Sale's Delayed Start Anchors A Four-Play Wednesday

Tuesday's card had a Mets team total anchored by Chris Sale that never got a chance to happen, rain wiped the Braves-Mets game off the board before first pitch, and Sale's start slid a full day to tonight's second game of a doubleheader. That rescheduled game is the headliner here, a moneyline instead of a team total, and it is joined by two more American League clubs riding recent form and a total looking to cool off the highest-scoring game either the Mariners or the Dodgers have played all season. Four plays, six and a half units, all of it Nima's.

Braves Moneyline: Sale Finally Takes The Mound

Atlanta and New York were supposed to play Tuesday night, and Sale was supposed to be the guy on the mound for it. Instead, the forecast won, the game was pushed back a full day, and the two clubs are now working through a straight doubleheader at Citi Field, a 1:10 PM ET opener followed by this 7:10 PM ET nightcap. Game one belonged to a milestone of its own, AJ Smith-Shawver making his first big-league appearance since May 29, 2025 as he works back from Tommy John surgery, opposite Sean Manaea for the Mets. This pick is entirely about game two.

Chris Sale is 11-6 with a 2.19 ERA and 134 strikeouts across 111 innings, a 10th career All-Star selection this season and still the best arm either roster will trot out over four games. He gets Christian Scott, a 3-2, 3.13 ERA right-hander who has been solid in a limited body of work but has made just 14 starts against a Braves club that is 62-44 and sitting atop the NL East. Atlanta has been up and down over its last 10, a 15-1 blowout of Texas, a pair of extra-inning wins over Baltimore, and two losses mixed in, but the record has held steady because the rotation keeps bailing out an offense that goes cold in stretches.

New York is 45-62 and 17.5 games back in the division, and the lineup is not without pop, Francisco Lindor drove in six runs by himself in Monday's series opener against a fourth starter. Sale is a different problem entirely. Two units on Atlanta at -144.

Yankees Moneyline: Going For The Sweep In Chicago

New York has taken the first two games of this series, a 9-5 win Monday and a 3-2 win Tuesday, and looks to finish the sweep tonight behind Cam Schlittler, who is 10-6 with a 2.07 ERA and 157 strikeouts, arguably the best number on the Yankees' staff this season. Chicago counters with Davis Martin, 9-5 with a 3.49 ERA, a capable enough arm but one who has now dropped back-to-back starts against this same lineup. The Yankees sit at 61-46, 1.5 games back of Tampa Bay in the AL East, and are doing it without Aaron Judge, who remains out with a stress fracture in his right rib and has not been cleared for baseball activity.

Chicago is 55-51 and has lost two straight to New York, and while a home crowd at Rate Field can change the complexion of a getaway-week game, Schlittler's ERA and strikeout rate are the best reason to lay the number here even with the Yankees still missing their best hitter. A day off the road trip has not helped Chicago flip a series it has already lost the first two games of. One and a half units on New York at -140.

Red Sox Moneyline: The Rubber Game In Sacramento

Boston split the first two games of this series, a 4-2 win Monday and a 4-3 loss Tuesday, and now needs a win at Sutter Health Park to take it. Patrick Sandoval gets the start for the Red Sox, a 3.21 ERA in a small 14.2-inning sample with 13 strikeouts, part of the rotation improvisation Boston has needed with Garrett Crochet still shut down by shoulder inflammation and now targeting a return closer to the postseason than to August. The Athletics counter with Jacob Lopez, who is 5-4 with a 6.12 ERA, a number that has made Oakland's lineup live but has not made their own staff able to hold anyone down.

Boston is 55-51 and has been the better roster over the last two weeks even with the temporary rotation patchwork, winning series against Tampa Bay and Baltimore before this trip west. Lopez's ERA is the deciding factor: a 6-plus number in a home park that is not known for suppressing offense is a soft number to lay against, even for a Red Sox club leaning on an unproven arm of its own. One and a half units on Boston at -144.

Mariners-Dodgers Under: Cooling Off A Home Run Derby

Tuesday's opener at Dodger Stadium was the loudest game either club has played all year, a 7-6 Mariners win built on five combined home runs, two from Dominic Canzone, one apiece from Cal Raleigh, Julio Rodríguez and Rob Refsnyder, with Shohei Ohtani and Max Muncy answering for Los Angeles. Canzone's tiebreaking two-run shot in the eighth ended a 12-game losing streak for Seattle against the Dodgers dating back to 2021. It was must-see baseball. It is also exactly the kind of game a total should regress away from, not build on.

Emerson Hancock takes the ball for Seattle at 6-4 with a 3.16 ERA, and Eric Lauer goes for the Dodgers at 5-5 with a 4.83 ERA, having allowed three earned runs or fewer in each of his last eight outings since arriving in Los Angeles. Neither Luis Castillo nor Justin Wrobleski, the two starters in Tuesday's shootout, is walking through that door tonight, and both bullpens have to answer a different question after throwing in a 13-run game less than 24 hours earlier. Hancock and Lauer are the more stable arms of the series, and 9.5 is a number built for a series average, not for a repeat of Tuesday's outlier. One and a half units on the under at -110.

What Can Beat It

The Braves moneyline is the safest play on paper, but Sale has had one off night against a hot lineup before, and Lindor is swinging it well enough right now that one mistake pitch turns a comfortable game uncomfortable fast. The Yankees moneyline is priced short for a club still missing Judge, and if Schlittler does not have his usual command, a rested Chicago bullpen behind Martin can keep this one within reach late. The Red Sox moneyline leans on Sandoval in a tiny sample size, thirteen strikeouts across fourteen and two-thirds innings is encouraging but not proof against a home lineup that has had bursts of production even with a bloated team ERA behind it. The Mariners-Dodgers under is the one most exposed to fatigue working the wrong direction, gassed bullpens after a home run barrage can mean more mop-up innings and more contact, not less, and Ohtani is locked in enough right now that one swing changes the number by itself.

The Bottom Line

The Braves moneyline at -144 is the headliner because Sale is still the best pitcher in this series even a day late. The Yankees moneyline at -140 backs a club going for a sweep behind its best starter this season, Judge or no Judge. The Red Sox moneyline at -144 is a bet that a 6.12 ERA in Sacramento outweighs the uncertainty of a rookie-ish arm on the other side. The Mariners-Dodgers under at -110 is a bet that Tuesday's fireworks were the exception, not the new normal, for two much steadier starters. Six and a half units across four games on Wednesday.

For the rest of Wednesday's slate and the Braves-Mets pitching matchup, see the MLB Game Previews hub. For verified betting records, visit the track record or the homepage.