It’s time to see who claims the crown in King of the Bases for Sunday Night Baseball this week, as the Atlanta Braves visit the Milwaukee Brewers in this year’s Little League Classic in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. In what should be an exciting National League matchup, the Braves and Brew Crew face off as righty Tyler Mahle takes on lefty Shane Drohan in the series finale. To add even more excitement to the contest, DraftKings is running a King of the Bases promo that will award $500,000 in bonus bets!
The $500,000 in bonus bets will be split and distributed to users who opt in and place an eligible get on the player who finishes the game with the most total bases. An eligible bet can be any Batter Prop Milestone (under batter props) with odds of -200 or longer, with the minimum qualifying bet is $5.
In this post, we’re going to look at three longshot picks to win and to claim the King of the Bases crown. If they get the win, though, they could result in huge payout since they will likely have fewer tokens on them than the favorites like Ronald Acuna Jr., Matt Olson, and Jackson Chourio. If you’re looking for more mainstream picks with a good chance to hit, check out my colleague Dan Johnson’s selections. In this post, I’m taking a walk on the wild side and going with some value plays who are less likely to take home the crown but would have big payouts if they do.
Joey Ortiz 2+ Total Bases (+192)
The Brewers have won the first two games in this series and have the more favorable side of the matchup for offense on Sunday night as well. Tyler Mahle is 4-10 with a 4.53 ERA and 1.31 WHIP on the season. He’s been especially mashable on the road, where he is 0-7 with a 6.55 ERA, and opponents have hit .300 against him with 10 homers. Mahle has reverse splits in handedness, allowing righties to hit .293 with a .363 wOBA and .455 SLG against him. Since SLG and wOBA account for total bases, it makes sense to use those numbers when hunting for King of the Bases Candidates more than just batting average.
Since the Brewers have a lineup stuffed with lefties and switch-hitters, there won’t be many players with a chance to take advantage of those right vs. right splits, but one notable exception is Joey Ortiz. (It’s also worth checking to see if Andrew Vaughn or Cooper Pratt is in the lineup as righties).
Ortiz is definitely a long-shot play that won’t have many tokens on him, but he has multiple total bases in six of his last nine games, making this a sneaky long-shot prop to hit as well. He has gone 6-for-32 (.313) in those nine games with two doubles, two homers and a .563 SLG.
With seven homers on the year, he has some pop and can pick up extra-base hits to propel him up the leaderboard as a value play with upside for King of the Bases.
Ozzie Albies over 1.5 Hits + Runs + RBI (-103)
On the Atlanta side, one of my favorirte plays is Ozzie Albies, who has a good history of thriving against lefties throughout his career and enough power to threaten for most toal bases. This bet is about an even-money play, and he has gone over this total in two of his last four games after going 2-for-4 on Saturday.
This season, the switch-hitting Albies is hitting .286 against lefties with 21 of his 43 extra-base hits (49%) on that side of his splits; in only 40% of his plate appearances. Albies has a 30.2% hard-hit rate against lefties like Drohan and could pick up multiple hits or extra-base hits to contend for Kings of the Bases. On the season, he has 95 total basees in 203 at-bats against lefties, which is the second-highest total bases on that side of the splits on the Braves behind only Matt Olson.
He has hit safely in five of his last six games, but since he’s only hitting .179 with a .266 wOBA over his 20 games in August, he won’t be a popular option based on form. He does still have spike potential, though, which is why I like him as a value play in this matchup.
Lane Thomas over 0.5 Hits + Runs + RBI (-184)
Another way to attack the King of the Bases promo is to pick a relatively low-risk prop like this one but select a longshot player to win the King of the Bases crown. Thomas should be able to deliver either a hit, run or RBI if he’s in the starting lineup for Atlanta against Drohan, and if he spikes and wins King of the Bases, the payout could be huge.
Thomas has played 13 games for the Braves since joining them at the trade deadline and has gone 4-for-21 (.190). He has started five games for Atlanta and has either a hit, run, or RBI in two of his last three.
Even though he’s only hitting .228 with a .394 SLG on the season, he has a .266 average and .453 SLG against lefties. The Braves brought him in to serve in an outfield platoon, so he’ll likely get the start against Drohan. He has 11 homers on the season and does have the potential to come through as a long-shot option for King of the Bases if he gets the start.
How to Play King of the Bases
- Opt in to receive your King of the Bases token in the Promotions page
- Make a Batter Prop Milestone bet on DraftKings Sportsbook and apply your token (minimum $5 bet)
- If the hitter you wagered on with your token applied finishes the game with the most total bases, win a share of $500K in bonus bets
Here are the details:
