MLB Player Props and Expert Picks: Saturday's Best Prop Bets

Saturday's full Major League Baseball schedule features some of the most intense rivalries in the sport and we offer our best MLB picks and bets for Saturday based on the best MLB odds.

Whether you lean more toward the American League or the National League can determine the answer to the question of which rivalry is the strongest in Major League Baseball: New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox or St. Louis Cardinals vs. Chicago Cubs. Baseball fans can enjoy both divisional matchups as nationally televised games this weekend, with the Cardinals-Cubs game on FS1 at 2:20 p.m. ET, followed by the Yankees-Red Sox game at Fenway Park at 7:15 p.m. ET.

The most important interleague matchup is between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Baltimore Orioles, two teams with slim World Series chances. Both teams enter the match with winning percentages of .652 or better, and it could be a preview of the World Series.

In addition to our player predictions for the Yankees vs. Red Sox game, here are our MLB player predictions and expert tips for Saturday.

Saturday’s MLB expert tips

MLB picks based on odds via our best MLB betting sites; selection confidence based on a 1-5 star scale.

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MLB Player Props

Yoshinobu Yamamoto records a victory ⭐⭐⭐

Game Information: Kansas City Royals vs. Los Angeles Dodgers | Money line: Dodgers (-210 via bet365) | In total: 8 via bet365 | Start time: 9:10 p.m. ET

Yamamoto has a good chance of winning, even though the Dodgers are clear favorites with a -210 moneyline, as he faces Kansas City Royals right-hander Seth Lugo, who has nine wins in 14 starts. However, Lugo has made consecutive starts against first-place teams (Yankees and Guardians) and has nine earned runs in 13 total innings. Despite these difficulties, Lugo has still only allowed a .206 on-base percentage with runners in scoring position, which is the third-best mark among qualified pitchers, according to the stats. Inner edgeBut given his recent struggles, the Dodgers should be able to provide Yamamoto with plenty of run support.

This is a three-star play, as Yamamoto is coming off his most brilliant major league performance, holding a Yankees lineup that leads the league in runs, wOBA and wRC+ to just two hits and seven strikeouts in seven scoreless innings at hitter-friendly Yankee Stadium.

Best odds: +125 via bet365

Paul Goldschmidt over 0.5 RBIs ⭐⭐⭐

Game Information: St. Louis Cardinals vs. Chicago Cubs | Money line: Cubs (-180 via bet365) | In total: 8 via bet365 | Start time: 2:20 p.m. ET

Over the past two seasons, Paul Goldschmidt ranks third among all hitters with a 187 wRC+ and a .441 wOBA, and also has the second-highest BABIP (.411) against left-handed pitchers. Goldschmidt isn't tormenting lefties nearly as often this season as he did the past two, but he's still hitting a respectable .277/.365/.369 this split, and through Friday he'd scored at least one run in three of his past six games. His home run in Thursday's series-clinching win over the Pittsburgh Pirates was Mitch Keller's first since May 6 and just his seventh all season.

This is a three-star play because Cubs left-hander Shota Imanaga has shown vulnerability of late, with a 5.87 ERA in his last three starts compared to a 0.84 ERA in his first nine. Imanaga has also allowed a .345 slugging percentage to right-handers, versus .288 to left-handers, so we have good odds at three of our top sports betting sites if Goldschmidt scores a run.

Best odds: +175 via BetMGM

William Contreras Over 1.5 total bases ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Game Information: Cincinnati Reds vs. Milwaukee Brewers | Money line: Brewers (-130 via bet365) | In total: 9 via bet365 | Start time: 4:10 p.m. ET

After Wednesday's series finale against the Toronto Blue Jays, Milwaukee Brewers catcher Wison Contreras was on pace for a career-high in wRC+ and was also on pace to surpass 40 doubles and 20 home runs this year. And according to ESPN's Buster Olney, Contreras' success was largely due to his improved batting discipline, as he swung outside the zone on just 24.1% of pitches, compared to 30.2% three years ago.

Contreras has destroyed left-handed pitchers over the past two seasons, as no 2022-23 player has a higher BABIP (.414), slugging (.628) or wRC+ (189) against lefties. He has a 1.318 OPS in 11 career at-bats against Reds left-hander Andrew Abbott, and since two of his five hits during that span have gone for extra bases, we're making this a confident four-star.

Best odds: +110 via DraftKings, FanDuel

Nathan Eovaldi Over 6.5 Strikeouts ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Game Information: Texas Rangers vs Seattle Mariners | Money line: Mariners (-130 via bet365) | In total: 6.5 via bet365 | Start time: 7:15 p.m. ET

The Seattle Mariners entered Thursday's game against the Chicago White Sox with the second-highest strikeout rate (26.1%) in the major leagues against left-handed pitchers, and struck out Garrett Crochet 13 times, the most strikeouts by a White Sox pitcher since Lance Lynn last June.

Seattle is even worse against right-handed pitchers, striking out at 27.7% this split, which is the worst in MLB. Eovaldi's 9.2 K/9 rate so far is on pace to be his best since 2021, and his career K/9 rate of 9.7 against the Mariners is his highest against an AL opponent.

If Caesars' -148 odds are too high for bettors, bet365's Pitcher Strikeouts Milestones offer offers +128 odds for Eovaldi to throw more than eight strikeouts, a better deal than DraftKings' +120 odds for his alternate strikeout line.

Best odds: -148 about Caesars

MLB player props created Saturday at 6:09 a.m. ET.

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