The Dodgers have the best record in baseball, but they took a haymaker on Friday night when the Astros opened their series in Los Angeles with an 18-run explosion. The Astros will look to continue that momentum in Saturday’s matchup, but they’ll run straight into Shohei Ohtani, making his fourth start of the season. The Astros counter with Framber Valdez in what should be a great matchup. Let’s take a look at the matchup and examine my best bets, picks and predictions for Astros at Dodgers on 7/5/25.
The Dodgers are 56-33 after the loss on Friday but still eight games up in the NL West. The Astros are seven games ahead in the AL West and are 53-35. The Dodgers are -150 favorites, and the over/under is 8.5 runs.
Check out all the options available on the MLB page of DK Sportsbook, and here is a look at my best bets for Astros at Dodgers on Saturday night.
Best Bets for Astros at Dodgers 7/5/25 on DraftKings Sportsbook
Cam Smith 3+ Hits + Runs + RBIs (+185)
I highlighted Smith in my top MLB DFS plays for Saturday, and getting him at 3+ hits, runs and RBIs at +185 seems like a great value. He can get to 3+ all at once on a home run, or he can get there several different ways as he takes on Ohtani and Justin Wrobleski in long relief.
Smith has been scalding hot since a swing adjustment in May. He has 32 hits, 14 runs and 19 RBIs over the last 20 games for an average of 3.2 hits, runs and RBIs per game over that stretch. He has multiple hits in seven of his last eight games and has at least three hits, runs and RBIs in each of those seven games.
Smith will be on the strong side of his splits against the lefty Wrobleski, since he has hit .300 with a .433 wOBA against southpaws this season.
Given how locked in he has been lately and how productive the Astros’ offense has been, he should be able to collect at least three hits, runs and RBIs on Saturday night.
Shohei Ohtani under 1.5 Strikeouts thrown (+140)
The value on this prop is pretty wild since Ohtani has only gone over this line in one of his three starts this year. He only had one strikeout in his last start against the Royals even though he was able to extend to two innings. He’s probably set for two innings again on Saturday night, so he’ll most likely finish with either one or two strikeouts.
His stuff has been excellent, but if he ends up with one strikeout like he did his last time out, the value here is impressive. He has an 18.8% strikeout rate through three starts, but the Astros are a top-five team over the last two weeks in strikeout suppression. They’re averaging 7.25 strikeouts per game and at just under one per inning, that could keep Ohtani’s strike total under on Saturday night.
Framber Valdez under 2.5 earned runs allowed (+110)
Valdez is in a tough matchup against the Dodgers, but the value is definitely there on the over/under on this runs line for the lefty to be a strong play. He has been locked in this season, going 9-4 with a 2.72 ERA, 3.01 FIP and 1.13 WHIP.
He has allowed an average of 1.9 runs per game on the year and has come under this line in nine of his last 10 starts. Valdez has held opponents under 2.5 runs in 14 of 17 starts this season, and even in this tough matchup, I think he can come through.
Valdez faced the Dodgers once last year, giving up no runs on four hits in 6 1/3 innings. He’ll look for a similarly dominant outing on Saturday, and even when he hasn’t pitched a shutout, he has been able to limit damage for the most part.
While much of the focus on the matchup will be on Ohtani, Valdez is actually the better option for props. While the spotlight will be on Shohei, I still think it’ll be Framber time!
