MLB picks, best baseball bets for Friday, including Tigers vs. Rangers and a Freddie Freeman home run prop

Time for some Friday night action, including Tarik Skubal and Manny Machado

Hello and good Friday to you. I love good news and Friday generally is good news in and of itself for many people. Here, under the Matt Snyder byline on CBS Sports, Friday means it's time for another installment of picks, or, as I like to call this little exercise, Friday Night lines. 

There's a full slate of 15 games on Friday and they all come at night, so there's plenty of time to get that action in. All lines are from FanDuel today. We'll grab two plays for the night, along with a home run pick and a futures play. Let's get to it. 

Tigers -1.5 (-118)

The Tigers just had a 10-game road trip that concluded with a doubleheader on Thursday. Of course, they won seven of their last eight and are riding high right now at 25-13, the best record in the AL. They come home now, where they are 13-3 with a +45 run differential this season. They face the Rangers, who have lost 11 of 15 and are having trouble generating offense. 

The Tigers have only won three games by one run, so we're already in good shape here on the run line, assuming we believe the Tigers will win. 

Then we see the pitching matchup. The Tigers send ace lefty Tarik Skubal to the mound. He's been just as dominant as last season, if not more. The Rangers haven't seen him since June 3 last season, when he only allowed one run in six innings. This season, the Rangers are brutal against southpaws, too, hitting .229/.289/.333 against left-handed pitching. 

Meanwhile, the Rangers send Patrick Corbin to the hill. He actually hasn't been terrible this season, but in looking under the hood a bit, he should start pitching worse sometime soon. The Tigers offense is hot and feasts on lefties (.279/.345/.472 -- quite the contrast from the Rangers' line). 

It wouldn't hurt to look at some Tigers hitters like Riley Greene, Gleyber Torres and, yes, Javier Báez if you're looking for hitter props. 

We'll just play the run line here. I love the Tigers in this one. 

Manny Machado to record 2+ hits (+100)

Machado carries an eight-game hitting streak into Coors Field for the weekend set against the hapless Rockies. He's hit .419 in that stretch and has four multi-hit games in there, including at least two hits in three of his last four games. He's going to make that four of five with Friday's game. As many of us know, Coors Field is generally the easiest park in the majors in which to get a hit due to the overly spacious outfield, which was built that way due to the light air at the Denver elevation. 

Machado is a .306 career hitter in Coors, but in the last three seasons that mark is .321. Last season he was 5 for 13 (.385). 

Antonio Senzatela is on the mound for the Rockies and he's given up a ridiculous 57 hits in 34⅓ innings this season with an opponents batting average of, gulp, .380. 

Machado will come to the plate five times. We're betting on him getting a hit on two of those trips at minimum.

Home run play: Freddie Freeman +540

Arizona's Chase Field is such a great hitter environment that anytime there's a pitcher who has been knocked around on the season, it's a good place to look for a home run play.  Eduardo Rodríguez takes the mound for the Diamondbacks in Arizona against the Dodgers Friday night. He has a 5.92 ERA on the season with seven homers allowed in 38 innings. Sign me up!

Freeman means it's a lefty-lefty matchup to start, but Rodríguez has been hit hard by lefties in a small sample this season. It's not like Freeman can't hit homers off lefties. 

Freeman has a career slash line of .373/.434/.697 with 16 homers in 228 at-bats in Chase Field. So far this season, he's hitting .361/.438/.701 with eight home runs in only 97 at-bats. 

Against Rodríguez? 6 for 12 with a double and home run. 

Bring on the power, Freddie. 

Futures play: Royals to win AL Central (+400)

The Tigers look awesome right now and I don't think they are going away. The Guardians are a formidable foe once again and won't depart the race. The Twins are trying to play themselves back into contention. 

The Royals, though, were my pick in spring training. I love the entire pitching staff, which sports a collective 2.91 ERA. The offense could use another bat or two to help Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino has started to wake up a little bit. 

What I like most of all is this price. The Royals started 8-14 after a six-game losing streak, but they've gone 15-2 since. Road woes crushed them early, but they won five of six on their last road trip. 

I'm sticking with the Royals in the Central and I love them at +400.