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Top MLB Picks for Thursday: May 28 Baseball Betting Predictions and Props
May 27, 2026; Arlington, Texas, USA; Houston Astros first baseman Christian Walker (8) and designated hitter Yordan Alvarez (44) celebrate after Alvarez hits a home run against the Texas Rangers during the eighth inning at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images Chris Sale would like nothing better than to post a standout performance in Fenway Park when the Atlanta Braves face the Boston Red Sox on Thursday afternoon. Sale seemed on a downhill slide when he sustained a major arm injury and later struggled with Boston in 2023 before the trade to the Braves revived his career.
While Sale seems on his way to his third straight All-Star appearance with the Braves – and 10th overall – he’s not the only top-flight pitcher getting the ball Thursday. Paul Skenes will look to bounce back from consecutive shaky starts when he pitches against the struggling Chicago Cubs.
It wasn’t that long ago that the Houston Astros were the dominant team in the American League West. The Texas Rangers placed their bid when they won the 2023 World Series. But both teams are subpar so far this season as they enter the series finale.
ATLANTA BRAVES AT BOSTON RED SOX
Sale is 7-3 and his 1.89 ERA ranks sixth in the majors and he has allowed just 40 hits over 62 innings. The 37-year-old Sale has allowed one or fewer runs in nine of his 11 starts.
Sale is 4-1 with a 1.89 ERA in 12 appearances (seven starts) against the Red Sox with most of those outings coming for the Chicago White Sox. The Braves are a stellar 20-9 on the road this season after splitting the first two games of the season.
The Red Sox are just 9-18 at Fenway Park but had a lot of fun Wednesday while rolling to an 8-0 victory over the Braves to end a four-game overall slide and a five-game home skid. Leadoff hitter Jarren Duran had four hits and homered for the second straight game and No. 2 hitter Ceddanne Rafaela added three hits and the pair will aim to support lefty Payton Tolle (2-2, 2.45) in the finale.
Total runs to be under 7, +103 (DraftKings)
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CHICAGO CUBS AT PITTSBURGH PIRATES
Skenes (6-4, 3.00) allowed two hits over eight shutout innings in each of his first two starts this month before suddenly becoming easy to hit and allowing nine runs and 15 hits over 10 innings in losses to the Philadelphia Phillies and Toronto Blue Jays. Skenes is 2-2 with a 2.94 ERA in seven career starts against Chicago.
The Cubs will come to the ballpark in a good mood for the first time since the middle of the month after breaking their 10-game skid with a 10-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday. The Cubs gave up eight or more runs five times during their winless stretch, including Tuesday’s 12-1 loss to the Pirates.
Ian Happ smacked a three-run blast and drove in five runs on Wednesday after being 2-for-31 over his previous eight games. Veteran right-hander Colin Rea (4-3, 4.83) will match up against Skenes and attempt to give Chicago a split of the four-game set.
Pirates to win -1.5 runs, +130 (DraftKings)
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HOUSTON ASTROS AT TEXAS RANGERS
The Astros are showing life with five wins in six games – including two of three in this series – but are still seven games below .500. Houston qualified for the playoffs eight straight seasons, topping 100 wins in four of them, before missing the postseason last season
Slugger Yordan Alvarez loves to feast on Texas pitching and he hit two homers in Wednesday’s 4-3 victory and he has five in the first three games of the series. Alvarez has gone deep 25 times in 72 regular-season games against Texas and also had a two-homer game in the 2023 American League Championship Series, won by the Rangers en route to winning their lone World Series crown.
Texas missed the playoffs the past two seasons and have lost five of six games and were victims to a Houston combined no-hitter on Monday. Nathan Eovaldi (5-5, 3.65) knows his biggest task is keeping Alvarez in the yard but good luck as Alvarez is 12-for-23 with two homers and three doubles against the veteran righty.
Yordan Alvarez to hit one-plus homers, +311 (DraftKings)
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Jets first-round TE Kenyon Sadiq out weeks after hernia surgery
Apr 23, 2026; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Oregon Ducks tight end Kenyon Sadiq is selected by the New York Jets as the number 16 pick during the 2026 NFL Draft at Acrisure Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images Jets tight end Kenyon Sadiq underwent surgery to repair a hernia and is out several weeks.
Head coach Aaron Glenn said Thursday that Sadiq should be back on the field at some point during training camp, which opens in eight weeks (July 28).
