Jordan Horrobin

The Boston Red Sox, who’ve won six games in a row, face a tough road tonight against Bryan Woo and the Seattle Mariners.

Today’s MLB props narrative: Woo, who has consistently given the Mariners length all season, struck out a season-high eight batters when he faced Boston in April. Elsewhere, Ronald Acuna Jr. looks to stay hot against a division rival at home.

Check out the best MLB prop bets for June 17, also featuring Gleyber Torres.

MLB prop bets

Best Bet: Torres over 1.5 total bases (+117)

Torres is on a one-year, prove-it contract with the Detroit Tigers, and he’s certainly doing his part to earn a bigger payday in the offseason.

A lot of that has to do with his ability to pounce on left-handed pitching.

Check out Torres’ MLB ranks vs. LHPs among 160 qualified hitters:

• 4th in K rate (7.7%)
• 6th in wRC+ (197)
• 8th in OBP (.431)
• 12th in SLG (.618)

Tonight, Pirates southpaw Bailey Falter will be on the mound looking to extend a superb run. But I’m not buying it.

In eight starts since the beginning of May, Falter has a 1.61 ERA … despite a far less impressive 4.69 xFIP in the same span, per FanGraphs.

Falter ranks in the second percentile for whiff rate (16.8%) and the sixth percentile for K rate (15.4%), per Baseball Savant. So I don’t expect him to fool Torres at the dish.

At a price like this, only the most elite lefties might steer me away from backing Torres. Falter isn’t in that category, so I’m content rolling with Detroit’s star middle infielder.

Key stat: Torres is averaging 1.5 total bases per game this year (91 in 59 starts).

Embed: #114890

• Full MLB betting markets
• MLB injury report
• MLB stats & standings

Best MLB picks

Acuna over 1.5 total bases (-107): I know David Peterson (5-2, 2.49 ERA) is having a nice run on the mound for the Mets right now, but it pales in comparison to what Acuna is doing.

Acuna made his season debut on May 23 and homered on his very first swing. Honestly, he hasn’t really slowed down from there.

In 21 games, he has a .390/.478/.701 slash line with 54 total bases (2.6/game). He’s 13-8 vs. this prop.

Acuna is 5-for-18 with two extra-base hits against Peterson (.500 SLG). The outfielder has also walked five times in this matchup, but hopefully he gets something good to hit on Tuesday night.

Woo over 18.5 outs (-104): Betting on any pitcher to push past the six-inning mark is tough, but Woo has been as consistent as a modern-day workhorse can be.

• The 25-year-old has completed 6+ innings in all 13 starts this year.

• He’s averaging 19.0 outs and has pitched into the seventh inning in 10 of 13 games.

Despite hefty innings totals, Woo isn’t overworked. He’s reached 100 pitches just once this year, yet he’s consistently going deep.

An exceptionally low walk rate (3.7%, 98th percentile) has a lot to do with that. He forces hitters to put the ball in play, and that strategy works in the offensively suppressed T-Mobile Park.

The Red Sox have won six straight games, but they’re batting just .213 with 17 total runs during that streak. That’s not exactly a heater.

MLB prop picks made at 9:45 a.m. ET on 06/17/2025.

Looking to get started? Sign up here.

Shohei Ohtani will return to two-way status on Monday night as he makes his long-awaited pitching debut for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The pregame narrative: Ohtani hasn’t pitched in an MLB game since August 2023, back when he was still playing for the Angels. He is expected to throw as an opener tonight, working no more than a couple of innings while also taking his swings at the plate.

Check out these Shohei Ohtani props for the June 16 matchup against the San Diego Padres.

Shohei Ohtani props vs. Padres

• Full MLB betting markets
• MLB injury report
• MLB stats & standings

Note: There are no Ohtani pitching props available as of 12:30 p.m. ET. We’ll update this story if anything is posted.

Best Ohtani prop bet

Best Bet: Over 1.5 total bases (-120)

As fun as it would be to target a pitching prop for Ohtani tonight, his limited workload puts a damper on things.

But he’ll still have a bat in his hands, too, which is pretty much always bad news for the opposition.

Ohtani leads the National League in each of these offensive categories:

• OPS (1.034)
• SLG (.642)
• Total bases (179)
• Home runs (25)
• Runs (73)

Keep in mind that his xSLG (.685) is 43 points north of his NL-leading mark.

He also ranks in the 100th percentile in hard-hit rate (62.4%) and average exit velocity (95.5 mph), per Baseball Savant.

