Best MLB RBIs Matchups — Saturday, July 25, 2026
Top rbis spot: Sal Stewart
Sal Stewart (CIN) tops the board at 100, facing RHP Andre Pallante. The righty is driving in runs at .179 RBI/PA against righties this year — and .306 over the last two weeks, an elite bat that turns into a RBI in about 17% of his trips. And Andre Pallante has been getting lit up by righties lately — .222 RBIs per batter faced. The bullpen behind him is roughly average to that side. He's hitting in a spot worth about 4.5 trips, so the volume's there. He's just .000 in 5 career PA against Andre Pallante, but that's a tiny sample and the matchup says regression. It all sets up in a neutral park.
The rest of the top of the board
- Esmerlyn Valdez (PIT) (100) vs LHP Shota Imanaga: an elite bat at .271 into an arm stingy with runs against the same side (.023), due to bounce back.
- Nick Kurtz (ATH) (99) vs RHP Mike Paredes: an elite bat at .174 into an arm with little track record against the same side, due to bounce back.
- Eugenio Suárez (CIN) (91) vs RHP Andre Pallante: an elite bat at .172 into an arm getting lit up by the same side (.222).
- Yordan Alvarez (HOU) (85) vs RHP Sean Burke: an elite bat at .161 into an arm stingy with runs against the same side (.040), hot bat.
- Cole Carrigg (COL) (84) vs LHP Robert Gasser: an excellent bat at .155 into an arm getting lit up by the same side (.292).
- Max Muncy (LAD) (79) vs RHP Nolan McLean: an elite bat at .163 into an arm stingy with runs against the same side (.071).
- Andrew Benintendi (CWS) (79) vs RHP Hunter Brown: an elite bat at .166 into an arm getting lit up by the same side (.200).
Platoon edges to target
- Esmerlyn Valdez (PIT) — righty bat vs LHP, .388 against lefties this year.
- Nick Kurtz (ATH) — lefty bat vs RHP, .164 against righties this year.
- Yordan Alvarez (HOU) — lefty bat vs RHP, .179 against righties this year.
- Cole Carrigg (COL) — righty bat vs LHP, .191 against lefties this year.
- Max Muncy (LAD) — lefty bat vs RHP, .126 against righties this year.
How it played out
1 of the top 10 rbis matchups landed at least one RBI. Top play Sal Stewart finished with 0 RBIs. We post the result next to every projection so you can grade the board yourself — and so the model gets re-tuned against what actually happened.
How to read these rbis matchups
Each score (0–100) starts with the hitter's RBIs per plate appearance against the hand he's facing — weighted toward the last two weeks, then the season, then a two-year baseline. Then it layers in the bullpen, his spot in the order, and park and weather. Higher means more of it points his way. It's context, not a lock — a great spot still goes 0-for-4 sometimes, and a tough one runs into one. The edge is in stacking the odds, and since we grade every board, you can see how often the top of the list delivers.
What the RBIs board is
The RBIs board projects the chance a hitter drives in a run, given his slot and the bats around him. One statistical model scores every matchup on the slate the same way — a star and a backup judged on the matchup in front of them, not their name — and every number is graded against the real box score once the games go final.
How the model gets its number
It isn't a gut call or a name game. The projection is built from a few things:
- His run-driving rate.
- How often the hitters ahead of him are on base.
- The arm he faces and the park.
Those pieces combine into one number, and the model re-tunes itself weekly against how its past calls actually landed.
Is there a betting edge here?
RBIs is lumpy — runs cluster — and once you price the 1+ line with a clustering-aware model instead of a naive one, the apparent edge vanishes. It grades efficient. So this is a transparency board.
How to use it
Good for spotting the cleanup-spot smash setups; not a market we've found a bettable edge in.
Everything here is a research signal from the model, graded in public — not betting advice, and no outcome is guaranteed.
Learn more: How the model works · The picks story · Today's plays