The 16th overall pick is expected to have a significant role in the Jets’ retooled offense.
“It’s something that he dealt with,” Glenn said, detailing the injury history the team had knowledge of prior to the 2025 college football season. “And we knew about it going into his last year of college, and he dealt with it during rookie minicamp.”
Health was not a major deterrent for Sadiq last season when he had eight TD catches and 51 receptions at Oregon. He solidified his pre-draft standing with a freakish workout at the NFL Scouting Combine. He was clocked at a position-record 4.39 seconds in the 40-yard dash, eclipsing the recognized fastest time by a tight end held by Maryland product Vernon Davis. He ran a 4.40 in 2006.
The Jets doubled down on receivers in the first round in April, selecting wide receiver Omar Cooper 30th overall following a trade up with the San Francisco 49ers.
–Field Level Media
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Lynx sign C Teaira McCowan, add depth to frontcourt
Jul 25, 2025; San Francisco, California, USA; Dallas Wings center Teaira McCowan (15) warms up before a game against the Golden State Valkyries at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: John Hefti-Imagn Images The Minnesota Lynx signed center Teaira McCowan to a contract on Thursday.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed by the Lynx.
McCowan, 29, came off the bench in 17 games last season with the Dallas Wings, averaging 5.6 points and 4.6 rebounds. She was waived by Dallas last August shortly after the Lynx acquired DiJonai Carrington from the Wings.
Listed at 6-foot-7, McCowan has averaged 10.7 points and 8.1 boards in 207 career games (131 starts) with the Indiana Fever (2019-21) and Wings. She was selected by the Fever with the third overall pick of the 2019 WNBA Draft.
–Field Level Media
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Reports: Giants QB Jaxson Dart, teammates clear air over rally in closed-door meeting
Eat Rutherford, NJ — May 9, 2025 — Jaxson Dart with Abdul Carter after Carter spoke to the media following practice at Giants Rookie Minicamp. Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart addressed teammates to clear the air over his appearance at a Republican-backed event in New York that featured President Donald Trump, according to multiple reports.
Dart introduced Trump last week at festivities supporting the campaign of Rep. Mike Lawler, who represents New York’s Hudson Valley in Congress and is running for a third term.
Dart’s presence and on-the-mic role at the rally sparked a reaction from Giants pass rusher Abdul Carter, the third overall draft pick in 2025 — the same year in which the Giants selected Dart with the 25th pick.
“Thought this (s—) was AI,” Carter wrote in a since-deleted post on X that showed the video featuring Dart’s introduction of the president. “What we doing, man?”
ESPN reported veteran quarterback Jameis Winston and edge rusher Brian Burns addressed the team in the same meeting with a goal of shifting the focus to keeping concerns and differences of opinion in house.
Earlier this week, Carter attempted to downplay perception the draft-class peers were at odds over a political divide with another post to social media.
“Me & JD6 are good!” he wrote on X about Dart but since deleted the post. “We spoke earlier as Men. Yall can keep yall narratives.”
The Giants were 4-13 in the first season with Dart and Carter. They hired a new head coach — John Harbaugh — and he was put in an awkward position during the draft.
Harbaugh was called to defend the selections of linebacker Arvell Reese (No. 5 pick) and offensive lineman Francis Mauigoa (No. 10) instead of Ohio State safety Caleb Downs, the player wide receiver Malik Nabers openly lobbied for. Downs wound up being selected by the rival Dallas Cowboys in the No. 11 slot.
Nabers backtracked on the criticism after he said Harbaugh explained how the Giants’ defense would unleash Reese in a creative, matchup-based role.
Harbaugh and his younger brother, Los Angeles Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh, were Trump’s guests at the White House in 2025. At the time, John Harbaugh coached the Baltimore Ravens.
John Harbaugh panned media members in Baltimore pressing about his decision to visit the White House at the time, and Harbaugh flipped the question, asking why the query didn’t focus on “a chance to go visit the president.”
“It was amazing. It was awesome. And I promise you I root for our president,” Harbaugh said in July 2025. “I want our president to be successful just like I want my quarterback to be successful and I want my team to be successful, and it was an amazing experience.”
–Field Level Media
Jets first-round TE Kenyon Sadiq out weeks after hernia surgery
Lynx sign C Teaira McCowan, add depth to frontcourt
