MLB Best Bets for Today: Blue Jays & Cardinals | Saturday, May 21st

MLB Best Bets for Today: Blue Jays cover the run line with Manoah on the mound

MLB teams are preparing for the second game of their weekend series. There are two teams, in particular, tonight that we are going to target. These two ball clubs are coming off wins last night and facing two teams that aren't as talented. There is a term used in sports betting called "double dipping", when you take a bet the day after it loses. Today, that's exactly our plan.

Below, you will find two of the best bets for today's slate of MLB games.

Bet #1: Toronto Blue Jays -1.5 (-118) vs. the Cincinnati Reds

"Welcome back, Jordan Romano"- @BlueJays

Another day, another bet against the worst team in the MLB. The Toronto Blue Jays defeated the Reds by a score of 2-1 last night. The Cincinnati Reds have a 11-27 record and are ranked in the bottom five of both team hitting and pitching. The current formula that the Reds have will not consistently win ball games. Tonight, they face an early AL Cy Young candidate in Alek Manoah. Manoah has been one of the most effective pitchers in the MLB so far, with a 4-1 record, 1.71 ERA, and a 0.88 WHIP (walks/hits per inning pitched). Manoah has a great matchup against this Reds lineup, with a .219 team batting average on the season. The Toronto offense struggled to score runs in the victory last night, but tonight may be a good spot for them to breakthrough. Hunter Greene will take the mound for Cincinnati, and he has been less than impressive. Greene's 1-5 record and 6.21 ERA are both numbers that give this bet a lot of hope to hit. The key to victory for the Blue Jays tonight is to get a quality start out of Alek Manoah and get some timely offensive production from Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, and George Springer.

Bet #2: St. Louis Cardinals Team Total over 4.5 (-115) vs. the Pittsburgh Pirates

"THATSAWINNER"- @Cardinals

The St. Louis Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Pirates have met 4 times already this season. The Cardinals have won three of those games and went over this line of 4.5 runs in each of those wins. Tonight, the Cardinals offense has a prime matchup against left-hander Jose Quintana. As a team, the Cardinals are hitting a ridiculous .282 against left-handed pitching. All of the important categories: batting average, on-base percantage, and slugging percentage see a huge increase when St. Louis faces a southpaw. Quintana is coming off three straight quality starts, but faces a tough task tonight. The Cardinals will have a lot of talented right-handed bats in their lineup today, including Nolan Arenado, Paul Goldschmidt, Juan Yepez, and Tommy Edman. Cardinals bats should continue their trend of hitting lefties hard. We're going with the Red Birds to score 5+ runs tonight!