MLB Props, odds, and predictions of the day 8/27/23
It’s the last weekend of August, which means the baseball action is getting spicy. Three teams in the AL West are separated by one game. The line between division champion, wild-card team and out of the playoffs is razor thin. In the National League, there are five teams within 3.5 games of each other for the final wild-card spot.
It’s a typical Sunday in the MLB, with a whole slate of afternoon games leading into the standalone game on Sunday night. With the action heating up, make sure you’re using the very best sportsbooks available to you by checking out our in-depth reviews of MLB sportsbooks in the state of Pennsylvania. Let’s take a look at three props that stick out on Sunday’s slate.
This weekend has been a celebration of Mookie Betts, as he makes his first trip to Boston since the trade that sent him from the Red Sox to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The main piece received from the Dodgers in that trade by Boston was Alex Verdugo. The Red Sox outfielder is doing his very best to make sure the Boston faithful doesn’t miss Mookie too much. In fact, Verdugo might just be stealing the spotlight.
Verdugo has led off both games of this series with a home run. Dating back to the series finale against Houston, Verdugo has now led-off three straight games with a home run for the Red Sox. He now has 10 hits in his last four games with five runs and five RBIs over that stretch as well. In his last nine games, Verdugo has five multiple hit games.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are going with an opener on Sunday. Gavin Stone is up from the minors and figures to carry a bulk of the innings for Los Angeles. Stone is a solid prospect and is performing well in the minors, but the major leagues have been a different story.
Stone made four appearances for the Dodgers earlier this season and all went rather poorly. He has given up at least five hits in all four appearances, despite the fact that two of those appearances lasted just two innings and all four appearances were no longer than four innings. Overall, in 12 innings, Stone has given up 28 hits and 17 earned runs. That works out to 2.3 hits per inning and an ugly 12.75 ERA.
We like Verdugo to stay hot on Sunday. PennLive bettors who sign up at DraftKings can receive $200 in bonus bets after placing their first $5 wager.
Bryce Harper is showing absolutely no signs of slowing down in the month of August.
In another ho-hum effort, Harper went 3-for-4 for the Philadelphia Phillies in their 12-1 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday. His batting average for the month of August is now up to .361. Harper now has multiple hits in five straight games, going 11-for-20 over that stretch. During that time, Harper has three home runs and a triple. Not bad.
In the month of August, Harper has multiple hits eleven times in 22 games started. Sixteen of his 30 hits have been for extra bases, including eight doubles, seven home runs and a triple. Not only is he getting on base, he’s hitting for some power and providing extra-base hits at a consistent rate.
On Sunday, the Cardinals will send Drew Rom to the mound for his second career start. In his first start, Rom gave up eight runs (six earned) over 3.2 innings against the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates. Philadelphia has scored 70 runs in their last nine games (7.8 runs per game). These aren’t the Pirates, and it’s certainly an uncomfortable opponent for a pitcher who’s just trying to settle into major league life.
We’re betting that Harper continues his rapid pace as the month wraps up. The bigger the games, the better he seems to perform. With the Phillies in control of a wild-card spot, it’s hard to envision them losing it as long as their star player performs at this level.
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If it’s not broken, don’t fix it. We targeted Ryan Mountcastle and this prop on Friday night when the Colorado Rockies sent lefty Kyle Freeland to the mound. Mountcastle delivered a two hit performance, including a first inning home run which made our bet a no-sweat winner. On Sunday, the Rockies are once again sending a lefty to the mound in Ty Blach, so we’re going right back to the well.
After a 2-for-3, two RBI performance on Saturday, Mountcastle is now batting .368 in months of July and August. He’s without a doubt one of the hottest hitters in baseball. Mountcastle has hits in 30 of his last 34 games. Overall, the Orioles’ slugger has 24 runs, 46 hits and 25 RBIs in the 34 games since returning from vertigo. That’s an average of 2.8 hits, runs and RBIs per game. Mountcastle has gone over 1.5 hits, runs and RBIs in 12 of his last 18 games.
Mountcastle usually bats behind Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson and Anthony Santander. That gives him plenty of opportunities to drive runs in. When he gets on base himself, the likes of Austin Hays, Ryan O’Hearn and Cedric Mullins bat behind him and are more than capable of driving in. The Orioles have a deep lineup, as evidenced by the fact that they lead the AL East.
Mountcastle is especially dangerous against left-handed pitching. He is batting .355 with a 1.116 OPS against them in 124 at-bats on the season. He now has taken lefties deep for 12 home runs, including Friday against Kyle Freeland.
Ty Blach takes the mound for Colorado on Sunday. Blach had a 12.00 ERA in 2019. He then didn’t pitch for two seasons due to COVID and Tommy John surgery. In his return, he had a 5.89 ERA last year. I’m not exactly buying his 4.39 ERA this season, especially considering he’s striking out less than 0.5 batters per inning.
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