Pablo Lopez cashed our K prop last night, but rain in the Phillies game caused our parlay to be refunded. As Nuke Laloosh said in Bull Durham, "Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes it rains."
Let's get back into the winner's circle tonight! Here are 2 MLB props for Tuesday, August 8. Good luck with your plays!
Yusei Kikuchi UNDER 5.5 Strikeouts
Let me be the first to say that I like Kikuchi. Heck, I even made him and the Jays part of my MLB best bets card for Tuesday. However, my numbers show that this line is a shade too high.
Kikuchi has very live fastball that averages 95 mph and a late-breaking slider that's tough to hit. That's probably why the veteran lefty has a very respectable K-rate of 24.6% (60th percentile). The problem is that this Cleveland lineup doesn't strike out all that often.
The Guardians have one of the lowest K-rates in the league against left-handed pitchers. Kikuchi's median K-rate is a little more than 5 per game. It looks like the oddsmakers just threw that number out there without making an adjustment for Cleveland's lineup. Play the Under and look for Kikuchi to finish with 4 strikeouts!
Max Scherzer OVER 7.5 Strikeouts
This one just looks too easy! Scherzer continues to strike hitters out at a very high rate, even at 39 years of age. Mad Max still averages 94 mph with his fastball and his slider is still pretty good as well.
Scherzer's K-rate of 27.7% may be a bit low for him but it's still in the 79th percentile by MLB standards. His whiff rate isn't too bad either, as it's in the 68th percentile. Scherzer gets a lot of good movement on both his fastball and his curveball.
We all know how bad this Oakland A's team is. Their lineup is packed with young hitters that strike out a ton versus right-handed pitchers. In Monday's lineup, 7 of Oakland's hitters had K-rates of 23.3% or higher. Scherzer should have them swinging and missing for most of the evening. Take the Over!
