Barring more weather issues, any baseball teams that didn’t have their season opener Thursday will have it Friday with 13 games scheduled. Here are four MLB player prop picks we like from BetOnline, one of BMR’s top-rated sportsbooks.
Seattle Mariners vs. Minnesota Twins
Friday, April 08, 2022 – 04:10 PM EDT at Target Field
Robbie Ray - Carlos Correa
These teams were to open Thursday but was one of two postponed games (Red Sox-Yankees the other) because of inclement weather. Both clubs were very aggressive this offseason in an effort to return to the playoffs. The Mariners have the longest drought in the majors, last making it in 2001 when Ichiro Suzuki was a rookie.
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Seattle’s biggest addition this winter as lefty pitcher Robbie Ray, the 2021 AL Cy Young winner with the Toronto Blue Jays. Ray always had some of the best stuff in the majors but really hadn’t been able to put it all together dating to his days with the Diamondbacks in large part due to wildness.
Did Ray figure things out in 2021 or was it simply because he was pitching for a long-term contract? Some guys once they get the big money regress in a big way. I don’t think Ray will.
Ray will be the first reigning Cy Young winner to start for the Mariners since 2010 AL Cy Young winner Felix Hernandez threw a complete game for Seattle on April 1, 2011 in a 6-2 Opening Day victory at Oakland. Ray led the majors with 248 strikeouts in 2021. His 10 outings with strikeouts were most among MLB pitchers and Ray ranked third in the American League in strikeouts per 9 innings (11.54) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.77).
So why am I going under strikeouts? Because I’m not sure the M’s will let Ray go more than five innings or so on a chilly day and with him having only 13.2 spring innings under his belt.
Minnesota stunned the baseball world by winning the bidding for Astros All-Star shortstop Carlos Correa on a three-year, $105 million deal – although the only reason Correa took such a short deal was because he can opt-out after this season and next if he wants to. If Correa has a big season, he’ll hit free agency again next winter.
Correa looked good this spring, batting .350 with three homers and five RBIs. He’s 3-for-11 career off Ray.
MLB Pick: Ray Under 6.5 Strikeouts (+114) at BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
MLB Pick: Correa Over 0.5 Hits (-190) at BetOnline
Texas Rangers vs. Toronto Blue Jays
Friday, April 08, 2022 – 07:07 PM EDT at Rogers Centre
Marcus Semien - Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Here’s a statistic you may not have known that really has nothing to do with my prop picks today but is interesting: Texas is the only American League team to never have a Cy Young winner while playing for the Rangers. That’s not changing this season, either, with the team’s “ace” being today’s starter Jon Gray, the former Colorado Rockies right-hander.
Texas was terrible last year with only 60 wins. The Rangers will win more than 60 this year because they spent about $500 million in free agency on signing former Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager, a one-time NL Rookie of the Year and World Series MVP, and ex-Blue Jays second baseman Marcus Semien, who finished third in the 2021 AL MVP voting.
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It’s not that the Blue Jays didn’t want him back, but the Rangers simply offered the most money to Semien, who hit .264 with 45 homers and 102 RBIs last season, one of the great offensive years by a second baseman ever. Semien previously was a shortstop, but the Jays needed him at second.
He agreed to stay there when signing with Texas. Semien is expected to lead off for the Rangers. He scored 115 runs last year and while he won’t get that many in 2021, I think he scores one tonight.
My MLB pick to win the AL pennant is Toronto in large part to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who was the 2021 AL MVP runner-up and tied for the big-league lead with 48 homers. Baby Vlad is a singular talent. The roof of the Rogers Centre projects to be closed today, which means it will be warm inside and that is favorable for the hitters.
Guerrero Jr. also had 29 doubles last season (and one triple) and all we need is a double to go over this prop. He is 1-for-3 career of the Rangers’ Gray with a double.
MLB Pick: Semien To Score a Run +110 at BetOnline
MLB Pick: Guerrero Jr. Over 1.5 Total Bases (+108) at BetOnline
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.
