The weekend is here, which means there is a ton of baseball ahead of us! All 30 teams are set to hit the field on Friday, starting with a matinee matchup between the Dodgers and Cubs. I have a home run prop in that game as well as two others throughout the league. Let's dive into my top three home run props for the day.
MLB YTD: 20-16 (+20.96 Units)
Friday's Best To Hit A HR Player Prop Bets
Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook
Mookie Betts (+300)
The Dodgers grabbed a 6-2 victory over the Cubs in last night's series opener in the Windy City. The two National League foes are back at it this afternoon at 1:20 p.m. ET from Wrigley Field in Chicago, IL.
Speaking of the wind, we're projected to see roughly 10.9 mph to 12.9 mph winds blowing out to dead center on the north side of Chicago today. That means we should see no shortage of home runs if batters can get the ball in the air. The pitching matchup for the second game of the four-game set features Julio Urias taking on Drew Smyly.
Smyly enters this game at 1-1 with a 4.70 ERA and 1.30 WHIP spanning 15.1 innings of work this year. His most recent outing was a winning effort against these same Dodgers, a game where he held them to one earned run on four hits and two walks. The one run came off of a Chris Taylor home run in Los Angeles on Sunday.
Mookie Betts went 3-for-4 in the game and drove in a run. As for his overall head-to-head numbers against the left-hander, he's 11-for-31 (.355) with two long balls and four doubles. Considering his success against Smyly and the wind that we're expecting, I think there's a great chance Betts goes yard Friday afternoon.
Christian Yelich (+500)
The Milwaukee Brewers return home after a seven-game road trip that saw them go 6-1 against the Padres (3-1) and Mariners (3-0). They'll gear up to host the Red Sox tonight at 8:10 p.m. ET from American Family Field in Milwaukee, WI.
Boston will go with Nick Pivetta in the series’ opening game while Milwaukee counters with Freddy Peralta. Pivetta is coming off of an outing where he got shelled against the Angels, yielding six earned runs on five hits and three walks over 4.0 innings. The blemishing performance increased his ERA to 4.50 and his WHIP to 1.36.
The Brewers have seen Pivetta well over his career, posting a .255/.300/.468 slash line over 47 at-bats. Slugger Christian Yelich stands out from the pack, going 4-for-11 (.364) against the right-hander with two big flies and a double. The outfielder has three home runs so far this year and I think he may hit his fourth tonight at home.
Mike Trout (+280)
It wasn't a great road trip to the east coast for the Angels, who went just 2-5 against the Red Sox (1-3) and Yankees (1-2). However, they'll have an excellent chance to get back into the win column tonight as they host the Royals. This one is set for 9:38 p.m. ET from Angel Stadium in Anaheim, CA.
Indeed the Halos will have a great chance to notch a win Friday as they hand the ball to Shohei Ohtani to start the game. The Royals opt for right-hander Taylor Clarke to make his first start of the season. Clarke has made seven relief appearances this year, going 1-0 with a 6.75 ERA and 2.00 WHIP.
Mike Trout seems to be heating up considering he went 7-for-17 (.412) over his last four games of the East Coast road trip. Additionally, the star outfielder has faced Clarke three times in his career and he's 1-for-3 (.333) with a double. Whether it comes off of Clarke or the Kansas City bullpen that's ranked 30th in ERA (6.89) and 28th in WHIP (1.64), I think Trout gets the homestand started with a home run.
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