MLB Picks Today: Best Bets and Props for Tuesday May 12th's Slate

Hey, sometimes bad luck goes against us on these picks, but other times fortune shines. The Los Angeles Dodgers scored an unearned run with two outs in the bottom of the fifth last Friday and nudged ahead of the Atlanta Braves and locked in our F5. I will take it!

Let’s try to keep the good times rolling with today’s MLB Picks.

Season Record 21-14-1, +4.63 Units

Cardinals at Athletics

Athletics F5 -0.5 (-114 FanDuel)

If you had the A’s as the third best team in the AL (by record at least) on May 12th on your bingo card, congrats! They sit at 21-19 with a -6 run differential and a 100 wRC+. So they’re really just a .500 level team, but nearly a quarter of the way through the season, that puts them on top of the AL West! The Cards in the midst of a rebuilding year are actually modestly better at 23-17 with a +3 run differential and 102 wRC+.

So why roll with the A’s here? Well, mostly thanks to their pitching edge.

Jeffrey Springs struggled away from The Trop last year and into the Sacramento humidity. But he seems to have figured it out so far in 2026, going 3-2 with a 3.89 ERA, 3.50 xERA and 1.14 WHIP. His ERA is actually worse at home, but it looks more like bad luck than performance. His home ERA is 4.87 vs. 3.04 away, but his home K-BB% is 21.2% vs. 9.4% and his xFIP at home is 3.47 vs. 4.80 away. And he gets to face a St. Louis Cardinals team that is kind of meh vs. lefties at 98 wRC+ and just 1-5-1 on the F5 money line (-59.9% ROI) and 2-5 on the F5 run line (-41.1% ROI).

The Cards counter with Andre Pallante and he's ... well, he takes the ball every five games and gives the Cards some OK innings. And hey, with all the pitcher carnage out there, that has value for a franchise. He’s just the definition of replacement level as he’s got a 4.34 ERA that lines up with all his estimators, as well as a 1.37 WHIP and 7.9% K-BB%. And he’s pitching in a tough park against a solid lineup. I like the A’s to get the upper here early, and I’m not terribly sold on their pen so let’s stick with the F5.

Rays at Jays

Shane McClanahan Under 4.5 K’s (+108 DraftKings)

Let me stipulate that I am a big fan of “Sugar” Shane, or more accurately I have him on my biggest Fantasy team.

He’s really turned the corner over his last few starts after a difficult reentry from a 2.5 season injury recovery. He has a sparkling 1.70 ERA and 1.00 WHIP over his last 4 starts, with 21 total strikeouts. The only thing he’s really not doing that well is getting deep into games as he faced either 20 or 21 batters in all of those starts, and he has not faced more than 23 in any start this year.

And the Jays are a tough team to strike out, especially for lefty’s as they have a league low 17% K% vs. southpaws. I’m going to fade my Fantasy team and go with the under here.