Tonight, Ohtani will face Dylan Cease for the second time in a week. Cease dominated the Dodgers on June 10, tossing 7.0 scoreless innings while striking out 11.

But a second look at Cease in such short order should be helpful for Ohtani.

Besides, he already has strong numbers in this matchup: 7-for-22 (.318), three home runs, one double, .773 SLG.

The two-time reigning MVP is averaging 2.6 total bases per game this year. This is a perfectly reasonable price to back him, even with a talented pitcher on the other side.

I also don’t think there’s much risk of fatigue or general distraction with the fact that Ohtani is starting on the mound.

For one thing, he’s used to playing the two-way role, and even told reporters recently (via translator) that this is “the norm” for him. Also, he’s only expected to pitch for an inning or two on Monday.

Key stat: Ohtani has a 1.071 OPS in his past 20 games, going 13-7 vs. this prop.

Embed: #114867

Shohei Ohtani prop odds as of 12:08 p.m. ET on 06/16/2025.

Brent Rooker and Yandy Diaz are both swinging hot bats, and I’ve got them in my sights for Monday’s MLB prop bets.

Today’s MLB props narrative: Rooker has the benefit of playing home games in an exceptionally hitter-friendly park, and he should take advantage of that amid a nearly month-long power surge. Diaz, meanwhile, has five multi-hit games in his past six.

Check out the best MLB prop bets for June 16, also featuring Roman Anthony.

MLB prop bets

Best bet: Rooker over 1.5 total bases (+102)

Houston starter Lance McCullers Jr. carved up the Athletics a few weeks ago, collecting 12 strikeouts in 6.0 innings of work.

The only A’s hitter who didn’t strike out against McCullers? Rooker.

He’s generally a free-swinger, but Rooker is seeing the ball really well right now.

Check out his numbers over the past 23 games (since May 22):

• .375 BA
• .648 SLG
• 2.5 bases/game
• 54% hard-hit rate
• 11.9 K%

It’s not like Rooker’s .375 BA since May 22 is inflated, either. In that span, he also has a .365 xBA, per Baseball Savant.

McCullers is back on the mound for the Astros tonight, giving Rooker a second look at him in three weeks. On May 28, he went 2-for-3 with a double vs. the right-hander.

Also, this time around, they’ll play at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento. The A’s temporary home is the second-friendliest offensive park this year, allowing 32% more doubles than average.

Key stat: Rooker has gone over 1.5 bases in 13 of his past 23 games (56.5%).

Embed: #114862

• Full MLB betting markets
• MLB injury report
• MLB stats & standings

Best MLB picks

Anthony over 0.5 hits (-129): A 1-for-17 start is certainly not what was expected for a consensus top-three MLB prospect, but I don’t expect Anthony to stay down forever.

The left-hitting outfielder posted a .913 OPS with Triple-A Worcester before getting called up to the Boston Red Sox a week ago.

He’s averaging a 94.3-mph exit velocity on 12 balls in play, per Baseball Savant. For context, only six qualified hitters have an average higher than that.

Tonight’s matchup against Seattle starter Logan Gilbert isn’t an enviable one, but I still don’t mind it for Anthony. LHBs are batting .239 vs. Gilbert this year (compared to a .109 BA for RHBs), so he at least has a bit of a platoon advantage.

Also, Gilbert hasn’t pitched in the majors since April, so there could be some rust — if not a reduced workload.

Diaz over 1.5 total bases (+112): Diaz has cashed this bet in five of his past six games, batting 13-for-26 in that span.

He’s a consistently elite hitter when it comes to hard contact, ranking in the 92nd percentile or better in average exit velocity over each of the past four seasons.

The difficulty at times has been elevating the ball, but Diaz is doing just fine with that right now.

Over his past 25 games, Diaz has posted a .490 SLG and is averaging 2.0 bases.

On the mound for the Orioles tonight is ex-Ray Zach Eflin, who has allowed 18 hits in 16.0 innings over his past three road starts.

MLB prop picks made at 9:45 a.m. ET on 06/16/2025.

All square atop the NL West, the San Francisco Giants face the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday night in the second matchup of a three-game series.

The pregame narrative: The Giants won the opener, 6-2, and will now face Clayton Kershaw as underdogs at Dodger Stadium. San Francisco has won eight of its past nine games.

Check out my Giants vs. Dodgers predictions, including props on Kershaw and Jung Hoo Lee in a +325 SGP.

