The Toronto Blue Jays open a new series at Rogers Centre against the Washington Nationals on Monday night.
The pregame narrative: Bo Bichette is doing damage out of the leadoff spot and I’m backing him to score a run. For the Nationals, I believe Keibert Ruiz can build on his early-season momentum.
Check out my Nationals vs. Blue Jays prop picks for March 31.
Nationals vs. Blue Jays prop picks
Best bet: Bichette over 0.5 runs (-130)
Hitting leadoff might be the best spot for Toronto’s slugging shortstop.
Bichette has seven hits in 15 at-bats, resulting in a .467 batting average and a .556 OBP. When the first hitter in your order gets on base that frequently, he’s bound to score some runs.
And that was the case in the first series against the Baltimore Orioles. Bichette scored runs in three of four games.
Now the Blue Jays face Canadian pitcher Michael Soroka in his first start as a National.
Soroka had a bad 2024, going 0-10 with a 4.75 ERA in 79.2 innings pitched. He didn’t look any better in spring training, giving up 12 earned runs in his final 8.2 innings of work.
If Bichette continues to get on base against some shaky pitching, I’m confident one of Toronto’s big sluggers can drive him in.
Key stat: Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Andres Gimenez are a combined 6-for-16 (.375 BA) against Soroka in their careers.
Prop prediction
Ruiz over 1.5 total bases (+125): It’s only been three games, but the 26-year-old catcher is looking like a prime breakout candidate for 2025.
Ruiz is batting .500 with two home runs. He had at least one hit in every game and is 2-1 against this line.
I want to highlight his advanced metrics as well, per Baseball Savant:
- 10.0% whiff rate (99th percentile)
- 38.9 squared-up % (91st percentile)
- 55.6 hard-hit % (89th percentile)
In summary, Ruiz hardly strikes out and is more than capable of lacing the baseball.
Bowden Francis was one of the few bright spots on the Blue Jays last season, owning a 2.92 ERA in 13 starts.
He did get knocked around in spring training, however, owning a 7.63 ERA across five appearances.
I’m not completely sold on Francis being elite yet, so I will back Washington’s hottest hitter.
Nationals vs. Blue Jays prop picks made at 12:41 p.m. ET on 03/31/2025.
Spencer is a true sports junkie. A graduate of the Sports Journalism program at Centennial College, he first joined NorthStar Gaming as an intern in 2023. He is now a contributing writer. He loves finding the edge to bet on in all sports but has a deep passion for the NBA and UFC. Previous stops include Sportsnet.