{"id":336255,"date":"2025-03-27T15:09:13","date_gmt":"2025-03-27T19:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/?p=336255"},"modified":"2025-03-27T15:09:13","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T19:09:13","slug":"cubs-vs-diamondbacks-prop-picks-2025-mlb-opening-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/cubs-vs-diamondbacks-prop-picks-2025-mlb-opening-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Cubs vs. Diamondbacks 2025 Opening Day prop picks: Bet on Kyle Tucker and fade Justin Steele"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Kyle Tucker headlines the top prop picks for the late-night Opening Day game between the Chicago Cubs and Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The pregame narrative:<\/strong> Tucker was the Cubs&#8217; prized offseason acquisition and can be had at a big plus-money price to deliver with his bat tonight. I also have a play on Chicago starter Justin Steele.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Check out my Cubs vs. Diamondbacks prop picks for Opening Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Cubs vs. Diamondbacks prop picks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"insights\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.ca\/sportsbook\/sports-hub\/baseball\/mlb\">Full MLB betting markets<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"insights\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.ca\/sportsbook\/news\/article\/mlb-injury-report\">MLB injury report<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"insights\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.ca\/sportsbook\/news\/stats\/mlb\/top-players\/hitting\/OPS-on-base_plus_slugging\">MLB player stats<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"insights\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.ca\/sportsbook\/news\/stats\/mlb\/standings\/division\">MLB standings<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Best bet: Tucker over 0.5 RBI (+185)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"cacheembed:111832\">Embed: #111832<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Diamondbacks ace Zac Gallen is no slouch. You can say that about nearly every pitcher taking the mound today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But getting a hitter as talented as Tucker at this price is a no-brainer play for me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Tucker was third in the majors in RBI from 2021-23, and he had 49 in 78 games last season.&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>He produced back-to-back 100-plus RBI seasons before last season&#8217;s injury-plagued year. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Tucker slugged .585 in 2024 and has a career mark of .515. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 28-year-old had a brutal spring and went 1-for-8 in the Tokyo Series but didn&#8217;t strike out and cashed this prop once. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>None of that really matters to me, though. Tucker is a power bat and upper-echeclon hitter in the game, batting behind some solid OBP guys who should put him in a position to cash. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ian Happ is the expected leadoff hitter (.348 OBP over the last three seasons) and will likely be followed by Seiya Suzuki (career .353 OBP). That&#8217;s how the Cubs drew up their lineup for the Japan games vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>RotoWire projects Tucker batting second vs. the right-handed Gallen, which would zap some value here. But I&#8217;m comfortable at this price, even if he is moved up in the order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key stat:<\/strong> Tucker is 10th in the majors in ISO (the percentage of hits that go for extra bases) since 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Prop prediction<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Steele under 15.5 outs (-120)<\/strong>: The lefty made three spring starts, maxing out at 62 pitches (according to MLB.com).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He then pitched in one of the Japan games, throwing 67 pitches over four frames.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, eight days later, he&#8217;s tasked with facing a dangerous Diamondbacks club on the road. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arizona ranked second in MLB in wRC+ versus southpaws last season. The lineup looks largely similar in 2025, though lefty slugger Josh Naylor has replaced the right-handed hitting Christian Walker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Diamondbacks had MLB&#8217;s fourth-lowest strikeout rate in 2024 and were fifth in walk rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Steele is a good arm who possesses solid K and walk rates, but this is simply a difficult assignment early in the season for a pitcher who isn&#8217;t fully built up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The lefty went under this line in his first three starts last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Cubs vs. Diamondbacks prop picks made at 2:35 p.m. ET on 03\/27\/2025.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kyle Tucker headlines the top prop picks for the late-night Opening Day game between the Chicago Cubs and Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday. The pregame narrative: Tucker was the Cubs&#8217; prized offseason acquisition and can be had at a big plus-money price to deliver with his bat tonight. I also have a play on Chicago starter [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":336300,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sidebar_plugin_meta_block_field":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[130,10],"class_list":["post-336255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-mlb-betting"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Cubs vs. Diamondbacks prop picks: 2025 MLB Opening Day | NSB<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Check out our Cubs vs. Diamondbacks prop picks for March 27, 2025. 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