Best Bets on Today’s MLB Player Props Market
The 2023 MLB season is underway and VSiN has you covered with every way you can possibly bet on a baseball game. As always, Adam Burke will have daily best bets to give you some ideas of what to back when it comes to moneylines, run lines and totals. However, I’m tackling player props here, and I’m targeting Luis Cessa, Shane McClanahan and Willy Adames on Wednesday, May 3rd. Keep reading to find out how I’m betting on each of them.
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MORE: Check out our Pro Picks page for everything our experts have on May 3
Here are our favorite MLB prop bets for Wednesday, May 3rd:
Cincinnati Reds at San Diego Padres (-265, 9)
Luis Cessa has been a disaster for Cincinnati this season, as he enters this game at 1-3 with a 9.55 ERA. Cessa has allowed at least six hits in each of his last four starts, with one of those outings being one in which he gave up 14 hits and 11 earned runs in 3.0 innings against the Philadelphia Phillies. He’s a guy that can really lose it out there on the hill, and we’re banking on him to do it against the Padres today.
One way to back Cessa struggling against San Diego would be to take him at -155 odds to let up at least three earned runs. However, we’re opting for the plus-money odds on him to give up six hits again. This San Diego offense occasionally has its struggles, but this is still a loaded lineup. With that said, this should be a difficult group of hitters for Cessa to navigate.
Bet: Cessa Over 5.5 Hits Allowed (+115)
Pittsburgh Pirates at Tampa Bay Rays (-215, 7)
The Pirates have been one of the best stories in baseball this season, but they run into one of the best pitchers in the league tonight. Shane McClanahan will be toeing the rubber for Tampa Bay in this one, and that means we should see a healthy number of strikeouts from the lefty. The 26-year-old has struck out 42 batters over 34.0 innings of work this season, and it still feels like there’s another gear he can reach with his swing-and-miss stuff. So, we’re backing the lefty to have at least seven strikeouts tonight.
The Pirates haven’t been striking out all that much against lefties this season, but they also haven’t faced one like McClanahan. Also, while Pittsburgh has been great to start the year, some regression is likely coming. And that can easily start with a tough game against the Rays.
Bet: McClanahan Over 6.5 Strikeouts (-140)
Milwaukee Brewers (-120, 12) at Colorado Rockies
The Rockies are sending Kyle Freeland to the mound tonight. Freeland is one of the most underrated starters in the league, as his numbers don’t tell the full story when it comes to evaluating him. He generally does a very nice job when pitching on the road, but he struggles at Coors Field — like everybody else. However, with this being a home game, it’s likely he’ll get beat up a bit. With that said, we should be looking at batter props in this game, especially with the total being up at 12.
One player that stands out when looking for a hitter is Willy Adames. The shortstop has been miserable against Freeland in his career, as he is 0 for 8 against the lefty. But that’s a relatively small sample size to work off, and there’s a reason that there’s juice to back Adames to go over 1.5 total bases. These plays usually come with plus-money odds, but the oddsmakers clearly didn’t want to give those out. With that in mind, we’re going to try and side with them by hoping for two hits or an extra base hit.
Bet: Adames Over 1.5 Total Bases (-125)
Did you know that you can parlay these three picks together at +563 odds? Try out our VSiN Parlay Calculator HERE!
