Best NRFI Bets Today: The Pitchers to Watch on Friday, August 16

Best NRFI Bets Today

Happy Friday! It's been a fun week of baseball as we head towards the playoff push in the big leagues, and to ring in yet another weekend we'll take a look at the NRFI -- No Runs in the First Inning.

(Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)

Patrick Corbin may draw the ire of many baseball fans, but he may have a good chance to continue putting up zeroes -- at least in the first inning -- on Friday night in Philly. We like that game, and we're also eyeing a big series in the AL East and a fun interleague battle later on in the night.

Let's check out some of the most profitable NRFI picks and get deeper into the slate, handing out MLB NRFI predictions for Friday, August 16th.

MLB NRFI Prediction for Nationals vs Phillies

The Phillies may have broken out on Thursday night against Mitchell Parker, hanging three in the first inning on an Alec Bohm blast, so with another middling lefty toeing the slab for Washington it would seem oddsmakers aren't expecting much to change here.

• Patrick Corbin, however, has been one one of our favorite NRFI pitchers this season. He consistently draws incredible pricing from oddsmakers and has now gone 18-6 to the NRFI in his 24 starts.
• His counterpart here, Aaron Nola, will work against a slumping Nationals offense and carry his own 18-6 NRFI record into this one.

Both of these teams are ranked 15th or worse in wRC+ over the past week, and given they've hit this bet in 75% of their starts I feel pretty good about things remaining the same here. Washington has been starved for power with a .126 ISO which should aid Nola, who likes to give up home runs, while the Phillies have some issues of their own at the top of the order.

Yes, Weston Wilson caught fire on Thursday and the likes of Alec Bohm and Nick Castellanos have begun to produce. With that said, Trea Turner continues to struggle with a .238 average over the last week while Kyle Schwarber -- at a platoon disadvantage in the first -- is hitting just .083 over that time.

Corbin has allowed two or fewer earned runs in four of his last five starts against the Phillies and three or fewer in 11 of his last 12. I'm not certain he'll fail miserably here, particularly with the way Philly's swinging the bat.

NRFI Prediction: Nationals vs Phillies NRFI (+105 at DraftKings)

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