Twenty-eight of the 30 MLB teams have begun their seasons. The Colorado Rockies and Tampa Bay Rays will join everyone else at 4:10 p.m. ET today.
How many Rockies will Ryan Pepiot strike out in that game? Will Reynaldo Lopez have any success against the San Diego Padres lineup? How will Rafael Devers perform against the Texas Rangers after a bad start to the year?
Here are the best MLB PrizePicks player predictions for Friday's MLB slate.
Our PrizePicks Cheat Sheet helps bettors by comparing lines from PrizePicks vs. our daily MLB projections >>
Twenty-eight of the 30 MLB teams have begun their seasons. The Colorado Rockies and Tampa Bay Rays will join everyone else at 4:10 p.m. ET today.
How many Rockies will Ryan Pepiot strike out in that game? Will Reynaldo Lopez have any success against the San Diego Padres lineup? How will Rafael Devers perform against the Texas Rangers after a bad start to the year?
Here are the best MLB PrizePicks player predictions for Friday's MLB slate.
Our PrizePicks Cheat Sheet helps bettors by comparing lines from PrizePicks vs. our daily MLB projections >>
Friday’s Best MLB PrizePicks Predictions
This Season: 2-1
Last season, Ryan Pepiot struck out at least six batters in 12 of his 26 appearances. He ended the year striking out at least six in two of his last three games, including a 12-strikeout performance against the Boston Red Sox during that span. He now has a chance to pick up right where he left off at the end of last year in his first start of the season.
The Rockies finished the 2024 season with 1,625 strikeouts, the most in MLB. Pepiot faced the lineup only once, striking out 11 batters on April 7th. While a lot can change in a year, there's no reason to expect the Rockies to suddenly have Pepiot's number in today's game. The biggest concern is that Pepiot didn't pitch more than six innings in a game last season. But against this lineup, he won't need to.
While the Rockies led the MLB in strikeouts last season, the Padres recorded the fewest. As a team, they struck out just 1,077 times, nearly 100 strikeouts fewer than the Kansas City Royals, who had the second-fewest. On Opening Day, they struck out nine times, but I expect them to revert to what they were last season in this matchup and give Reynaldo Lopez a lot of trouble.
Lopez faced the Padres twice last season. He struck out a total of six batters in 12.1 innings. He never struck out more than four in a single game. Lopez ended last season striking out at least six batters in five of his last seven appearances. He also consistently pitches about six innings. Yet, I'm still taking his less than against this lineup. Until the Padres consistently strike out a lot, I'm going to assume this team is making contact at a similar level to last season.
The 2025 season got off to a bad start for Rafael Devers. On Opening Day, he went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. He'll enter Friday's game looking for his first hit of the year. Luckily for him, he's facing one of the most contact-prone pitchers in the league.
Last season, Jack Leiter pitched 35.2 innings. While he struck out 31 batters, he also gave up 44 hits and 35 earned runs. He also gave up seven home runs. Devers hit .272 in 2024, and 67 of his 143 hits went for extra bases. He may have had a rough start to the season, but he'll get back on track against a pitcher who has given us no reason to trust him.
Make sure to check out our other best bets for Friday:
Phil Wood is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Phil, check out his archive and follow him @Phil_Wood_Jr.
