Best MLB RBIs Matchups — Thursday, September 3, 2026
Top rbis spot: Brandon Lowe
Brandon Lowe (PIT) tops the board at 100, facing RHP Blade Tidwell. The lefty is driving in runs at .175 RBI/PA against righties this year — and .130 over the last two weeks, an excellent bat that turns into a RBI in about 15% of his trips. And Blade Tidwell has been vulnerable to righties lately — .130 RBIs per batter faced. One catch: the bullpen behind him has been stingy to that side late. He's hitting in a spot worth about 4.5 trips, so the volume's there. No real history against Blade Tidwell. It all sets up in a neutral park.
The rest of the top of the board
- Junior Caminero (TB) (89) vs RHP Cal Quantrill: an excellent bat at .144 into an arm stingy with runs against the same side (.065).
- Jonathan Aranda (TB) (86) vs RHP Cal Quantrill: a strong bat at .138 into an arm stingy with runs against the same side (.026).
- Shohei Ohtani (LAD) (80) vs LHP Quinn Mathews: a strong bat at .130 into an arm stingy with runs against the same side (.000).
- Dominic Canzone (SEA) (80) vs RHP Jack Perkins: a strong bat at .127 into an arm stingy with runs against the same side (.077).
- Rafael Devers (SF) (79) vs RHP Lake Bachar: a strong bat at .135 into an arm stingy with runs against the same side (.000), hot bat.
- Yordan Alvarez (HOU) (79) vs RHP Luis Castillo: a strong bat at .132 into an arm getting lit up by the same side (.176).
- Heriberto Hernández (MIA) (79) vs RHP Michael Wacha: a strong bat at .126 into an arm getting lit up by the same side (.160).
Platoon edges to target
- Brandon Lowe (PIT) — lefty bat vs RHP, .175 against righties this year.
- Jonathan Aranda (TB) — lefty bat vs RHP, .160 against righties this year.
- Dominic Canzone (SEA) — lefty bat vs RHP, .148 against righties this year.
- Rafael Devers (SF) — lefty bat vs RHP, .161 against righties this year.
- Yordan Alvarez (HOU) — lefty bat vs RHP, .160 against righties this year.
Lineup watch
162 of today's hitters are still on projected lineups, drawn from each team's last game. Batting order drives the score, so these flip the moment official lineups post — usually about two hours before first pitch. Anyone who doesn't make the official card gets flagged "Not starting" and drops to the bottom.
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