
- Yankees -1.5 F5 runs for 1.15 RW buck (FanDuel -115)
Seattle Mariners 
vs. Texas Rangers 
8:05 pm EDT
Logan Gilbert vs. Dane Dunning
Another angle I like, which is similar to the Guardians / Orioles game, is when you have two bad teams but two decent starting pitchers. Often times with two bad teams, the bullpens are bad and they juice up the run total. But when you play the F5 under in this scenario, there is a lot of hidden value as you are playing the starting pitchers and not the bullpen. Rotowire projections have both pitchers at 8th/11th on the slate. I am not in love with the 4.5 line or the 3.5 line but will lay the juice as I can see this being 2-2 or 3-1 after 5.
MLB Best Bets for Mariners-Rangers
- Under 4.5 runs F5 for 1.58 RW buck (FanDuel -158)
Houston Astros 
at Kansas City Royals 
8:10 pm EDT
It has been rinse, repeat, with betting the Astros and unders. More of the same here with a posted total of 9. The Astros lead the majors in ROI % +40 on unders, with 8 out of their last 10 going under. They are a whopping 6-22-2 in totals over the last 30 games (May 1st).
MLB Best Bet for Astros-Royals
- Under 9 runs for 1.15 RW buck (BetMGM -115)
Boston Red Sox 
at Oakland Athletics 
9:40 pm EDT
Nathan Eovaldi vs. James Kaprielian
I have had more luck betting on the Red Sox totals vs. the sides lately. But I do like going under on the A's, especially at home against a strong starting pitcher. Eovaldi has incredible batter vs pitcher stats against this A's lineup as they are just 1 for 27 combined. The total has moved from 7 to 7.5 which is all on the Red Sox side.
MLB Best Bets for Red Sox-Athletics
- A's under 3 runs for 1.05 RW buck (FanDuel -105)
Visit RotoWire all season long for exclusive sports betting picks from our group of handicappers with their expert MLB picks each day of the campaign. Remember that betting apps vary in terms of odds and available player props, so we have an easy-to-use odds page that allows you to shop for the best lines at DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM and PointsBet.
