Shohei Ohtani is bashing the baseball to start the 2025 season and I’m betting on that to continue when his Los Angeles Dodgers face the Detroit Tigers on Friday night.
The pregame narrative: I’ve found a good price for one of Ohtani’s prop markets and am pouncing on the three-time MVP. I also have plays on Dodger power bats Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy.
Check out my favourite Tigers vs. Dodgers prop picks for March 28.
Tigers vs. Dodgers prop picks
Best bet: Ohtani over 1.5 total bases (-107)
Scouring Ohtani’s props is a must every day, but it’s not every day you’re going to come away feeling like you’ve found value.
His prices are rightfully jacked up and as the leadoff hitter for one of the game’s elite lineups, it’s nearly impossible to get the high-OBP power hitter’s runs scored prop at a good price.
That’s the prop I want most. But today, it’s -141. That’s a stay-away play for me, but this isn’t.
- Ohtani is 3/3 against this line so far this season.
- He has two homers and a double, striking out once in 14 plate appearances.
- If you need a reminder of how good he was in 2024: .310 average, .646 slugging, 1.036 OPS and 54 homers.
The scary part? He slugged better and posted a higher OPS the year before.
The implied probability of this line is 51.69%. Ohtani has recorded two-plus total bases at a greater rate than that in each of the last two seasons.
Los Angeles sees former teammate Jack Flaherty. The righty is coming off a resurgent season and is now back with the Tigers. But at this price, I’d likely only balk if Ohtani were facing an elite southpaw.
Key stat: Ohtani produced two-plus bases in an MLB-best 56% of his games last season, per Team Rankings.
Prop predictions
Freeman over 0.5 RBI (+160): This is a tantalizing price for someone as good as Freeman, who will be hitting behind Ohtani, Mookie Betts and possibly Teoscar Hernandez.
The slugging first baseman saw a production dip in 2024, but the numbers were still plenty good: .282/.378/.476 with 22 homers and 89 runs driven in.
Let’s not forget his epic World Series: four homers, 12 RBI and an MVP award.
Freeman continued to obliterate right-handers last season, hitting .300 with a .905 OPS.
He’s 7-for-19 in his career against Flaherty with a .926 OPS.
Muncy over 0.5 RBI (+215): For the same reasons I like Freeman, I like Muncy. And he’ll get one extra good hitter in front of him.
Muncy, who struggles versus lefties, hit seventh on Opening Day with Tarik Skubal on the mound. Against the right-handed throwing Flaherty, RotoWire projects him to slot fifth tonight.
If that’s the case, he’ll be hitting behind this group:
- Ohtani
- Betts
- Freeman
- Hernandez
That’s an enviable run-producing position. And while Muncy has his drawbacks — primarily his swing-and-miss tendencies — he’s a thumper who should hit with runners on.
Even without big damage, Muncy can cash this by putting the ball in the air and getting a sacrifice fly. Muncy had the second-highest flyball rate in MLB last season (minimum 230 plate appearances).
Tigers vs. Dodgers prop picks made at 3:09 p.m. ET on 03/28/2025.
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.