MLB parlay picks August 8: Back Max Scherzer to dominate the A’s

Fading the Kansas City Royals and Oakland Athletics often carries too much juice on its own. But we can generate a nice price by adding those picks to an MLB parlay.

The pregame narrative: The Royals have been a disaster on the road this season, and we’re counting on that to continue tonight. We also like Max Scherzer and the Texas Rangers to lead at the halfway point against the A’s, while Chicago Cubs infielder Jeimer Candelario should be counted on for a hit.

Find all our MLB parlay picks for Aug. 8 below.

MLB oddsas of 10:10 a.m. ET on 08/08/23.

MLB parlay picks

Parlay: Red Sox ML + Rangers -0.5 - first 5 innings + Candelario over 0.5 hits (+262)

Red Sox moneyline (-180): If your favourite team is down in the dumps, the best remedy might just be a home matchup against the Royals.

Kansas City is 15-42 on the road this year, which is the worst road record in the majors. Not that the Royals’ 36-78 record overall is impressing anyone, but clearly the issues are further punctuated away from Kauffman Stadium.

Our only concern here is the recent resurgence of K.C.’s Brady Singer, who is coming off eight shutout innings and has been much better of late. But his 5.10 ERA over 22 starts this year means Boston should still have the upper hand with Kutter Crawford (5-5, 3.62 ERA).

The Royals have lost 15 of their past 18 road games, including Monday’s series opener against the Red Sox.

Other parlay picks

Rangers -0.5 - first 5 innings (-148): Scherzer’s first impression with the Rangers wasn’t a good one, as he allowed three runs in a 37-pitch first inning. But that was all his opponent would get, which is a reminder of how dominant the three-time Cy Young winner can still be.

Also, Scherzer is now backed by the league’s best offence (5.8 runs/game). That has helped contribute to the Rangers’ 67-35-11 F5 moneyline record — the best mark in baseball.

The A’s have the second-worst F5 moneyline record in MLB (32-62-19), so we’ll deal with this juice to bet on Texas to lead at the halfway mark.

Texas has held a lead at the F5 mark in seven of its eight games against Oakland this year.

Candelario over 0.5 hits (-265): Since being traded to the Cubs, Candelario has embodied the mantra of his new team by absolutely tearing the cover off the ball.

In seven games with Chicago, Candelario has a whopping 12 hits. Dating back a bit further, he’s batting .471 over his past 10 games and has recorded at least one hit in eight of those.

Tonight’s matchup doesn’t hurt, either, as the corner infielder faces Mets starter Carlos Carrasco. In their past experiences against each other, Candelario is 6-for-15 (.400) with a double.