{"id":349957,"date":"2025-05-31T14:08:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-31T18:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/?p=349957"},"modified":"2025-05-31T14:08:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-31T18:08:12","slug":"mlb-prop-bets-and-predictions-may-31","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/mlb-prop-bets-and-predictions-may-31\/","title":{"rendered":"Best MLB prop bets May 31: Fade Jackson Merrill in lefty-on-lefty matchup vs. Pirates"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p id=\"block-84329f2b-7888-4034-9979-03e8608897e5\">Two of MLB&#8217;s brightest young stars, Bobby Witt Jr. and Jackson Merrill, feature in my MLB prop bets for Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"block-84329f2b-7888-4034-9979-03e8608897e5\"><strong>Today&#8217;s MLB props narrative<\/strong>: Merrill is a heart-of-the-order bat who hasn&#8217;t found his footing against lefty pitchers yet \u2014 and he&#8217;s facing a surging one tonight. Witt is also fade-worthy against arguably the best pitcher in the game, Tarik Skubal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"block-84329f2b-7888-4034-9979-03e8608897e5\">Check out my top MLB prop bets for May 31.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"block-0a4ee124-09d4-4260-81c9-fd6fe232dbb3\">MLB prop bets<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.com\/sportsbook\/sports\/baseball\/competitions\/10065\"><strong>Full MLB betting markets<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.com\/sportsbook\/news\/article\/mlb-injury-report\"><strong>MLB injury report<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.com\/sportsbook\/news\/stats\/mlb\/top-players\/hitting\/OPS-on-base_plus_slugging\"><strong>MLB player stats<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.com\/sportsbook\/news\/stats\/mlb\/standings\/division\"><strong>MLB standings<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Best Bet: Merrill under 0.5 runs (-154)<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Batting order position matters a lot to me for run props, and I think Merrill&#8217;s spot in the heart of the order makes him fade-worthy a lot of the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Merrill has batted in the No. 4 or 5 spot in 29 of 30 games this season.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>He&#8217;s gone under 0.5 runs in 12 of his past 15 games, posting a .242 OBP in that span.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Merrill will also be subjected to a lefty-on-lefty matchup tonight, which is far from ideal for him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The centerfielder has a .277 OBP in his career vs. LHPs (compared to a .355 OBP vs. RHPs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pirates southpaw Bailey Falter has allowed just three earned runs in five starts this month, good for a 0.92 ERA. That includes 7.0 innings of two-hit ball against the Padres on May 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key stat:<\/strong> Merrill has gone under 0.5 runs in 17 of 30 games (56.7%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Best MLB picks<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Witt under 1.5 bases (-118)<\/strong>: With Skubal on the mound for the Detroit Tigers today, Witt and the rest of the Royals&#8217; lineup are in an unenviable spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Skubal, the reigning AL Cy Young winner, leads the majors in FIP (1.97) and currently has a career-low 0.845 WHIP.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Witt is 4-for-27 (.148) against Skubal with zero extra-base hits and six strikeouts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Skubal has the best changeup in the game, and it runs away from right-hitting players like Witt. The pitch has a 50.0% whiff rate and a .198 SLG in 88 plate appearances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Witt has gone under 1.5 bases in seven of his past 12 games, posting a .184\/.192\/.327 slash line in that span.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"block-84329f2b-7888-4034-9979-03e8608897e5\"><em>MLB prop picks made at 2:00 p.m. ET on 05\/31\/2025<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two of MLB&#8217;s brightest young stars, Bobby Witt Jr. and Jackson Merrill, feature in my MLB prop bets for Saturday. Today&#8217;s MLB props narrative: Merrill is a heart-of-the-order bat who hasn&#8217;t found his footing against lefty pitchers yet \u2014 and he&#8217;s facing a surging one tonight. Witt is also fade-worthy against arguably the best pitcher [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":349841,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sidebar_plugin_meta_block_field":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[452,60],"tags":[10],"class_list":["post-349957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-com","category-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>MLB prop bets May 31: Picks, predictions &amp; odds | NorthStar Bets<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Check out our best MLB prop bets for May 31, 2025. 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