MLB Playoff Picks Tuesday: Best Bets for September 30 Wild Card Games

Postseason arrives Tuesday and the MLB card highlights four Wild Card games. It’s a shorter stack than a regular-season slate, but still a plentiful offering of player and team props.

The game of the night takes place at Yankee Stadium, where the New York Yankees face rival Boston at 6:08 p.m. ET.

We’ll break down four plays for the Tuesday action, the opening game for all four Wild Card series. Monitor the odds throughout the day, as props and totals are constantly changing.

Best MLB Plays MLB Wild Card Game 1

Tigers/Guardians F5 Under 3.5 Runs (-122)
Padres (-105) at Cubs
Red Sox F5 at Yankees (+106)
Dodgers F5 -0.5 vs. Reds (-110)

Tigers/Guardians F5 Under 3.5 Runs (-122 at FanDuel)

The Detroit Tigers suffered a crushing collapse, losing the AL Central crown to the Cleveland Guardians.

The two division rivals meet in Cleveland to start the 2025 MLB Playoffs on Tuesday afternoon, with ace Tarik Skubal on the mound for Detroit.

In four starts vs. Cleveland this season, Skubal allowed just one run combined through five innings.

The 2024 AL Cy Young winner has yielded one run or fewer in six of his last seven outings through the first five frames.

Four of the last six Tigers/Guardians meetings cashed the F5 Under.

Cleveland hasn’t officially named its starter, but Gavin Williams is the likely choice. Williams has given up just three runs total in his past five starts through five innings.

Padres (-105 at DraftKings) at Cubs

The San Diego Padres and Chicago Cubs open the NL playoffs at Wrigley Field on Tuesday afternoon.

San Diego rebounded from a 9-of-11 losing stretch with a 7-1 finish to the season.

The Cubs went 12-11 in September, despite sweeping St. Louis to end the year.

Nick Pivetta gets the ball for San Diego. The Padres are 3-3 in his last six starts, with Pivetta allowing two runs or less in six consecutive outings before giving up three in each of his last two.

Since the playoff expansion in 2022, the Padres have advanced through this round twice. At nearly even money, they’re a strong play to steal Game 1 on the road.

Red Sox F5 at Yankees (+106 at FanDuel)

Boston and New York clash in another postseason showdown at Yankee Stadium. Both teams roll out southpaw aces making their playoff debuts for their new squads: Garrett Crochet for Boston and Max Fried for New York.

Crochet dominated in 2025, going 18-5 with a 2.59 ERA. The Red Sox won all four of his starts vs. New York, leading through five innings each time.

Fried led MLB with 19 wins, but the Yankees lost two of his three starts against Boston.

This rivalry always brings drama, but Boston has the edge early. The Red Sox are a value play to lead through five innings.

Dodgers F5 -0.5 vs. Reds (-110 at FanDuel)

Fresh off their 2024 World Series title, the Los Angeles Dodgers enter the postseason against the Cincinnati Reds.

L.A. closed the year on a scorching 12-1-2 F5 run over its last 15 games.

The Dodgers held opponents to one run or fewer in 11 of their last 14 first-five innings.

Meanwhile, the Reds went just 1-4-1 in the F5 market against the Dodgers this season. At Dodger Stadium, they scored only two total runs in three games through five innings — trailing all three.

The Dodgers are set up for another fast start in Game 1.