World Baseball Classic picks: Expert reveals his best bets for Team USA vs. Great Britain on Saturday
SportsLine expert Angelo "Amags" Magliocca has analyzed the World Baseball Classic matchup between the United States and Great Britain and offers up his best bets
Team USA will try to build on a dominant opening victory when it faces Great Britain on Saturday in its second game at the 2026 World Baseball Classic. The United States routed Brazil 15-5 on Friday, putting the game away with seven runs in the ninth inning. Aaron Judge homered in the first inning and Brice Turang drove in four runs for Team USA. Now, the Americans will face Great Britain, and Tigers ace Tarik Skubal, the two-time defending American League Cy Young Award winner, will make his only start of the WBC. Tyler Viza is expected to get the call for Great Britain, which lost to Mexico 8-2 in its opener.
First pitch is set for 8 p.m. ET at Daikin Park in Houston. Team USA is a -4000 favorite (wager $4,000 to win $100) at DraftKings Sportsbook and is favored by 8.5 on the run line. Great Britain is a +1500 money-line underdog (wager $100 to win $1,500), and the Over/Under for total runs scored is 14.5.
The money line will be out of play for most bettors, but each WBC game offers dozens of other sports betting options. Before making any picks for United States vs. Great Britain in the World Baseball Classic, make sure you see what SportsLine MLB expert Angelo Magliocca has to say.
Magliocca, also known as "Amags" is a hugely profitable MLB capper who uses his deep knowledge of baseball to find value on player props, sides and totals. He is coming off another strong season at SportsLine. Over the 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 MLB seasons, Amags is up 133.4 units on straight bets and parlays while winning an additional 25.3 units on ladder plays.
Here's a look at his best bets and analysis for Team USA vs. Great Britain on Saturday:
United States vs. Great Britain best bets
- USA First 3 Innings -2.5 runs (-105 Caesars, 0.5 units)
- Roman Anthony 1+ Hit and Brice Turang 1+ Hit (-140 Fanatics, 0.5 units)
- Roman Anthony to Hit a Home Run (+450 BetMGM, 0.25 units)
Reigning Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal takes the mound for the United States against Great Britain, and the lefty has already said this will be his only game pitching for the team, so hopefully he makes it memorable. I can't in good conscience bet his strikeout prop at 5.5 here but believe me, I was tempted.
Skubal could dominate any lineup in this tournament, and with Great Britain featuring a small number of players with MLB experience, I'm expecting he makes easy work of this opposing lineup for at least the first time through the order before being lifted.
Even though Team USA crushed Brazil 15-5 on Friday, I think the offense will be in better form here, not leaving as many men on base while still taking their walks and hitting the ball hard. If there is one goal for the USA bats tonight, it's to make sure they hit with runners in scoring position, because this is their final tune-up before facing off with Mexico on Monday in basically a winner-take-all game to win Pool B.
I'm betting on the USA to jump out to an early lead again, and this bet would have cashed Friday if not for a rogue lead-off home run for Brazil, so I'm going right back to the well. The price isn't as good, but I still think there is value here, especially with Skubal on the mound.
Tyler Viza, who had very limited time in MLB with the Phillies years ago, is set to start for Great Britain, and if nothing else I think the Americans see at least a few more strikes in the zone in this one. Expecting they will take advantage, I'm rolling with the spread in the first three innings.
Bet on Team USA at Caesars Sportsbook, where you can get a first-bet match up to $250, win or lose
At some sportsbooks, you're able to play these hitters to record one hit each in a parlay, and both Turang and Anthony looked great at the plate Friday, tallying five hits between them while doing the bulk of the damage from the bottom of the lineup. I'm parlaying them here instead of taking either for 2+ hits, although I do like that angle as well.
The only issue I see with the 2+ hits bet is that this game could end early, in either five or seven innings, and it would be tough if they were asked to do that with one or two fewer at-bats.
Bet on Team USA player props at Fanatics, where new users get 10 x $100 Bet Match in FanCash:
Anthony is going to hit a ball a long way during this tournament, so I'm sticking with the home run play here against Great Britain. As I mentioned above, this kid had a stellar first game for Team USA, reaching base four times with two walks and two hits from six plate appearances.
Manager Mark DeRosa continues to praise him for his work ethic and how he handles himself at the plate, so we should see Anthony in left field once again for a majority if not all of this one.
Lastly, we have odds available for the race to a certain number of runs, and while I generally don't like betting these three-way markets, where you lose if neither team scores that many runs, Caesars is giving us -285 on Team USA to be the first to seven runs here. I had some value on this line in the game against Brazil but didn't write it up because of the odds. I at least want you to know this one is out there as a potential parlay piece.
Team USA should easily get to seven runs here, and I don't see how Great Britain's bats would get them there for the entirety of this game, let alone before the USA lineup. The only threat here is not scoring seven runs, but with a team total at 11.5 for the Americans, and knowing how thin this Great Britain bullpen is, I'm finding value again on this line.
The race to five and six runs are also in play but much worse odds, and at seven it effectively is taking a lot of the risk from Great Britain out of the question.
