Yordan Alvarez, Elly De La Cruz, Chase Burns: 3 Best MLB Props to Bet Today

Thursday night’s MLB slate is stacked, but three names stand above the rest when it comes to betting value: Yordan Alvarez, Elly De La Cruz, and Chase Burns. One is the most feared power bat in the American League right now, one is hitting like he’s chasing a batting title in September, and one is a strikeout machine getting a golden matchup at home. These aren’t just good bets — they’re the kind of props that make you want to fire up the sportsbook app before first pitch.

We dug into the recent form, the matchups, and the underlying numbers for all three, and each one tells a story about why the smart money is circling. Here’s the breakdown, pick by pick.

Yordan Alvarez to Go Deep Again vs. Kansas City

Yordan Alvarez has been must-watch television lately, and the Royals have gotten a front-row seat. Alvarez clubbed his 39th home run of the season on September 15 against Kansas City — a two-run shot in a 4-2 Astros win — and he backed it up with more damage on September 17, continuing a stretch where he’s reached base safely in 11 of his last 12 games. At .310/.429/.594 on the year with 39 home runs and 98 RBI, Alvarez is squarely in the middle of one of the best offensive seasons of his career, and Kansas City’s pitching staff has already found out the hard way what happens when they leave one over the plate.

The power surge is real: after a quieter stretch with just a handful of homers over a 30-game span, Alvarez has flipped the switch against this exact opponent, going deep in back-to-back looks at Royals pitching this week. When a bat this dangerous gets hot against a team it’s already comfortable facing, the home run prop becomes one of the more attractive plays on the board — especially with Houston’s lineup rolling and needing every bit of thump from its DH spot.

Elly De La Cruz Riding the Hottest Bat in Baseball

If you want a hitter locked in at the best possible time, look no further than Elly De La Cruz. The Reds shortstop has been an absolute force in September, hitting .397 with seven home runs, 14 RBI, and a preposterous 1.298 OPS in his last 20 games — a stretch that’s tied him for the MLB lead in home runs this month. Zoom out to his September splits specifically and you get a .426 average, going 23-for-54 in a month where most hitters are running out of gas.

Facing the Cubs on the road doesn’t figure to slow him down. De La Cruz has reached base or delivered a hit in the overwhelming majority of his recent games, and his combination of raw power and elite bat speed makes him one of the toughest outs in the National League right now. With a .284 average, 28 home runs, and 26 stolen bases on the season, this is a switch-hitter peaking at the perfect time, and betting on him to get a hit tonight is betting on the hottest player in baseball to stay hot.

Chase Burns Piling Up Strikeouts Against Chicago

While the bats are getting the headlines, don’t sleep on Chase Burns going to work on the mound. The Reds’ 23-year-old right-hander has been one of the best strikeout artists in the league all year, sitting at 181 strikeouts, a 15-3 record, and a sparkling 2.80 ERA across his starts. That kind of workload — averaging well over a strikeout per inning — puts him in rare company among the National League’s top arms this season.

Burns has a track record against this Cubs lineup, too, having already carved them up earlier this year with a strong outing at Wrigley Field. Chicago’s lineup strikes out at a solid clip as a team, and Burns has the swing-and-miss stuff — a power fastball paired with a nasty breaking ball — to keep piling up punchouts regardless of the ballpark. With his ERA sitting under 3.00 and his strikeout total climbing every time out, this is one of the safer bets to build a slip around tonight.

Lock These In

Three completely different flavors of prop, three of the best reasons to bet on tonight’s MLB slate. Alvarez is a red-hot power bat against a team he’s already torched twice this week. De La Cruz might be the single hottest hitter in the sport right now. And Burns is a strikeout machine getting a favorable matchup at home. Whether you like these as straight bets or want to stack them into a same game parlay, all three profiles point the same direction: recent, real, and repeatable.

• Yordan Alvarez OVER 0.5 Home Runs (check your book for current odds)
• Elly De La Cruz OVER 0.5 Hits (check your book for current odds)
• Chase Burns OVER 6.5 Strikeouts (check your book for current odds)

Shop around for the best number on each of these before locking in your bet slip — the value is there, but a few extra cents at a different odds shopping stop can make a real difference on a three-leg night like this.