Arizona Diamondbacks to reach the NLDS? Best Bet for Oct. 4

Each day, one of our experts will offer up a best bet (or two or three) that mobile sportsbooks are offering. It might be a traditional spread bet, a player prop or one of the various odds boosts that books offer.

Here is our best bet for Wednesday, Oct. 4:

TOP PLAY

The play: MLB, Diamondbacks money line over Brewers

The odds/bet: +115 ($30 to win $34.50)

The book: Caesars Sportsbook

Time/TV: 7 p.m. (ESPN2)

Our take: In this new-fangled wild-card playoff system we have in Major League Baseball, generally the team that wins the opener not only wins the series but wins Game 2. In fact, nine of the past 12 wild-card games, the team that won Game 1 closed it out in the next one.

Here, the D’backs have been in playoff mode for more than three weeks, having to hold off the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds to even make it thus far. They’re playing like they’re still desperate, and that is working in their favor.

Zac Gallen (17-9) has allowed just two earned runs in his past two starts – a narrow loss at Houston and six shutout innings in a win in The Bronx.

Meanwhile, his counterpart, Freddy Peralta (12-10), has just one victory in his last month worth of starts and hasn’t made more than 86 pitches since Sept. 12. In other words, it likely will be another bullpen game for the Brewers, who expected a whole lot more out of ace Corbin Burnes on Tuesday night.

Tuesday's best bet: Rays money line over Rangers(LOST)

 If a line or odds are minus, it considers the juice one must lay to place the bet. Ex: Team A is -160 on the money line, one would have to bet $160 to win $100 (or $16 to win $10). OR Team B is a 5-point favorite at -110, one would have to bet $110 to win $100 (or $11 to win $10.)

Conversely, on positive lines, if Team C is +140 on the money line, $100 would bring in $140 (or $10 to win $14).