Best NRFI Bets Today: The Pitchers to Target on Friday, March 28

Best NRFI Bets Today

Happy Friday! There's no better way to celebrate ringing in the first weekend of the season than with the NRFI -- No Runs in the First Inning.

We'll start by going the other direction in a favorable spot for both offenses over in Toronto before heading out west for two scoreless first frames.

Let's check out some of the most profitable NRFI spots and get deeper into the slate, handing out MLB NRFI predictions for Friday, March 28.

MLB YRFI Betting Prediction for Orioles vs Blue Jays

We try to find the best NRFI predictions where we can, but on a shorter slate with some rocky pitching matchups there's only so much we can do.

Before we take a couple of bets on scoreless first innings, I'm going to take a swing on the YRFI in the second game of this weekend's series between the Orioles and Blue Jays.

• While both Charlie Morton and Kevin Gausman had success in pitching to the NRFI last season, there were issues abound.

Both men saw a drop in their strikeout rates which led to an increase in their Expected Batting Average and Expected Slugging, and on Friday we'll see two teams which remained disciplined at the plate and limited strikeouts in the second half of the season.

Toronto and Baltimore were just outside the top 10 in OPS against fly ball pitchers, and both men have continued to pitch to contact in the air as regression hits them hard in the swing-and-miss numbers in their twilight years.

Gausman should be particularly vulnerable here to an ugly first after posting a 7.71 ERA this spring, and will have to deal with a hefty first four hitters for Baltimore while Toronto's power is concentrated towards the top as well.

I'm expecting a lot of runs here, and things will kick off in the first.

YRFI Prediction: Orioles vs Blue Jays YRFI (-105 at Caesars)

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MLB NRFI Betting Prediction for Athletics vs Mariners

We once again saw a slog of a start in a Mariners home game on Thursday night which saw just one run scored through the first half of this game. Ordinarily, I'd expect this price to be a little steeper, but we're getting a slight discount due to the rust brought on by the offseason and some uncertainty with the Athletics' starter.

Well, I don't really buy it. Jeffrey Springs may have had injuries derail what looked to be a breakout, but in limited time he's still maintained some excellent numbers on contact while racking up plenty of strikeouts.

Punchouts should be the name of the game here with two high-strikeout arms facing two of the guiltiest teams in the league when it came to strikeouts last season, and with both men pitching to a wealth of weakly-struck fly balls the outcomes should be in our favor here.

Expect a smattering of strikeouts and flyouts in a quiet first inning.

NRFI Betting Prediction: Athletics vs Mariners NRFI (-145 at BetMGM)

MLB NRFI Betting Prediction for Tigers vs Dodgers

Finally, we'll get to what should be the game of the day as Jack Flaherty makes his first start back in a Tigers uniform against the team they traded him to at last year's trade deadline.

• We saw fireworks ensue on Thursday in a thrilling opening game despite a solid pitching matchup, but we still managed to come home on the NRFI -- and Friday should be no different.

Flaherty was an excellent 22-6 to the NRFI last season while Yamamoto trailed slightly behind at 13-5, but that won't deter me from grabbing this generous price.

The Tigers righty excelled in limiting walks last year while pitching to weakly-struck fly balls and a bundle of strikeouts, a formula you need to take down the Dodgers. L.A. is one of the most patient teams in the league, and as is the case with many teams it was worse against ground-ball pitchers last season.

Detroit, meanwhile, was much worse against ground-ball pitchers like Yamamoto last season and fell victim to a ton of strikeouts -- and with the Japanese righty's proficiency in both categories he should hum through the first with many strikeout victims waiting to greet him.

Considering the Dodgers have a somewhat surprising number of guys atop the order with strikeout tendencies as well, the batted ball trends may not even come too far into play here -- but if both men aren't racking up strikeouts they should manage to get some easy outs on contact.

NRFI Prediction: Tigers vs Dodgers NRFI (-132 at FanDuel)

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