Giants vs. Dodgers predictions

Parlay: Giants +1.5 | Kershaw under 5.5 Ks | Lee over 1.5 total bases (+325)

Giants +1.5 (-148): The Giants have played a lot of close games recently. A historic amount, in fact.

From June 4-10, San Francisco won six consecutive games by exactly one run, which set a franchise record. And 16 of its past 18 games have been decided by either one or two runs.

Winning by such a tight margin isn’t a long-term recipe for success, but we don’t need a win from the Giants tonight. Merely hanging around is good enough, and they’ve done plenty of that this year.

San Francisco is an MLB-best 20-5 ATS as a run line underdog, per Team Rankings.

Giants starter Landen Roupp has a 1.62 ERA in his past six outings, and his team has covered a +1.5 spread in each of those games.

Embed: #114809

• Full MLB betting markets
• MLB injury report
• MLB stats & standings

MLB SGP legs

Kershaw under 5.5 Ks (-245): The Giants strike out at the 11th-highest clip in the majors, but I can’t see Kershaw fanning them six times tonight.

Kershaw will be enshrined in Cooperstown as soon as he’s eligible, but that’ll have nothing to do with his 2025 results. The 18-year veteran is tracking toward career-worsts in WHIP (1.548) and K/9 (6.5).

It’s only been five starts, mind you, but the peripherals aren’t on his side, either.

Kershaw is allowing the fifth-highest hard-hit rate in the majors (55.2%), and his chase rate (24.7%) ranks in the 17th percentile, per Baseball Savant.

Last time out, Kershaw fanned seven Cardinals hitters over 5.0 innings. That looks like quite an anomaly to me, given that he had just eight total Ks over his previous four starts.

Kershaw’s max workload so far has been 5.0 innings, and if that’s his ceiling again on Saturday, he shouldn’t come particularly close to this strikeout line.

Lee over 1.5 total bases (+125): Lee is one of those rare left-hitting players who excels against left-handed pitchers. That makes this a compelling matchup for him.

• Among 158 qualified hitters, Lee ranks 22nd in wRC+ vs. LHPs (152).

• He’s slugging .565 vs. LHPs with only a 5.5% walk rate and 15.1% K rate. So he should put the ball in play in roughly four of every five plate appearances.

Keep in mind that Kershaw has allowed a .281 xBA so far this season.

People often saw that over-the-hill players have lost their fastball, and that’s strikingly accurate for Kershaw. His 89.2 mph fastball velocity is the lowest of his career (and among the lowest in MLB).

Lee is 4-4 vs. this prop in his past eight games, posting a 1.001 OPS in that span.

Giants vs. Dodgers predictions made at 3:03 p.m. ET on 06/14/2025.

Looking to get started? Sign up here.

The Toronto Blue Jays got blanked, 8-0, in their series opener against the Philadelphia Phillies last night. On Saturday, the Phils are favoured to win again.

The pregame narrative: Tonight’s game is a rematch of June 3, with Bowden Francis and Cristopher Sanchez on the mound. Earlier this month, Francis was chased early in an 8-3 win for the Phillies, in which Trea Turner was the star of the show.

Check out my Blue Jays picks vs. the Phillies for June 14, with predictions on Turner, Kyle Schwarber and Bo Bichette.

Blue Jays picks vs. Phillies

Best Bet: Turner over 0.5 runs (-113)

April was an underwhelming month for Turner, but he’s back to playing all-star-calibre ball since then.

• March/April: .717 OPS, 1+ runs in 13 of 27 games (48.1%)

• May/June: .863 OPS, 1+ runs in 23 of 39 games (59.0%)

I’m looking for multiple ways to back this Phillies’ offence against Francis, and this play is at the top of my list.

Turner has elite speed (99th percentile sprint speed, per Baseball Savant), and he bats leadoff for a Philadelphia offence that ranks seventh in runs per game.

Earlier this month, when the Phillies blitzed Francis in a six-run first inning at Rogers Centre, Turner got in on the fun by rocketing a two-run homer. He homered again later in the game as part of a 3-for-5 performance.

Francis was ousted after 1.2 innings against Philly, but that’s far from the only lineup that has torched him recently.

Over his past nine starts, the right-hander has allowed 70 baserunners and 34 runs in 37.1 innings.

Turner will be in the best position to score for the home team, and I think there’s a good chance Philadelphia puts up a boatload of runs this afternoon.

Key stat: Turner has scored a run in three straight games, as well as in 17 of his past 27 games.

