Josh Naylor

Yahoo Sports national MLB insider Russell Dorsey highlights the moment when Bo and Josh Naylor both homer in the same inning on National Siblings Day as his best thing he saw in baseball this week.

Find year-round coverage of betting news and insights for all sports by visiting our Betting section and subscribing to push notifications.It was another good night on the diamond. The Yankees won the first five innings by multiple runs while we split our pitching props, giving us a profitable 2-1 evening and pushing our weekly record to 5-1.Let's dive into a few standout plays for Wednesday's card as we look to build on a strong start to the week.Cubs (+120) @ Padres (-140)The Cubs are a better team than the Padres, but the latter are in a much better position for success Wednesday night.San Diego will have ace Dylan Cease on the mound, while Chicago sends struggling veteran Kyle Hendricks to the bump.Cease has pitched very well thus far, sporting a 3.38 ERA, 30.2 K%, and .263 xwOBA through his first two starts with his new club.He has electric stuff and should be able to challenge this Cubs' offense rather than dancing around it and trying to be perfect. Completely neutralizing the Cubs is unrealistic, but Cease stands a good chance of slowing them down.If Cease can do that, the Padres will be in good shape. Led by Fernando Tatis and Manny Machado, the team ranks ninth in homers and 11th in xwOBA against right-handed pitching. The Padres are hitting well above the league average, getting on base and hitting for power.They should be able to accomplish both of those things against Hendricks. He is struggling with his control thus far, throwing called balls at the same rate as strikes through two starts.His location has been erratic and teams have feasted on him when making contact. Hendricks has allowed a .448 xwOBA and 12.1% barrel rate, alarmingly bad numbers.The Padres' offense can take advantage of Hendricks' shortcomings and give Cease all the run support he needs to put the Padres in a great position.Look for the Padres' bats to power them to victory.Bet: Padres (-140)Austin Gomber: Over 1.5 walksGomber is a walk machine. He walked at least two batters in five of his last six starts a season ago and has picked up where he left off, walking six batters over his first two games in 2024.He's struggled versus righties in particular. The Rockies hurler has walked 16.7% of right-handed batters faced through two starts, more than double the MLB average.Control issues don't set Gomber up for success against the Diamondbacks. They are notoriously disciplined at the plate, walking multiple times versus eight of the past 11 left-handed starters faced. That includes a three-walk effort against Gomber less than two weeks ago.I don't see any reason to expect different this time around.Odds: -135 (playable to -150)Erick Fedde: Over 1.5 walksFedde has shown some command issues early on in the year. His strike percentage is only 3% higher than his ball percentage, and he has fared even worse against left-handed hitters.Fedde has thrown more called balls than strikes against lefties. He has also walked just under 16% of left-handed batters. The Guardians feature a very left-handed heavy lineup. Steven Kwan, Andr s Gim nez, Josh Naylor, and Will Brennan - four of the team's best hitters - are lefties. Jos Ram rez is also a switch hitter.Cleveland is very disciplined at the plate and does not strike out very often. Given Fedde's control issues, this is a matchup where the lineup should draw multiple free passes.Odds: -125 (playable to -140)Todd Cordell is a sports betting writer at theScore. You can follow him on X at @ToddCordell.Copyright © 2024 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.