Today, the calendar turns to the second full month of the season. The first month was full of surprises. The Tampa Bay Rays were historically good, while the Oakland Athletics were historically bad. The New York Yankees are currently tied for last place in the AL East, and the Pittsburgh Pirates have the second-best record in baseball.
Here are the best PrizePicks plays for Monday, May 1st's MLB action.
Monday’s Best PrizePicks MLB Player Predictions
This Season: 18-17
Springer is hitting just .225 this season, and he only has four extra-base hits. That doesn't bode well for him to go over 1.5 total bases on Monday. However, his career numbers against Boston Red Sox starter Corey Kluber are very good.
Today, the calendar turns to the second full month of the season. The first month was full of surprises. The Tampa Bay Rays were historically good, while the Oakland Athletics were historically bad. The New York Yankees are currently tied for last place in the AL East, and the Pittsburgh Pirates have the second-best record in baseball.
Here are the best PrizePicks plays for Monday, May 1st's MLB action.
Monday’s Best PrizePicks MLB Player Predictions
This Season: 18-17
Springer is hitting just .225 this season, and he only has four extra-base hits. That doesn't bode well for him to go over 1.5 total bases on Monday. However, his career numbers against Boston Red Sox starter Corey Kluber are very good.
Springer is 9-24, good for a .375 batting average, and three of his hits have gone for extra bases. He has a lifetime batting average of .361 against current Red Sox pitchers, so even if Boston goes to its bullpen early, Springer should find success. This is a series for Springer to get right, and he should record a multi-hit game tonight.
The first question is whether or not Maile will even play. He has appeared in just nine games this season, but he is 3-7 in his career against San Diego Padres' starter Blake Snell.
But Maile has just four at-bats since April 22nd. Though he does have hits in each of his last two games, his plate results have been outliers from what he is truly capable of. Prior to going 2-4, Maile was just 3-16 on the season. He has recorded three or more plate appearances in just four games. There won't be many opportunities for Maile, which is why taking this under is a great play.
MacKenzie Gore Under 6.5 Strikeouts
Gore has thrown at least six strikeouts in all five of his starts. However, he has only topped that number twice this season. He had 10 strikeouts in his last appearance and seven in the game before, so perhaps we should be trusting his arm against the Chicago Cubs on Monday.
Yet, the Cubs have the second-best batting average as a team in the MLB this season, and they don't strike out much. They have just 224 strikeouts through 27 games, which is in the bottom 10 in the league. Additionally, Gore doesn't have much history against the Cubs' lineup, and he has only recorded four strikeouts against them as a whole.
Check out our other best bets for Monday:
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Phil Wood is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Phil, check out his archive and follow him @Phil_Wood_Jr.
