Kevin Davies
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It’s a busy day on the sports calendar with afternoon baseball, divisional rivalries at night and Thursday Night Football! There are plenty of exciting games tonight with the most important being the Padres vs Dodgers, and I’ve picked my 2 best MLB player prop bets to lock in before the action begins! Let’s dive in, while you can also see our MLB picks for today’s big games.
Kumar Rocker (TEX) over 5.5 strikeouts (-125)
Available at DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publishing
Mets fans are punching the air right now as Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer and Kumar Rocker have formed a new big 3… but not in New York. Rocker was called up to make his MLB debut last week and has been impressive through 2 starts against the Mariners and Blue Jays as he’s surrendered just 2 earned runs and 5 hits through 7 innings. More importantly for this bet, he’s racked up 12 strikeouts over those 2 outings. His fastball and slider combination has been filthy and has led to him having a 36.4% whiff rate and 35.3% strikeout rate.
Rocker had 7 strikeouts in 4 innings in his first outing against the Mariners but only managed to go 3 innings in his last start because of an elevated pitch count. Rocker walked 4 hitters but still managed to get 5 strikeouts in those 3 innings. Today, Rocker will face an Oakland lineup that has the 2nd-lowest walk rate and 4th-highest strikeout rate against right-handed pitching in September. The A’s swing early and often in the count which has led to their extremely low walk rate and I’m expecting them to go fishing for Rocker’s slider when they’re down in the count.
Read our full Texas Rangers vs Oakland A’s prediction
Walker Buehler (LAD) over 2.5 earned runs allowed (-110)
Available at DraftKings Sportsbook at time of publishing
Sportsbooks continue to offer prices on Walker Buehler that don’t resemble how he’s actually been pitching. I’ve been more than happy to take advantage of it and I’ll do it again tonight. Buehler has bounced between Triple-A and the Majors this season but he hasn’t found any success at either level. He was promoted back to Los Angeles in the middle of August for the remainder of the season, and he posted a 6.00 ERA and 2.00 WHIP in 3 starts in August and currently has a 5.06 ERA and 1.45 WHIP in 4 starts in September. His whiff rate is down and his walk rate is elevated which have been 2 main reasons for his troubles in 2024.
Buehler will face a Padres lineup that has hit him well over his career as Luis Arraez, Fernando Tatis Jr., Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill are a combined 17-for-56 (.303) against him. Plus, the Padres come into this game extremely motivated. San Diego must win tonight in order to stay in contention for the NL West. I’ll keep fading Buehler against a red-hot Padres team on Thursday night.
Read our full San Diego Padres vs LA Dodgers prediction
