Most of Thursday’s MLB action is starting early but I have two prop picks for tonight’s games.
The pregame narrative: Minnesota Twins righty David Festa is featured in the top play, and I’m targeting Manny Machado in the NL West showdown between the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers.
Check out the best MLB prop bets for Sept. 26.
MLB prop bets
MLB Markets: Click Here | MLB Stats: Click Here
Best bet: Festa over 5.5 Ks (+106)
There’s risk with this play but the upside and situation outweigh that for me.
The risk is this: Festa has made 12 starts in his rookie season and has gone more than five innings once. His Minnesota Twins are fighting for their playoff lives, which could certainly work against him. But I actually think it works in his favour.
While the Twins would ideally keep a super short leash on their starters for every remaining game, it’s not that simple considering how overworked a bullpen can quickly become.
The Twins only got one inning from starter Simeon Woods-Richardson last night, using six relievers in their 8-3 win.
On Tuesday, Bailey Ober delivered five frames and four relievers were deployed. They were off Monday but had a doubleheader on Sunday. There are no more off days as they close out the season trying to secure a wild-card spot.
With a pivotal series against the Baltimore Orioles looming this weekend, the Twins need to keep some fresh arms in their bullpen. And Festa has a great matchup to deliver on that.
The Miami Marlins are 28th in MLB in wRC+ and have been retired on strikes at the ninth-highest clip over the last 30 days. They’ve lost 11 of their last 15 games.
Minnesota, a -265 favourite, should win this game, affording it the luxury to let Festa run his pitch count up after he threw 100-plus pitches for the first time in his career last start.
Festa had huge strikeout numbers in the minors and his swing-and-miss ability has translated to the majors. He has a 28.1% K rate that would be good for a top-10 mark among starters if he had enough innings to qualify.
Key stat: The righty has recorded six-plus strikeouts in eight of 13 appearances (one relief outing).
Quick pick
Machado over 0.5. RBI (+140): Getting the Padres’ red-hot cleanup hitter at this number feels like great value.
Machado has 21 RBI this month, trailing only soon-to-be NL MVP Shohei Ohtani for the MLB lead.
The third baseman started the season rough but September is his fourth straight month slugging .500-plus, upping his OPS to .803.
Machado has high OBP guys hitting ahead of him, including offensive machine Fernando Tatis Jr. You have to like this matchup for the Padres, who see struggling Dodgers righty Walker Buehler.
Buehler has a 5.63 ERA and 1.58 WHIP, allowing four-plus runs in seven of his last 11 starts. His strikeouts have ticked up recently but are at a career-low rate, coupled with a career-high walk rate.
This is a terrible matchup for him, as the Padres rank second in wRC+ versus righties and have the lowest K rate in MLB.
Picks made at 2:11 p.m. ET on 09/26/2024.
Chris joined NorthStar Gaming from Covers.com where he was a publishing editor and wrote betting content. Before that, he was the sports editor at VICE Canada, worked for theScore and covered the Blue Jays for MLB.com. In addition to filling out the lineup card each day for the editorial team, Chris writes frequently himself, primarily on the NBA and MLB.