While Saturdays may be all about college football, there is still plenty of action this afternoon on the diamond.
So for today's player props, I'm targeting two of the game's best who are in great spots to shine this afternoon. Let's find out who they are and how we're betting them.
Our Action Labs Props Tool grades each prop on a scale from 1-10, and I'll be sure to include the grade for each of my betting recommendations in my discussions below.
Shane Bieber Over 5.5 Strikeouts (-155)
| Twins @ Guardians | |
| First Pitch | 1:10 p.m. ET |
| Best Line | DraftKings |
The Guardians' ace has been dialed in over the last two months. He finished August with a 1.62 ERA and has a 2.11 ERA through three starts in September. A big part of Bieber's success has been his uptick in strikeouts. He has struck out 60 batters over his last 50 innings, and that trend should continue in this afternoon's outing.
The Minnesota Twins have been solid offensively over the past two weeks, but over one-quarter of their outs have been strikeouts. Minnesota holds the seventh-highest strikeout rate in the majors over the past two weeks, striking out at a three percent higher rate than the league average.
Lastly, this total is just too low for Bieber, not only because he has been on a tear over the last two months, but because he's also proven it throughout the season. He has gone over this total in 70.4 percent of his starts this season, which gives us implied odds of -237 that he'll go over again.
Pick: Over 5.5 Strikeouts -155
Action Labs Grade: 8/10
Paul Goldschmidt Over 1.5 Total Bases (-105)
| Reds @ Cardinals | |
| First Pitch | 1:15 p.m. ET |
| Best Line | DraftKings |
It's not often we get the best hitter in that National League in a great matchup and don't have to pay significant juice on him. However, that's what we got here this afternoon.
Paul Goldschmidt is in the midst of an incredible season as he is making a serious push for the league's Triple Crown. Today, he should be able to pad his stats against Mike Minor.
Minor has been a pinball out on the mound this season as he enters with a 5.78 ERA through 18 starts. He's also been hit quite hard by this St. Louis lineup as he's given up 12 hits and seven earned runs in just 8 2/3 innings against them this year. It should be no surprise that Goldschmidt has been right in the middle of all that damage.
Goldy has hit Minor well not only this season but throughout his career as well. Overall, he is 9-for-15 with three homers and a double. On top of his great numbers against Minor, Goldschmidt has also crushed lefties this season, hitting .427 with a 1.378 OPS against them.
All signs point to another big day from your future NL MVP.
Pick: Over 1.5 total bases
Action Labs Grade: 10/10