Embed: #114764

• Full MLB betting markets
• MLB injury report
• MLB stats & standings

Quick pick

Schwarber over 1.5 total bases (+120): Schwarber was quiet when the Phillies had their hit parade against Francis on June 3, but one game isn’t going to change my view of this left-hitting masher.

• On the season, Schwarber is averaging 2.0 bases per game. He’s homered in back-to-back games and is now fourth in MLB with 22 HRs.

• Left-hitting players have a .301/.370/.647 slash line vs. Francis. For context, Shohei Ohtani’s slugging percentage this year is .615.

Even with a couple of home runs to end the week, Schwarber has been ice-cold in June. Still, he’s in the 95th percentile or better in barrel rate, hard-hit rate and xSLG.

With a struggling pitcher on the mound, you won’t see a price like this for him very often.

Bichette under 1.5 total bases (-141): I faded Bichette against a talented left-handed pitcher last night, and I’ll gladly do it again with Sanchez on the mound.

Dating back to last season, here are Bichette’s stats vs. LHPs:

• .195 BA
• .254 SLG
• 39 wRC+

He is 1-for-6 with two Ks vs. Sanchez, who has a strong ERA (3.10) and K/9 (10.3).

Bichette has gone under 1.5 bases in eight of 11 games this month. That includes a hitless performance in last night’s series opener with southpaw Ranger Suarez on the mound.

Blue Jays picks made at 12:10 p.m. ET on 06/14/2025.

Fernando Tatis Jr., Jacob deGrom and Willi Castro have my attention on Saturday’s MLB prop market.

Today’s MLB props narrative: Tatis isn’t doing his best work with the bat this month, but he’s offsetting that with a discerning eye at the plate. deGrom, meanwhile, has excelled at working deeper into games this season and should carve up the overmatched Chicago White Sox.

Check out the best MLB prop bets for June 14.

MLB prop bets

Best bet: Castro over 0.5 hits (-122)

When a hitter is on the type of roll Castro is on, this pick feels too good to be true.

The switch-hitting utility man is on a six-game hit streak and has cashed this bet in 12 of 14 starts since May 27.

From that date onward, he’s 21-for-53 (.396) with a 1.230 OPS.

So why is this price so good? It’s safe to say it has a lot to do with the guy on the mound.

Astros starter Hunter Brown is shoving this season. He ranks third in ERA (1.82), fourth in opponent BA (.187) and fifth in K rate (31.1%).

That’s daunting, but I’m heartened by Castro’s success in this head-to-head matchup. He’s 7-for-11 with a double against Brown.

It’s likely that Castro will have an at-bat or two against Houston’s bullpen as well, but his past success vs. Brown puts this over the edge and makes me feel great about the pick.

Key stat: Castro has recorded a hit in 33 of 48 starts (68.8%).

Embed: #114795

• Full MLB betting markets
• MLB injury report
• MLB stats & standings

Best MLB picks

Tatis over 0.5 runs (-122): Arizona’s Zac Gallen has been very gettable recently, and I think Tatis can add to that notion tonight.

Gallen (4-8, 5.15 ERA) has allowed 52 baserunners in 35.0 innings over his past six starts. He has a 6.17 ERA in that span.

Tatis, the leadoff man for the Padres, went 2-for-3 with a walk and a double in Friday’s series opener in Arizona. He has a .396 on-base percentage this month and is 6-5 vs. this prop.

Against Gallen, Tatis has reached base in nine of 21 plate appearances (.429 OBP) with two home runs and a double.

Though Tatis’ bat isn’t particularly hot right now, he’s quite capable of working a walk or two. And Gallen leads the NL in walks issued (36).

deGrom over 6.5 Ks (-137): I don’t love the juice on this prop, and that’s the reason I don’t have it featured as my best bet. But there’s still a lot to like.

• deGrom is 4-2 vs. this line in his past six starts.

• deGrom has 22 strikeouts in 50 plate appearances against the White Sox (44.0 K%).

• The White Sox have the fourth-highest K rate in MLB over the past two weeks (25.4 K%).

deGrom has an 8.7 K/9 this season, which is the lowest of his career. But he’s consistently working deep enough into games that that isn’t a huge concern to me.

He’s averaging 17.6 outs per start, which is just south of six innings. And he’s worked into the sixth inning or later in nine of his past 10.

Also, deGrom ranks in the 84th percentile in whiff rate and the 86th percentile in chase rate. He still has elite stuff, even if the strikeout efficiency is down in 2025.

MLB prop picks made at 9:45 p.m. ET on 06/14/2025.