The Houston Astros seek their eighth consecutive victory against the Yankees when they visit New York for the opener of a four-game series on Thursday (7:15 p.m. ET) at Yankee Stadium. Houston (62-47) is meeting the Yankees for the first time since sweeping them in last year's American League Championship Series. The Astros occupy the second wild-card spot and are one-half game behind first-place Texas in the AL West following their three-game home sweep of Cleveland. New York (56-52) salvaged the finale of its three-game set against Tampa Bay on Wednesday but is last in the AL East and 3 ½ games out of the final wild-card berth.
On Thursday, Houston's Cristian Javier (7-2, 4.33 ERA) takes the mound opposite New York's Clarke Schmidt (7-6, 4.39). The Yankees are -110 favorites (risk $110 to win $100) while the Astros are -109 underdogs in the MLB odds, per SportsLine consensus. The over/under for total runs scored is 9. The game is one of six on the MLB schedule for Thursday evening. Elsewhere in the majors, the Chicago Cubs (-160) host the National League Central-leading Cincinnati Reds for the finale of their four-game series and the Pittsburgh Pirates visit the division-rival Milwaukee Brewers (-131) for the opener of a four-game set.
Before making any MLB picks or parlays, be sure to check out the MLB predictions and betting advice from SportsLine's proven simulation 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 19 of the 2023 MLB season 49-39 on all top-rated MLB picks this season and has excelled on top-rated run-line picks, going 11-3 (+504). The model also hit on Wednesday's parlay at +548. Anyone following it has seen big returns.
For Thursday, the model has locked in three confident MLB best bets for games that begin at 7:15 p.m. ET or later. If you successfully parlay the picks, you'd be looking at a payout of well over 5-1. You can see the model's top picks at SportsLine.
Top MLB picks today
After simulating every game on Thursday 10,000 times, the model is picking the Brewers (-131) to defeat the Pirates. Milwaukee has gone 5-1 in the season series, with its only loss being by one run. The series comes at a good time for the Brewers, who have lost five of their last six contests to fall one-half game behind Cincinnati in the NL Central.
Milwaukee has yet to lose to Pittsburgh's Mitch Keller, who is 0-3 with a 4.62 ERA in five career starts against the club. One of those losses came on June 17, when the 27-year-old right-hander yielded four runs and five hits over five innings. Willy Adames, who leads the Brewers with 17 home runs, is 5-for-14 lifetime with two doubles, a blast and four RBI versus Keller while Joey Wiemer, who enters the series opener with a seven-game hitting streak, went deep against the Pirates' starter earlier this year. See more picks at SportsLine.
How to make Thursday MLB parlays
The model also locked in two other best bets for Thursday. You can see the model's MLB Thursday best bets and parlay only at SportsLine.
What MLB picks should you target for a payout of well over 5-1? Visit SportsLine now to see the MLB best bets from an advanced model that is on an 11-3 roll on top-rated run-line picks, and find out.
