MLB Bets Today: Best MLB Bets and Props for Monday, August 18
We're heading into a new week in Major League Baseball, and we have a total of 13 games on the schedule, with one day-night doubleheader, and six teams off. We'll take a deep dive into a pair of National League West Division battles.
We'll focus on the Los Angeles Dodgers and Colorado Rockies, playing at 8:40 p.m. ET from Coors Field in Denver, as well as the battle between the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres at 9:40 p.m. ET from Petco Park.
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Los Angeles Dodgers vs Colorado Rockies Best Bets
The Los Angeles Dodgers (71-53), fresh off a statement series sweep against the San Diego Padres, head for the mountains to battle the lowly Colorado Rockies (35-89) at Coors Field for the start of a four-game set.
L.A. leads the season series 6-0, winning by a combined 40-19 margin, with all games as a favorite of -235 or higher. That includes a three-game series sweep in Denver June 24-26. The Under is 4-2 in the six meetings this season.
The Dodgers turn to RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto (10-8, 2.84 ERA, 1.09 WHIP) across his 23 starts this season, and he is 7-3 with a 2.28 ERA and 1.00 WHIP across 71 IP in 13 starts, with the opposition hitting just .189 against him. He also has 79 strikeouts in that span.
The Rockies are second in the majors with 1,159 strikeouts across 124 games, which leads the National League. That's good for 9.35 strikeouts per game, so we'll definitely look to Yamamoto's strikeout total, and the Over.
Yamamoto is even-money (+118 at FanDuel Sportsbook) to go for seven or more strikeouts, and that's a fantastic value. In a start on June 25 in Colorado, he allowed just a single and one walk across five scoreless innings with six strikeouts in a 56-pitch effort. He was on his way to a gem, but a rain delay of 1 hour, 27 minutes meant that the bullpen would come back to finish that one up.
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The Rockies counter with LHP Kyle Freeland (3-12, 5.18 ERA, 1.49 WHIP), and he has mostly been a disaster across his 22 starts and 116.1 IP. While he has been better lately, going 2-3 with a 4.42 ERA and 1.27 WHIP, he still has a long way to go before he is considered even remotely respectable.
At Coors Field, the southpaw is 1-5 with 6.52 ERA and 1.86 WHIP across 48 1/3 IP in 10 starts, and teams are knocking him around to the tune of a .348 average with six homers allowed.
One particular Dodgers hitter who handles the twig well against lefties is Andy Pages. He is hitting .295 (33-for-112) with four doubles, three homers and 15 RBI vs. LHP this season. We'll take him to get to at least 2+ Total Bases in this game.
And, we'll roll with the Dodgers laying the alternate line of -2.5 for a solid third leg for a same-game parlay.
Dodgers vs. Rockies Best Bets
- Yoshinobu Yamamoto - 7+ Strikeouts (+118 at FanDuel Sportsbook)
- Andy Pages - Over 1.5 Total Bases (-135 at Caesars Sportsbook)
- Dodgers -2.5 (-120 at ESPN Bet Sportsbook)
San Francisco Giants vs San Diego Padres Best Bets
The Giants (60-64) and Padres (69-55) meet at Petco Park in San Diego on Monday night at 9:40 p.m. ET.
The Padres are looking to get their mojo back after getting knocked around by the Dodgers over the weekend in Los Angeles. San Diego entered the series with a one-game lead in the NL West, but after a sweep at the hands of Dodger Blue, they're back to two games back.
The Giants salvaged the series finale Sunday at home against the Tampa Bay Rays, winning 7-1, after dropping a pair of one-run games to open the set. That victory also halted a seven-game freefall, which saw San Francisco plate two or fewer runs in six of the seven losses.
We have a pair of southpaws on tap for the series opener, as LHP Robbie Ray (9-6, 2.98 ERA, 1.14 WHIP) goes for the Giants, while Nestor Cortes (1-1, 5.71 ERA, 1.56 WHIP) goes the Padres. San Francisco is just 12-21 this season vs. LHP, while San Diego is above water at 21-19 vs. LHP.
Let's side with the Padres to get the job done straight up, while going low on the total. Eight runs is a lot, as the Under is 5-2 in the past seven meetings between these teams, including a matchup of Ray vs. Cortes at Oracle Park in San Francisco last Tuesday which resulted in a 5-1 Padres victory. In fact, the Giants scored exactly one run in all three of those losses.
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Giants vs. Padres Best Bets
- Padres ML (-138 at FanDuel Sportsbook)
- Under 8 (-121 at Fanatics Sportsbook)
MLB Best Bets Monday Recap
- Yoshinobu Yamamoto - 7+ Strikeouts (+118 at FanDuel Sportsbook)
- Andy Pages - Over 1.5 Total Bases (-135 at Caesars Sportsbook)
- Dodgers -2.5 (-120 at ESPN Bet Sportsbook)
- Padres ML (-138 at FanDuel Sportsbook)
- Giants-Padres - Under 8 (-121 at Fanatics Sportsbook)