Folks, we made it.
Spring training is behind us, the Korea series is done, and now we've reached the real Opening Day. I'm going to start us of with two MLB expert picks for 2024 Opening Day, with the latest lines from our baseball sportsbooks. Let's set the season tone with a few wins.
MLB Expert Picks: March 28th, 2024
You can jump directly to today's picks here:
Pick 1: Cubs (+104) vs Rangers
Matchup Preview - Game Time: 7:35pm ET
I'm fading the Rangers in my season-long picks (projecting them to miss the playoffs), so why not start on Opening Day?
Aside from the many rotation injuries that will hurt them this season, the Rangers will also be without Nathaniel Lowe for this Opening Day battle, and Corey Seager is just barely back from injury without many spring reps. So that, coupled with the fact that I think the Cubs actually have the pitching advantage here, makes me side with Chicago.
Texas starter Nathan Eovaldi got things back on track for a few good postseason starts, but he wasn't particularly great at the end of last season. In his final four starts of 2023, Eovaldi never pitched past the fifth inning and allowed 17 runs in 16.2 innings. Justin Steele, on the other hand, posted a 2.71 FIP and struck out 35 batters in his final five starts of 2024 (29.1 IP).
Without a locked-in Seager, I think these lineups are pretty close to even and I think the Cubs have a slight pitching advantage. So, when you're giving me Chicago at +104 on the moneyline, that's an easy underdog play.
Pick 2: Athletics vs Guardians UNDER 7.5 Runs (-110)
Matchup Preview - Game Time: 10:07pm ET
I expect these two be two of the least dynamic offenses in baseball this year, and it's going to show up in a big way on Opening Day.
While these offenses aren't great, the real key to this under will be the pitching,
I think Shane Bieber is back. He pitched four quality starts in his last eight outings of 2023 and carried the success into spring this year. In four spring starts (17.1 IP), Bieber allowed just a 1.56 ERA with 19 strikeouts and a 0.81 WHIP — elite stuff.
The Athletics will counter with Alex Wood, who is probably the least talented Opening Day starter this year. But, I think he’ll carve up a Guardians team that was the worst in baseball against lefties by OPS. Cleveland hit just .232 with a .663 OPS against southpaws last year, and didn’t do much to address that weakness in 2024.
The Athletics have played in pretty low-scoring opening games recently, too. In their last two home openers, the combined score has been just six and three runs.
