Diamondbacks vs. Dodgers Wednesday MLB props, odds: Mookie Betts, squarely back in NL MVP race, +270 to homer and possibly complete historic August

Only Hall of Famer Frank Robinson has won the MVP Award in both the American and National Leagues. A week ago, it didn't seem possible that Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts might join Robinson in that club -- Betts was +1100 to win NL MVP at BetMGM. Now he's a +110 second-favorite and could potentially complete an historic August if he homers on Wednesday. Betts is +290 to do so as the Dodgers host the Diamondbacks to conclude their series.

On Monday, Betts actually overtook Atlanta's Ronald Acuña Jr. as the NL MVP favorite, but Acuña took it back that night and remains the -150 favorite (was -500 last week) as he's on pace for the first-ever 30-homer, 60-steal season. Betts of course won the 2018 AL MVP with Boston when he was a member of the 30/30 club.

There is no question that Betts will win NL Player of the Month honors for August, as he has a career-high 1.136 OPS this month and the Dodgers are 23-4 during that span. The last player with an OPS that high for a team with that many wins in a month was Babe Ruth in July 1927, when he had a 1.342 OPS and the Yankees won 24 games. Betts' OPS would be the highest by a player whose team won 80% of its games in a month since at least 1906, which is as far back as the data goes.

Betts leads the majors in August in OPS, batting average (.452), runs (31) and extra-base hits (19), while ranking third in homers (nine) and RBI (26). The last player to hit at least .450 with 20 extra-base hits in a month was the Rangers' Josh Hamilton in June 2010 when he won AL MVP. Only three times since 1901 has a player had a month with at least a .450 batting average, 10 doubles and 10 homers: Richard Hidalgo in September 2000 and Lou Gehrig twice (June 1936, June 1930).

Betts is obviously one homer shy – he hit his career-high 36th bomb on Tuesday -- and would need to maintain the average. He is batting only .227 this year against Arizona but has two homers. The Snakes start rookie Brandon Pfaadt on Wednesday, and Betts is 1-for-2 off him with a double.

The Dodgers are now +400 to win the World Series and have nearly tracked down the Braves (+340). Los Angeles is four games back of Atlanta for the best record in the majors. 

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