Best MLB RBIs Matchups — Saturday, August 22, 2026
Top rbis spot: Manny Machado
Manny Machado (SD) tops the board at 100, facing RHP Dean Kremer. The righty is driving in runs at .139 RBI/PA against righties this year — and .024 over the last two weeks, a strong bat that turns into a RBI in about 14% of his trips. And Dean Kremer has been getting lit up by righties lately — .235 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 .167 in 6 career PA against Dean Kremer, 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
- Shohei Ohtani (LAD) (100) vs RHP Jared Jones: a strong bat at .136 into an arm stingy with runs against the same side (.087).
- Mickey Moniak (COL) (99) vs RHP Tanner Bibee: a strong bat at .137 into an arm getting lit up by the same side (.240).
- Junior Caminero (TB) (98) vs RHP Brandon Young: an excellent bat at .143 into an arm getting lit up by the same side (.191), hot bat.
- Sal Stewart (CIN) (98) vs RHP Michael Soroka: an excellent bat at .141 into an arm stingy with runs against the same side (.091), hot bat.
- Kyle Schwarber (PHI) (95) vs LHP Quinn Mathews: a strong bat at .133 into an arm with little track record against the same side, due to bounce back.
- Eugenio Suárez (CIN) (92) vs RHP Michael Soroka: an excellent bat at .148 into an arm stingy with runs against the same side (.091).
- Owen Caissie (MIA) (92) vs RHP Jake Irvin: a strong bat at .136 into an arm getting lit up by the same side (.154).
Platoon edges to target
- Shohei Ohtani (LAD) — lefty bat vs RHP, .143 against righties this year.
- Mickey Moniak (COL) — lefty bat vs RHP, .167 against righties this year.
- Owen Caissie (MIA) — lefty bat vs RHP, .184 against righties this year.
- Drake Baldwin (ATL) — lefty bat vs RHP, .155 against righties this year.
- Nathaniel Lowe (CLE) — lefty bat vs RHP, .146 against righties this year.
How it played out
4 of the top 10 rbis matchups landed at least one RBI. Top play Manny Machado 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