All 30 MLB teams are in action on this first day of August. How will Ben Lively fair against the Chicago Cubs? Can Freddy Peralta be one of the few pitchers who manage to strike out a lot of Washington Nationals? And will Josh Naylor avoid going hitless in back-to-back games?
Here are the best PrizePicks plays for Tuesday, Aug. 1's MLB action.
Tuesday’s Best MLB PrizePicks Player Predictions
This Season: 61-74
This number is about one full strikeout too low. Lively has struck out at least four batters in all but four appearances this season. Two of those appearances were in his first two games of the season, while the other two came in his last three games. However, his recent struggles have come against the Milwaukee Brewers, a team he will not face tonight.
All 30 MLB teams are in action on this first day of August. How will Ben Lively fair against the Chicago Cubs? Can Freddy Peralta be one of the few pitchers who manage to strike out a lot of Washington Nationals? And will Josh Naylor avoid going hitless in back-to-back games?
Here are the best PrizePicks plays for Tuesday, Aug. 1's MLB action.
Tuesday’s Best MLB PrizePicks Player Predictions
This Season: 61-74
This number is about one full strikeout too low. Lively has struck out at least four batters in all but four appearances this season. Two of those appearances were in his first two games of the season, while the other two came in his last three games. However, his recent struggles have come against the Milwaukee Brewers, a team he will not face tonight.
Lively has very little experience against the Cubs. However, the lineup has the 10th-most strikeouts in the entire league. With Lively averaging nearly one strikeout per inning and with him going at least four innings in every single start since May 19, he should easily hit this over.
Naylor has not had back-to-back hitless games since June 16 and 17. That consistency will help him tonight as he looks to avoid another hitless night after an 0-3 performance yesterday.
Naylor is 0-5 in his career against Astros' starter Framber Valdez. But Valdez has been far from unhittable this season. In his last five starts, he has given up a total of 34 hits, including eight in his last start that went just 3.2 innings. Naylor has hit safely in 19 of 24 games this month. With how Valdez is pitching, it should be 20 of 25 after tonight, no matter what history says.
Last night, we sided with the Washington Nationals hitters over the Milwaukee Brewers pitching, and it worked out. Corbin Burnes managed just five strikeouts against a team that does not strike out much at all.
Tonight, however, we're backing Freddy Peralta against the Nationals. Peralta is coming off a 13-strikeout game against the Cincinnati Reds. He has struck out six or more batters in four of his last five games. Peralta has 131 strikeouts in 109.0 innings this season. While he does tend to give up a lot of runs, the Brewers don't mind keeping him in games. While the Nationals make a lot of contact, they don't score many runs, so Peralta will have plenty of opportunities tonight.
Make sure to check out our other best bets for Tuesday:
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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.
