Interested in the best NRFI bets today? You’ve come to the right place since our MLB experts share their no runs first inning picks on a daily basis! We go through the odds of the top MLB betting sites to find the highest value picks for this market and bring them to you.
You will find our top NRFI predictions in the table below, but we also share our reasoning for each bet and our overall strategy later in this article.
Latest No Runs First Inning Bets for May 16
Our NRFI Picks for May 16 (With Reasoning)
After going through the latest no runs inning odds, we believe these are the best NRFI bets today, May 16.
Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Chicago Cubs
The Pittsburgh Pirates and Cubs open a four-game series at Wrigley Field on Thursday evening. Ace Justin Steele gets the call for the Cubs in the series open, as he looks to bounce back after a rough performance.
In his first two starts, the pitcher was flawless, with one earned run and six hits allowed in 9.1 innings. However, Steele was rocked for six earned runs against the Pirates on May 11. That was an uncharacteristically poor performance for him.
Justin Steele has the Padres taking golf swings tonight @Steele_The_Show
— Barstool Chicago (@barstoolchicago) May 7, 2024
Nevertheless, in 4.2 innings at Wrigley, Steele yielded three hits, one walk, and one earned run. Back at home, expect the pitcher to bounce back with a strong start.
On the other side, rookie Pirates’ starter Jared Jones is off to a solid start to his MLB career. He holds an ERA of 2.68 with a 0.87 WHIP across eight starts. In four of his last five outings, Jones has allowed two or fewer earned runs. He held the Cubs to two earned runs through six innings in his most recent assignment. This is a strong NRFI bet for Thursday!
Oakland Athletics vs. Houston Astros
Cristian Javier receives the starting nod for the Houston Astros at home. He looks to respond after a rough performance against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Javier yielded seven earned runs through just 1.1 innings.
It’s by far his worst attempt of the season. He’s allowed no earned runs in three of his six starts, so this was a diversion from his usual form. Javier’s ERA ballooned from 1.54 to 4.01 due to that bad start.
However, I am confident that the pitcher will come back against the Athletics in great shape. Javier has an ERA of 2.26 with a 0.89 WHIP at home this season. Additionally, the A’s are 29th in the majors, with 0.24 runs scored per 1st inning.
Joey Estes' (@Athletics' No. 11 prospect) competitive drive shined during his first Major League win on Saturday: https://t.co/tjfAEeQrIT pic.twitter.com/wtzO25a1Vn
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) May 12, 2024
Rookie Joey Estes is scheduled to make his second start of the season today. He was in fine form, with an ERA of 1.80 and a 0.40 WHIP in his 2024 debut against the Seattle Mariners. Estes conceded two hits and one run in five innings of work
The Athletics vs. Astros NRFI bet is a wager to consider for your Thursday MLB picks!
Our Daily No Runs First Inning Bets Strategy
We provide our reasoning for all daily NRFI picks, but we also want to share our general strategy for these bets. Learning how to approach the market can help you conduct your own predictions!
Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to uncover good NRFI bets every day! We repeat the process for all games on the selected day and share the picks that come out on top on this page.
1. Check The Starting Lineups, Especially The Pitchers
You should always begin with the lineups. Check who the starting pitchers are and then go through the latest injuries and suspensions to see whether any of the teams will be missing key pieces.
We usually go to the CBS’ MLB injury report to see who’s out and who’s doubtful. They pull the data directly from league reports, so it’s trustworthy information.
2. Analyzing NRFI Stats
Once we know the most likely lineups, it’s time for a key step of our NRFI betting strategy: analyzing numbers. You need to go through various data points to determine how likely is for the opening inning of a game to end without any runs.
We explore the individual stats of the starting pitchers, we analyze the offensive numbers of both sides, and we also take a look at the total team stats for first inning runs.
Once we have a complete overview of what’s going on, we create our own estimates (in percentages) of how likely it is to see no runs in the first inning.
After that, it’s time to check the odds!
3. Line Shopping
It’s time to check some betting odds! We use two bookmakers that offer daily NRFI betting odds for the MLB: Bovada and BetWhale. We check their prices for all games and turn them into probabilities.
We compare them to our own estimates and when we see good betting value, we place our NRFI wagers!
We strongly recommend using multiple top betting sites yourself for the best results. The two we highlighted above are all excellent for no runs first inning bets.
We might add more options in the future, but we want to keep it manageable for readers who follow us for now. If you join any of them, you should know the market is called “Will there be a run in the first inning?” at both bookies.
More Daily Betting Picks From The Geek
Our team delivers sports betting picks on a daily basis. We have our AI picks that are generated by The Geek, our own artificial intelligence betting creation! The Geek covers major US sports daily, so check the latest recommended bets. For now, we don’t have an automated NRFI algorithm, and all picks are manual, but this could change in the future.
We also have the Sports Geek blog, where our writers work hard to uncover profitable angles. You will find predictions and recommended bets for sports, politics, entertainment, esports … pretty much anything you can bet on, so stay tuned!
