The San Francisco Giants continue their brutal stretch against fellow playoff contenders when they host the Tampa Bay Rays for the opener of a three-game series on Monday (9:45 p.m. ET) at Oracle Park. San Francisco (63-55), which currently occupies the second wild-card spot in the National League, edged AL West-leading Texas 3-2 in 10 innings on Sunday to salvage the finale of their three-game set and halt a four-game losing streak. Following their series against AL wild card-leading Tampa Bay (71-49), the Giants sandwich sets versus NL East-best Atlanta around three matchups with Philadelphia, which is first in the NL wild-card standings.
On Monday, San Francisco's Ryan Walker (4-1, 2.40 ERA) makes the start against Tampa Bay's Tyler Glasnow (5-3, 3.15). The Rays are -136 favorites (risk $136 to win $100) while the Giants are +115 underdogs, per SportsLine consensus. The over/under for total runs scored is 7.5, and the game is one of nine on the MLB schedule for Monday evening. Elsewhere, the Houston Astros (-144) visit the Miami Marlins in a battle of wild-card hopefuls, and the San Diego Padres (-140) host the AL East-leading Baltimore Orioles. Before making any MLB picks or parlays, be sure to check out the MLB predictions and betting advice from SportsLine's proven computer model.
The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every MLB game 10,000 times. It went 331-285 on top-rated MLB money-line picks (+357) over the past two seasons. It entered Week 21 of the 2023 MLB season 61-47 on all top-rated MLB picks this season and has excelled on top-rated run-line picks, going 12-4 (+468). Anybody following the model has seen big returns.
For Monday, the model has locked in four confident MLB best bets for games that begin at 6:40 p.m. ET or later. If you successfully parlay the picks, you'd be looking at a payout of almost 15-1. You can see the model's MLB picks only at SportsLine.
Top MLB picks today
After simulating every game on Monday 10,000 times, the model is picking the Padres (-141) to defeat the Orioles. San Diego still has wild-card aspirations despite having lost six of its last seven contests to fall 5.5 games out of the third spot at 56-62. The Padres are hoping Yu Darvish (8-7, 4.19) can come up with another strong performance and help them right the ship.
The 36-year-old Japanese right-hander has been in good form since returning from an illness, allowing fewer than three runs in five of his last six outings. Darvish is coming off a no-decision at Seattle in which he gave up just one unearned run over six innings. Meanwhile, Baltimore righty Grayson Rodriguez (2-3, 5.84) has gone eight starts without a victory despite yielding three runs or fewer in five of those turns, including each of the last four. See the model's top MLB picks here.
How to make Monday MLB parlays
The model also locked in three other best bets for Monday. You can see the model's MLB best bets and parlay only at SportsLine.
What MLB picks should you target for a payout of almost 15-1? Visit SportsLine now to see the MLB best bets from an advanced model that is 61-47 on all top-rated MLB picks this season, and find out.
