The sun is out, the birds are chirping, and the crowds are pouring into ballparks once again — after a long offseason, MLB Opening Day is finally here.
The New York Yankees open their season with a homestand against the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday. Here’s the top Aaron Judge prop bet on DraftKings Sportsbook before first pitch at 3:05 p.m.
Best Aaron Judge prop bets on DraftKings Sportsbook
The reigning American League MVP paced the league with 54 home runs while batting an astounding .322 on the season in 2024. After falling short in the World Series, Judge looks to power the Yankees back to the postseason and take another shot at a championship.
If spring training is any indication, though, Judge may need some time to get up to speed. In 33 preseason at-bats, he tallied just five hits while slashing .121/.268/.242 with one homer and five RBI. It’s a small sample, but the Yankees slugger just didn’t look quite right out there in Tampa.
Freddy Peralta is on the mound for the Brewers on Opening Day. He had a rough spring himself with an 8.56 ERA and 1.61 WHIP in 13.2 innings of work. Judge batted a little bit better against righties last season than he did against lefties, so based on that precedent, he may still have an advantage here.
While I considered taking under 0.5 hits for Judge based on his spring training sample, I’m pivoting the other direction. My top Judge pick for Opening Day is actually over 0.5 RBIs at +125 odds. The right-handed slugger led the MLB in the statistic last season, and with Peralta’s spring training struggles, I’m willing to bet Judge can come up with at least RBI on Thursday. However, he’ll certainly miss having Juan Soto batting ahead of him in the order, so I wouldn’t expect Judge to lead the entire MLB in the stat again.
