Of course, the NL West is far from being decided — that’ll happen at some point in September — but this week’s series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres will go a long way towards crystallizing it. Los Angeles won the first game of the series and leads the division by 1.5 games over the San Francisco Giants and two games over the Padres.
The Dodgers’ traditional summer charge hasn’t happened quite yet, as they’re just 4-5 since the start of June. If they want to turn it around entering this crucial stretch of games, they’ll need more (believe it or not) from Shohei Ohtani, who’s slashed a pedestrian .250/.333/.389 since the start of the month. He should have a decent chance of doing so tonight against Dylan Cease, who has struggled this season.
Los Angeles is a 1.5-run favorite at DraftKings Sportsbook and the total is set for 8. Below, I’ve highlighted my favorite prop bet centered around the two-time reigning MVP.
Best Shohei Ohtani Prop Bets on DraftKings Sportsbook
Shohei Ohtani 2+ Total Bases (-115)
Ohtani has been surprisingly devoid of power over the last few games, as he hasn’t hit a home run in seven games — tied for his longest power drought of the season — and only has two extra-base hits so far this month, both of which were doubles that came in his last two games. Since the start of June, six out of his nine hits have been singles, and he’s recorded one or more singles in four out of his nine games this month.
His launch angles and exit velocities have been all over the map so far in June, but his singles tended to be ripped at low launch angles, with four of them topping 100 miles per hour. The highest launch angle among Ohtani’s singles so far in June has been 13 degrees, with three of his hits having a negative launch angle, and his three extra-base hits have all had launch angles higher than 17 degrees.
Thankfully, he should find it easier to get the ball up against Cease, who ranks in just the 28th percentile in ground ball percentage. This season, Cease has tended to throw his fastball on a higher proportion to left-handed batters than to righties, and hitters have hit his fastball at an average launch angle of 19 degrees. His fastball also has 2.9 inches more rise than average, which should help Ohtani get enough lift to leg out an extra-base hit.
