Legal Sports Betting

The Best Bets for Thursday’s MLB Slate

By Joe Tansey

Published: Jul 10th, 2025 · 3:24 PM EDT

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Thursday’s MLB slate presents a smorgasbord of opportunities to fade some of the worst starting pitchers.

So sit back, relax during the Phillies off day, and win some wagers.

Mets Team Total Over 4.5 vs. Orioles (Game 2)

Tomoyuki Sugano put up some of the worst numbers among starting pitchers in the last month.

The Orioles right-hander allowed 17 earned runs in 24.2 June innings and started July with a six-run, 10-hit concession over 4.2 innings.

The Mets are coming off a rough game one on Thursday in which they were shut down by Charlie Morton, but they should put up a good amount of runs against the Japanese hurler in game two.

New York scored at least four runs in five of their last eight games, so I’d chalk up the first game incompetency to the early start and nothing more.

I worry about betting the Mets money line, though, because they haven’t named a starter and their pitching staff has been decimated by injuries, so just stick to the team total.

Nationals vs. Cardinals – Over 9

Miles Mikolas has been a shell of himself for a long time.

The former St. Louis ace owns a 5.26 ERA and he’s going up against Michael Soroka’s 5.40 ERA on Thursday.

Mikolas allowed 14 earned runs in his last two starts and he’s let up at least six earned runs in three of his last five starts.

Soroka’s had some decent outings this season, but the Red Sox tore him apart on July 4th for seven runs on nine hits.

Guardians (-1.5) at White Sox

The Guardians were one of the worst teams in baseball for a while, until they unleashed 21 runs in a sweep over the Astros.

Cleveland’s got all sorts of momentum going into its four-game set with the Chicago White Sox, who send Jonathan Cannon to the mound.

Cannon let up 15 hits in his last 11.1 innings and he was pushed around by the Cleveland offense for six runs back in April.

It’s all about riding the hot hand in this spot.

bet365 has a parlay boost available for Thursday’s MLB slate. These three bets combined get you to +560 in a parlay.

Home Run Parlay

Okay, let’s have a little bit of fun here. Use BetMGM’s Any Sport No Sweat Token in this spot:

• Juan Soto (Lefties have 12 HRs against Sugano)
• James Wood (Lefties with .295 BA and 10 HR against Mikolas)
• Jose Ramirez (Three game home run streak)

Alternately, if you only like betting the Phillies, this could be a day for NJ online casinos or PA online casinos. Play blackjack online, or online slot games.