Today's top picks: Cardinals to beat the Pirates among best bets, plus more MLB, NASCAR and UFC 273 picks for Saturday, April 9

Allan Bell is joined by John Bollman, Andrew Gombas and Micah Roberts on the Early Edge podcast, powered by SportsLine. Get highlighted plays for MLB. the UFC 273 card and NASCAR for Saturday, April 9, and you can stream the show live every morning on the SportsLine YouTube page.

Before the crew jumps into the picks, Micah has some thoughts on NASCAR, with the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 set for Saturday night at Martinsville (7:30 p.m. ET). Roberts expects some fisticuffs after some aggressive short-track racing. 

He says the Next-Gen car is "the superstar of this season," with seven different winners in the first seven races, including three first-timers. "Six of the winners have paid out at double digits or higher," Roberts says. "I've never seen any start to the season like this before." Micah loves the value on Alex Bowman, who is at 15-1 despite winning the last race at Martinsville and posting a victory already this season. His teammates are all 7-1 or better.

Allan kicks off the picks with two SportsLine Plays of the Day on MLB. The first is the Giants -145 against the Marlins (4:05 p.m. ET), with San Francisco winning 70 percent of the SportsLine Projection Model's simulations. The model also likes the Astros -110 to beat the Angels (9:07 p.m. ET) for the sixth time in the last seven meetings in L.A.

Bollman also has an MLB pick, and he is backing the Cardinals -160 against the Pirates (2:15 p.m. ET). The bullpens should be the difference, and St. Louis is rested while Pittsburgh's relief pitching isn't reliable. "I like the Cards at home, especially at this value," John says. Mike McClure also makes a pick on this matchup via email, taking the Cardinals -0.5 for the first five innings (-115). 

Andrew is in Jacksonville for UFC 273, and he is breaking it all down and offering up his picks. He likes under 4.5 rounds (+130) in the main event, with Alexander Volkanovski facing "The Korean Zombie" Chan Sung Jung. "I think Jung is going to force a fight here, I think this is going to be a banger, I think someone is finishing this fight," Gombas says.

The MMA expert also has a parlay that is priced around -175, with the first leg from the other title fight on the card, pitting Petr Yan against Aljamain Sterling at bantamweight. Gombas says Yan dominated the last meeting before being disqualified on what he calls a technicality for a knee, and he expects Yan to do the same and win.

For the second leg of the parlay, Andrew is taking Ian Garry over Darian Weeks in the welterweight prelim. Garry is a better fighter "in every aspect," Gombas says. "And I think he rolls here pretty easily."

For his final MMA pick, Andrew is backing Kay Hansen (+115) to beat Piera Rodruguez in a women's strawweight bout. Hansen has a big grappling edge and could get a submission as the underdog.

Micah wraps things up with one more MLB pick, and he is taking Over nine runs (-115) in the Blue Jays vs. Rangers matchup (3:07 p.m. ET). The Toronto lineup is stacked, and Roberts says it's "the toughest lineup in Baseball." He adds, "It's like they've got four or five designated hitters in there." Texas also has what Micah calls the worst bullpen in baseball, so the Jays offense is likely to explode Saturday. 

Early Edge is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts. Enable push notifications so you always know when the latest episode is available! Every episode is also available on YouTube. Follow @SportsLine on Twitter and Instagram  

Follow our crew on Twitter: @AllanBell247, @Mike5754, @JohnBollman, @BetsandPicksMMA and @MicahRoberts7. You can listen to Early Edge on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Early Edge podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Early Edge podcast." For more betting picks and analysis, visit SportsLine.com. To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit CBSSports.com/podcasts.