MLB picks, predictions, best bets for Friday, June 27: Pirates vs Mets, Orioles vs Rays and more

Teams are gearing up for the MLB All-Star Game after the first ballots were finalized, and the finalists for each position were announced. That means the league is headed for the halfway mark of the season, with an eye on the trade deadline on July 31. That makes this stretch extremely crucial.

Here are the picks and predictions for all the games on Friday, June 27:

MLB picks, predictions and best bets for Friday, June 27

#1. Pirates vs Mets

Best Bet: Mets ML (-163)

Prediction: Mets 5, Pirates 4

The New York Mets are the favourites to put some runs early on against Pittsburgh Pirates starter Mitch Keller who has a 1-10, 4.02 ERA record this season. Juan Soto (19 HRs) has taken over the lead for the Mets' home run leader from Pete Alonso while the latter continues to lead in Average (.292) and RBIs (65). They are the ones to watch out for.

#2. Orioles vs Rays

Best Bet: Rays ML (-130)

Prediction: Rays 5, Orioles 4

The starting pitching matchup is a close encounter between Tampa Bay Rays' Ryan Pepiot (5-6, 3.04 ERA) and Baltimore Orioles' Tomoyuki Sugano (5-4, 3.55 ERA). But the teams' current form indicates the Rays having a better outing. Tampa Bay has won four of the last five, while Baltimore has won just one.

#3. Guardians vs Cardinals

Best Bet: Cardinals ML (-129)

Prediction: Cardinals 5, Guardians 4

Cardinals' ace Sonny Gray (7-2, 3.72 ERA) starts on the mound and has the edge over Guardians' Luis Ortiz (4-8, 4.30 ERA).

Jose Ramirez leads on all three major batting metrics for Cleveland, yet again proving his role as the club leader while the Cardinals have Lars Nootbar (11 HRs), Brendan Donovan (.301 average) and Willson Contreras (50 RBIs) leading their team.

#4. Reds vs Padres

Best Bet: Under 9 runs

Prediction: Reds 5, Padres 4

San Diego has regained form winning four of their last five games, after going through a major slump in the middle of this month. They would hope to get the series win against Cincinnati who are coming off a series win themselves against the Yankees. Dylan Cease (3-6, 4.43 ERA) and Nick Martinez (4-8, 4.40 ERA) face off in the starter duel.

#5. Angels vs Nationals

Best Bet: Angels ML (-165)

Prediction: Angels 5, Nationals 4

A resurgent Angels team (40-40) with a well-balanced roster between youngsters and veterans has brought themselves within one game of the Wild Card spots. They will hope to take the series win against the slumping Nationals who are last in the NL East (33-48).

Predictions from other games on Saturday

Athletics @ New York (Y): Yankees 5, Athletics 4

Minnesota @ Detroit: Detroit 6, Twins 5

Toronto @ Boston: Blue Jays 5, Red Sox 4

Philadelphia @ Atlanta: Braves 5, Phillies 4

San Francisco @ Chicago (WS): Giants 6, White Sox 4

Seattle @ Texas: Mariners 5, Texas 4

Chicago (C) @ Houston: Cubs 5, Astros 4

Colorado @ Milwaukee: Brewers 6, Rockies 3

Los Angeles (D) @ Kansas City: Dodgers 6, Royals 4

Miami @ Arizona: Diamondbacks 5, Marlins 3

About the author

Nikhil Parshy is a baseball and ice hockey journalist at Sportskeeda, and after starting out as a cricket reporter, he has been an analyst with SK since November 2022. His interest in the sports were piqued a few years back after watching highlights on YouTube and he has followed the game ever since.

The Chicago Cubs breaking the 108-year curse in 2016 to lift the World Series remains Nikhil's favorite baseball moment. Two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani has been his favorite player ever since he started following the game, while the LA Dodgers are his favorite team.

As a writer, Nikhil maintains a strong attention to detail and rigorously cross-checks information. He seeks to strike a balance in his writing such that the regular reader gains an insight into player profiles, while also keeping in mind that the non-regular reader is not put off by jargon and shallow analysis.

Nikhil is an avid public speaker, and when not writing about baseball, he regularly participates in debates and quizzes.

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Edited by Veer Badani