World Series Game 5 player prop: Ride out Corey Seager’s hot bat until the end
The second wacky game of the World Series went in favor of the Texas Rangers this time as they now stand one victory away from their first title in franchise history.
There was plenty of production to go around for everyone in Game 4; six Rangers registered at least one knock while the Diamondbacks had seven in the 11-7 decision.
Both clubs will shift back to their Game 1 starters with Zac Gallen looking to keep the D’backs season alive against Nathan Eovaldi. The 2023 postseason version of Gallen has not been the same NL Cy Young candidate he proved himself to be in the regular season. He has slipped to a 5.27 ERA and hasn’t secured a win in his last three starts.
Eovaldi endured the roughest outing of his postseason in Game 1, allowing five earned runs in 4 2/3 innings pitched. His strikeout rate has remained consistent though; he still sat eight Arizona batters down.
It’s becoming comical how dangerous Corey Seager has been this postseason. He has launched six home runs — second only to his teammate Adolis Garcia. His on base plus slugging is still ranking in the top six of the playoffs at 1.135.
Seager has tallied himself 43 total bases, which is also right behind Garcia’s playoff-leading 45. With Garcia out of the lineup for the rest of the series, it doesn’t look to be affecting Seager’s duties in the batting order.
Just when you thought the Rangers would be missing an edge, Seager has proven the tale as old as time in that hitting is contagious in baseball. He’s compensated by netting a pair of RBI and recording six total bases off of a home run and a double. I expect his fortunes to continue into Wednesday’s elimination opportunity.
The former World Series MVP shortstop didn’t muster any magic against Gallen in Game 1 going 0-for-1. He’s had great historical success against the right-hander, though, batting for .333.
What’s more is he is hitting .355 against right-handed pitching on the road in these playoffs.
We expected some negative regression with Gallen; his regular season ERA was more than a half-run lower than his xERA.
Gallen is likely to be on Torey Lovullo’s short leash Wednesday. Whether it’s sooner or later, Seager will get a piece of the Diamondbacks bullpen. We’re at the point in the series where pitching depth is starting to get exposed and I think Lovullo is strapped for arms at this point. He has deployed Andrew Saalfrank and Luis Frias in the last three games and Kyle Nelson and Miguel Castro in the last two.
The D’backs are back to the top of their rotation, but something still says there shouldn’t be any sighs of relief.
Given how he’s converting, some books have Seager’s total bases prop bumped up to an even 2 for Game 5, but he’s available for 1.5 at DraftKings.
He has exceeded his prop in six of the last eight games. Look for Seager to bring an ambitious swing to the Rangers’ lineup again as Texas goes for gold Wednesday.
Corey Seager Over 1.5 Total Bases (-125 at DraftKings)
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