Garion Thorne shares his favorite MLB bets on DraftKings Sportsbook for Tuesday night’s slate on the diamond.
It’s a big night in the baseball world, as all 30 teams will be taking the field this evening. As you can imagine, that means there’s literally thousands of possible bets you can make on the DraftKings Sportsbook.
What if I narrowed that down to three? How does that sound? Let’s get break down a few of my best bets on the diamond for Tuesday’s action.
Atlanta Braves at Philadelphia Phillies
Spencer Strider Under 6.5 Strikeouts (-135)
I’m a little taken aback at this aggressive line, honestly. I can’t figure out where the book got this number. I mean, if this were 2023, I’d understand. At that point in the timeline, Strider was without question the best strikeout arm in the game. Believe me when I say, there are some serious questions about that status in 2025.
On Tuesday, Strider will be making only his third MLB start since getting internal brace surgery on his right arm. In those first two outings, Strider has struck out just eight batters over 9.1 innings, with a 12.3% swinging strike rate that is good, but no where near his 17.3% career mark. The right-hander’s fastball velocity is also noticeably down, with Strider averaging 95.0 mph with the pitch last week versus the Nationals. For context, Strider’s average fastball velocity was 98.1 mph back in 2022. He was also limited to a mere 75 pitches in that outing.
With concerns about both his stuff and his pitch count, I don’t envision Strider reaching the seven strikeout plateau in his matchup with the Phillies, who own the league’s fifth-lowest strikeout rate in May (19.5%).
Colorado Rockies at Chicago Cubs
Under 7.5 (-112)
The wind will be blowing in tonight at Wrigley Field, which basically makes this hitting environment as far from Coors Field as possible. But to be honest, it’s not like the Rockies can really score anywhere. Overall, the team possesses league-low marks in both batting average (.219) and wRC+ (66). However, those numbers do get drastically worse when Colorado is on the road, as it has a slash line of .194/.258/.309 within the split in 2025. Cade Horton hasn’t been amazing to begin his MLB career, yet he’s certainly talented enough to keep this sputtering Rockies lineup at bay.
Beyond that, this total simply comes down to the Cubs’ ability to knock around German Marquez. The veteran RHP’s splits are super wonky so far in 2025, with Marquez rocking an 11.12 ERA away from the altitude in Colorado. Still, Marquez’s 4.47 xERA and FIP are more digestible than his surface stats and the 30-year-old is directly on the heels of his best outing of the season. Last Thursday, Marquez held the red-hot Phillies to just a single earned run over seven innings of work. If we get anything resembling that Marquez tonight, this over doesn’t stand a chance.
Toronto Blue Jays at Texas Rangers
Rangers -1.5 (+142)
I won’t lie to you. No matter how lopsided a pitching matchup has looked in Nathan Eovaldi’s favor this season, it hasn’t really helped the Rangers support their ace. Consider that Eovaldi has registered a sterling 1.60 ERA — the fourth-best qualified mark in baseball — yet Texas has only covered on the run line in three of his 11 starts. Heck, they’ve only won five of his starts overall. That’s awful.
Still, I think tonight have the potential to turn the team’s tide. That’s how poorly things have been going for Bowden Francis, who sports by far the league’s highest FIP for any pitcher with at least 50 innings thrown in 2025 (6.49). This isn’t a matter of Francis getting unlucky, either. The 29-year-old has earned his pitching woes, surrendering an eighth percentile opponent hard hit rate (49.1%) and the most opponent home runs of any pitcher this season (15). If the Rangers can’t get Eovaldi proper run support against Francis, the All-Star has my blessing to start sitting out some games in protest.
