Fourteen games, 28 teams, with the action starting just after 3 p.m. ET. Opening Day is here, and so is the first 2025 installment of our daily MLB prop picks.
The pregame narrative: How about a big name to get us going early? I like Mike Trout to do damage in his first game of the season, and have plays on pitchers Pablo Lopez and Sandy Alcantara. Lastly, I love the value on a Cody Bellinger prop for his New York Yankees debut.
Check out the best MLB prop bets for Thursday, March 27.
MLB prop bets
Best bet: Trout over 1.5 total bases (+125)
Trout, the three-time MVP, needs little introduction.
As long as he’s healthy, which he is to start the season as the Los Angeles Angels’ new right fielder, I’ll look to pounce on his plus-money props early on.
Trout doesn’t need to be old Trout to provide value.
He’s been limited to 111 games over the last two seasons, and while he didn’t post MVP numbers, the power was still there when he was on the field.
- Homers: 28
- Slugging: .504
- OPS: .860
Most players would sign up for that over 162 games.
The Angels face the Chicago White Sox, projected by FanGraphs to be the worst team in MLB with the least valuable pitching staff.
Chicago is starting Sean Burke, who had a good September in his first taste of the bigs last year after posting good minor league strikeout numbers.
But he’s been erratic and struggled to keep the ball in the yard, which was the case in spring training this year, too.
Key stat: Trout hit three homers with a 1.026 OPS in 39 spring at-bats.
Best MLB picks
Alcantara under 4.5 Ks (+115): So many stars go down with arm injuries every year, so it’s always good to get one back.
The 2022 NL Cy Young winner will make his first start since September 2023 after missing all of last season to Tommy John surgery.
Alcantara’s raw strikeout totals have been good (multiple 200-plus K seasons), but his K rates haven’t been anything special. Pre-injury, he was an innings-eater, which allowed him to accumulate.
And workload, I have to imagine, will be working against him on Thursday vs. the Pittsburgh Pirates.
According to MLB.com, the Miami Marlins ace threw fewer than 60 pitches in all five of his Grapefruit League outings. He never fanned more than three batters.
Most projection systems peg him as a below-average strikeout arm this season and this feels like a good value spot to fade him in what should be a lighter outing.
MLB prop picks made at 12:59 p.m. ET on 03/27/2025.
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.