Saturday Night Baseball — Expert Picks in the MLB Today
Written by: Varun Sharma
Last Update: Sat Aug 29, 2026, 7:33 pm ET
Read Time: 4 minutes
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We've got a nice little slate in the MLB and a couple of games on Saturday night that peaked my interest. I've got two hitters locked in for tonight, let's jump straight into it.
The cheat sheet makes it a lot easier when I run through the stats I'm looking at and as always, hit me up on X if you've got more questions.
Dinger Cheat Sheet
- BA — Batting Average
- oBA — Opponent Batting Average
- xBA — Expected BA
- SLG — Slugging Percentage
- ISO — Isolated Power
- wOBA — Weighted On-Base Average
- HH% — Hard Hit Rate
- BRL% — Barrel Rate
- HR/9 — Home Runs per 9 innings
- XBH — Extra Base Hit
- RBI — Runs Batted In
Dinger Counter: 19-36; +22.2 units
Today's Dingers
Bryce Harper Home Run (+350) | Lucky Rebel
Bryce Harper and the Phillies are in Anaheim, California today and conditions look fantastic. Winds are blowing out toward center/right field at nearly 10 mph and on the mound for the Angles is Ryan Johnson.
Johnson's got a 5.75 ERA this year, he's giving up 2.1 HR/9 and 9 of the 16 home runs he's allowed have come against left handed bats. Johnson's giving up a 59% flyball rate.
Harper's been great this month. He's batting .329 this month, with a .576 SLG and 5 home runs. In his last 5 games, Harper's hitting .474, his BRL has jumped to 20% and he's got a xSLG of .722. He's been crushing the baseball and he's been great against righties this year.
Against right handed pitching, Harper's hitting .305 with a 15% BRL and 49% HH. He's hit 27 home runs this year and 23 have come against right handed pitchers.
Pete Alonso Home Run (+260) | Lucky Rebel
Pete Alonso at this price AND in this ballpark? If this is a trap, consider me trapped.
Pete took a little while to get comfortable here in Baltimore, but he's hitting .272 on the year, he's got a .508 SLG and he's hit 32 home runs. The summer time is really where Pete came alive.
Since June 1st, Pete's hitting .300 with 21 home runs, 55 RBI and 48 runs scored. It's been the summer of Pete in Baltimore and tonight the show goes on the road, into the most hitter friendly ballpark in the MLB.
Winds are blowing out toward center field at 14 mph, Pete's got an 18% BRL this year and 57% HH. On the road, he's been even better. Pete's hitting .287 on the road, his BRL jumps to 19% and his HH to 59%.
On the bump for the Athletics is Jack Perkins. Perkins has a 6.68 ERA this year, he's giving up a 46% flyball rate and he's giving up 1.7 HR/9. He's allowing righties to hit .274 on the year with 8 home runs allowed and a 49% flyball rate.
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