Thursday means a lighter-than-usual MLB slate, with several teams traveling ahead of their weekend series. Still, there are 10 games on the docket today, including some big stars on the mound from Shohei Ohtani to Aaron Nola. That means plenty of opportunities to find juicy prop bets — here are our three favorite plays for Thursday, with odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook.
MLB player prop bets: Thursday, June 15
Shohei Ohtani, under 18.5 outs recorded (-180)
-180 doesn’t leave a ton of juice to squeeze, but it’s very hard to see Ohtani clearing this number tonight — which would require him pitching into the seventh inning for the first time since May 15. Ohtani’s stuff is as electric as ever, but the MVP candidate has struggled a bit with his command of late, with 12 walks over his last four starts. That’s not a formula for working deep into games, and to make matters worse, Ohtani will have to face off against the Texas Rangers’ league-leading offense on Thursday night. He’s Ohtani, so there’s always a chance that he locks in and dominates, but given his recent form it’s hard to see him being particularly efficient even if he does pitch well.
Ozzie Albies and Kevin Pillar, to record a hit (-115)
The Atlanta Braves have been far and away baseball’s best offense against left-handed pitching so far this year, so let’s put together a parlay to take advantage of that against Colorado Rockies southpaw Kyle Freeland. Freeland has struggled against righties so far this year, with a 100-point gap in OPS and a .473 slugging percentage, and he’s struggled in his career against both Albies (.889 OPS over 18 plate appearances) and Pillar (1.289 OPS over 10 plate appearances).
Albies has been scorching the ball of late, with hits in eight of his last 10 games and a 1.113 OPS over that span, while Pillar has consistently started in left field against lefties and is hitting .340/.333/.642 with the platoon advantage this year.
Paul Blackburn, over 4.5 strikeouts (+115)
At first blush, backing any member of the Oakland Athletics in a matchup with the Tampa Bay Rays may seem ill-advised, but the A’s have won two of the first three in this four-game set, and Tampa’s previously world-beating offense has run aground a bit of late. The Rays have a pedestrian 102 wRC+ against right-handed pitching since the start of June, with a 24.3% strikeout rate over that span that’s the fifth-highest in all of baseball. Blackburn’s season got off to a late start due to injury, but the veteran righty has cleared five Ks in two of his first three outings, and now that he’s fully built up he’ll be able to work deeper into games. At plus odds, it’s not a bad chance to take.
