The Miami Marlins and Atlanta Braves will play five games over the next four days thanks to a Saturday doubleheader, with their series beginning Thursday, August 7 at 7:15 p.m. ET on MLB Network. The Marlins climbed back to .500 after sitting at 24-40 at one point in the season but still sit six games back of the last NL Wild Card spot. The Braves are trying to find something to play for in a lost season. They entered the year as contenders for a World Series crown before losing their first seven games and 11 of their first 15.
Baseball fans looking to get into MLB betting at the top sportsbooks and searching for the best Marlins vs. Braves spread, money line, total and player prop bets should check out the SportsLine Projection Model, which simulates every game 10,000 times. The model enters Week 20 of the MLB season on a 28-23 run on top-rated MLB money line picks.
Eury Perez (4-3, 2.70 ERA) will get the start for the Marlins on Thursday. Perez is coming off six shutout innings against the Yankees, where he also logged five strikeouts. DraftKings has set his strikeout line at 5.5 (Over -120, Under -105) and the model suggests taking the Under, projecting Perez at 5.3 strikeouts. The Braves are countering with Carlos Carrasco (1-1, 5.68 ERA), who last appeared in Atlanta's wild 12-11 win over the Reds in extra innings. Carrasco threw six innings in that game, giving up three runs and striking out five. His strikeouts line at DraftKings is set at 3.5 (Over -140, Under +110).
Braves slugger Matt Olson is the favorite to hit a home run Thursday at +320, but Marlins star Kyle Stowers isn't far behind at +340. Agustin Ramirez (+370), Sean Murphy (+400) and Drake Baldwin (+425) round out the top five in the home run odds table.
The Marlins are -134 favorites (wager $134 to win $100) on the money line in the latest SportsLine consensus odds while the Braves are +112 underdogs (wager $100 to win $112). The total opened at 8.5 but is now down to 8. You can find the model's latest projections and expert picks for Marlins vs. Braves at SportsLine.
Here are the SportsLine model's projections for Marlins vs. Braves on Thursday, August 7.
MIAMI MARLINS at ATLANTA BRAVES | 8/7 | 7:15 p.m. ET
Money line
Pick: Braves +1.5 (-155) ("A" grade)
Atlanta covers in 72% of simulations, bringing value at these odds
Run line
Pick: Braves +112
Atlanta wins in 57% of simulations
Over/Under
Pick: Over 8
The Over hits in 46.2% of simulations
Projected score: Braves 4.4, Marlins 4.1
