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Every division in baseball outside of the NL Central has a gap of five games or less separating first and second place, bringing more meaning to the full slate of Friday games.

All of my best bets feature teams mostly outside of the playoff race, except for the New York Mets, who are four games back of a Wild Card spot.

San Francisco Giants vs. Miami Marlins

The Giants are hosting the Marlins, and Blake Snell is on the mound for San Francisco.

He’s 2-3 on the season with a 3.76 ERA. With six runs allowed over his last five starts and 45 strikeouts, including three double-digit strikeout games, Snell has obvious appeal. He’ll oppose Adam Oller, who has started just two games. His last time out, he allowed one earned run and six strikeouts. In his first start of the season, he had five earned runs and allowed two home runs to the Diamondbacks.

The Marlins are averaging just 3.73 runs per game (29th) compared to the Giants’ 4.30 (17). On the road, the Marlins are averaging just 3.30 runs per game. Additionally, the Marlins strike out nine times per game.

Look for Snell and his 12.1 K/9 average to carry the Giants to victory over the meager Marlins by more than two runs.

Best Bet: Giants -1.5 (-110) at FanDuel

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Los Angeles Angels vs. Seattle Mariners

For this matchup, the Angels are calling up left-handed pitcher Sam Aldegheri. He’s 22 and is the first pitcher born in Italy to play in the major leagues. He was acquired from the Philadelphia Phillies at the trade deadline.

Here, he’ll go up against George Kirby, who’s been OK recently, allowed three runs or less in four of his last five starts. He also has three games with five strikeouts or more in that span.

He’s made one start against the Angels this season, allowing one earned run over six innings and striking out seven.

Aldegheri is 6-9 this season across A+ and AA ball with a 3.59 ERA but has 134 strikeouts across 95 ⅓ innings pitched.

The Mariners do strikeout out more than any other team in baseball, but this is a pitcher coming up from AA ball going up against a pitcher that has a 3.48 ERA and 151 strikeouts over 155 ⅓ innings pitched.

I’ll lean toward the Mariners here.

Best Bet: Mariners -1.5 (-104) at FanDuel

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Chicago White Sox vs. New York Mets

This is a battle of two severely underperforming pitchers. The Mets are sending Tylor Megill to the mound. He’s 2-5 with a 5.17 ERA and 55 strikeouts across 47 innings. For the White Sox, they’ll have Jonathan Cannon on the mound, who’s 2-8 this season with a 4.57 ERA, including 63 strikeouts across 90 ⅔ innings pitched.

I’m siding with the Mets here because of simply how bad the White Sox offense is.

The White Sox are last in the league in home runs (0.81) and runs scored (3.10) per game. Megill has a solid K/9 at 10.5, which should be enough to pin the White Sox down here.

Best Bet: Mets -1.5 (-130) at FanDuel