Baseball season is officially back, and there are 10 games on the second day of the regular season.
Will Carlos Rodon and Merill Kelly hit their strikeout totals against the Houston Astros and Colorado Rockies, respectively? And can Francisco Alvarez get his bat going, or will his 2024 start the way his 2023 ended against the Milwaukee Brewers?
Here are the best PrizePicks plays for Friday, March 29's MLB action.
Baseball season is officially back, and there are 10 games on the second day of the regular season.
Will Carlos Rodon and Merill Kelly hit their strikeout totals against the Houston Astros and Colorado Rockies, respectively? And can Francisco Alvarez get his bat going, or will his 2024 start the way his 2023 ended against the Milwaukee Brewers?
Here are the best PrizePicks plays for Friday, March 29's MLB action.
Friday’s Best MLB PrizePicks Player Predictions
Last season, Rodon faced the Astros twice. He struck out five or fewer batters in both games, pitching just 7.2 combined innings. For his career, Rodon has struck out 18 Astros batters in 72 at-bats. While that is a solid ratio, it confirms that he will likely need to pitch 6.0 innings to hit this over.
Last season, Rodon pitched 6.0 innings in just three starts. But even if he does pitch 6.0 innings, which he is unlikely to do, there's still no guarantee he will hit this number. After all, the Astros struck out just seven times yesterday.
Kelly ended 2023 red-hot, striking out nine Texas Rangers in the World Series. That performance came one start after striking out eight Philadelphia Phillies in the NLCS.
Kelly starts his 2024 campaign against a team that he has plenty of experience with. In his last two starts against the Rockies last season, Kelly threw a combined 23 strikeouts, ringing up at least 11 batters in each game. With the lineup that the Rockies are putting on the field today, Kelly strikes out at least one of every four batters. Since he went at least 6.0 innings in all three of his starts against the Rockies last season, the over is the play.
Alvarez has never faced Brewers' starter Freddy Peralta, so this is more of a feel-play. Alvarez finished 2023 as a .209 hitter, and he finished the year hitless in 10 of his last 11 games.
There's always a chance he gets off to a hot start this season. However, Peralta is a streaky starter who gave up four hits or fewer in nine of his final 10 starts last season. With a streaky pitcher going up against a hitter who struggles to put the ball in play, the safe bet is taking the pitcher to win out in the first game of the season.
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.
