{"id":901145,"date":"2026-09-19T02:12:29","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T02:12:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/901145\/"},"modified":"2026-09-19T02:12:29","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T02:12:29","slug":"friday-mlb-home-run-picks-diamondbacks-arenado-among-best-bets-for-sept-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/901145\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday MLB home run picks: Diamondbacks’ Arenado among best bets for Sept. 18"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the second-to-last MLB Friday if the 2026 regular season, meaning this is my penultimate home run picks post this year. Philadelphia’s Kyle Schwarber<\/a> has hit 45 homers this year and likely will win his first MLB home run crown and third in the NL. It is worth noting that likely NL MVP\u00a0Pete Crow-Armstrong<\/a> of the Cubs<\/a>\u00a0has 44 homers now, but Schwarber is the -400 overall favorite to lead the league, though he was -1800 a couple of days ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Regarding MLB prop betting<\/a>\u00a0tonight, I will say the Rockies<\/a> are home at hitter-happy Coors Field and starting one of the worst pitchers in the majors in Gabriel Hughes<\/a> (0-8, 6.37 ERA). But he’s facing Seattle, and I don’t much like any of the disappointing Mariners<\/a> to go yard — plus none have faced Hughes previously. Cincinnati is also home at hitter-friendly Great American Ball Park against the Cubs, but there are two good starting pitchers in that one: Clay Holmes<\/a> and Chase Burns<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bet home run props at DraftKings, where new users get $200 in bonus bets after spending $5+:<\/a><\/p>\n

Those who want to get into\u00a0MLB betting<\/a>, particularly home run prop betting, need to take a look at what I’m playing for Friday’s games. Over the past four MLB<\/a> seasons, I’m up $1,681 on MLB picks. You can find more of my picks\u00a0at SportsLine<\/a>, and in the\u00a0member-exclusive SportsLine Discord server<\/a>, a community of sports betting<\/a> enthusiasts and SportsLine experts.<\/p>\n

Last Friday, my home run picks were Austin Riley<\/a> at +490 and Brewers<\/a>‘ Jackson Chourio<\/a> at +398. Riley went yard in the bottom of the seventh against the Phillies<\/a>, so that was nice. Milwaukee scored 20 runs against Cincinnati and Chourio had four hits, but none were homers. Remember, all my HR plays mean I like Over 1.5 total bases even better at the\u00a0best sports betting apps<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bet home runs at BetMGM with bonus code CBSSPORTS and get up to $1,500 in bonus bets here:<\/a><\/p>\n

Top MLB home run picks for Friday, Sept. 18Nolan Arenado, Diamondbacks (+630, DraftKings)<\/p>\n

An important series in the desert opens tonight, and I’m sure there will be sellouts all weekend as the New York Yankees<\/a> make a rare visit to Phoenix with a 9:40 ET first pitch. There are no weather concerns as Chase Field has a usually-closed retractable roof. It’s not out of the question this could be a World Series preview. New York will be in the AL playoffs, most likely as the AL’s top wild card team. Arizona has work to do to earn the NL’s last wild card spot over San Diego. \u00a0<\/p>\n

And we get a Hall-of-Fame-caliber matchup in the bottom of the first in Yankees right-hander Gerrit Cole<\/a> facing Diamondbacks third baseman Nolan Arenado. The one reason Cole might not get to Cooperstown is because his career is cut a bit short after injuries cost the 2023 Cy Young winner a chunk of the 2024 season and all of 2025. The 36-year-old righty has been moderately back in form this year at 8-9 with a 3.67 ERA. but has also allowed 20 homers in 20 starts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Perhaps Cole is tiring as he has been ravaged for seven homers in back-to-back losses, allowing nine runs and 15 hits over 11 1\/3 innings. In his most recent start against the Mets<\/a>, Cole managed only three swings and misses, none generated by Cole’s 38 fastballs.<\/p>\n

There is no doubt Arenado will be headed to Cooperstown as arguably a top-10 third baseman in MLB history as a 10-time All-Star, eight-time Gold Glover, five-time Silver Slugger Award winner and three-time NL home run leader. The 35-year-old has one year left on that eight-year, $260 million contract originally signed with the Rockies in 2019. Arenado’s 26 homers this season, his first with Arizona, are his most since 26 in 2023 with the Cardinals<\/a>. He has hit 15 of those 26 at home and is 10-for-22 in his career off Cole with three homers and two doubles, good for a slugging percentage of .955.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Perhaps also consider a longshot flier on Snakes catcher James McCann<\/a>, even though he only has five homers and doesn’t play all the time. McCann is 6-for-14 with three doubles and a homer career off Cole.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bet on home run props and more at FanDuel Sportsbook and get up to $350 in bonus bets:<\/a><\/p>\n

Mike Yastrzemski, Braves (+630, FanDuel)\u00a0<\/p>\n

It’s a matchup of division leaders tonight to open a series as Atlanta visits Houston with an 8:10 ET first pitch, and the Daikin Park retractable roof is usually closed. These clubs are division leaders in very different senses. The Braves will win the NL East, while the Astros<\/a> are neck-and-neck with the Rangers<\/a> in the AL West and could miss the postseason entirely.<\/p>\n

The Braves already did the Astros a solid for this series by opting to skip ace Chris Sale<\/a> in it. That somewhat hints to me what Atlanta’s motivation is the rest of the way as it apparently will not push overly hard to try and earn the NL’s No. 2 seed and that first-round bye.<\/p>\n

Atlanta outfielder Mike Yastrzemski is not having a good first year with the Braves, hitting .228 with 10 homers and a slugging percentage of .377. He has slipped into a platoon role, pretty much only starting against right-handers as a lefty hitter; all 10 homers are against right-handers.<\/p>\n

But Yastrzemski homered Monday to snap a power drought (23 games) and is 4-for-10 career with a double, triple and homer (1.000 slugging) in his career off Houston starting pitcher Peter Lambert<\/a> (8-9, 3.71 ERA). The righty has surrendered 14 dingers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is the second-to-last MLB Friday if the 2026 regular season, meaning this is my penultimate home run…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":901146,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[485,3960,63561,6359,49,48,27437,508,3975,78057,4021,311713,17949,311711,1506,78915,6993,463,27861,237320,493,462,7197,230099,7195,7194,7198,9099,475,3980,13055,311712,14257,300545,481,470,82,3982,3992],"class_list":["post-901145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-arizona-diamondbacks","tag-atlanta-braves","tag-austin-riley","tag-betting","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-chase-burns","tag-chicago-cubs","tag-chris-sale","tag-clay-holmes","tag-colorado-rockies","tag-gabriel-hughes","tag-gerrit-cole","tag-home-run-picks-friday","tag-houston-astros","tag-jackson-chourio","tag-james-mccann","tag-kyle-schwarber","tag-mike-yastrzemski","tag-mike-yastrzemski-player-props","tag-milwaukee-brewers","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-best-bets","tag-mlb-home-run-props","tag-mlb-odds","tag-mlb-picks","tag-mlb-player-props","tag-mlb-props","tag-new-york-mets","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-nolan-arenado","tag-nolan-arenado-player-props","tag-pete-crow-armstrong","tag-peter-lambert","tag-philadelphia-phillies","tag-seattle-mariners","tag-sports","tag-st-louis-cardinals","tag-texas-rangers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=901145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901145\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/901146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=901145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=901145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=901145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}