For Thursday, Mike Barner has your May 20 MLB Prop Bet Tips and 5/20/21 MLB Player Prop Bets. All odds were obtained from PointsBet.
Thursday brings a fairly limited slate across baseball, especially if you want to focus your action on the evening set of games. Still, I’ll look to improve on my season record of 2-1 (+0.25 units) with the following three wagers.
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May 20 MLB Prop Bet Tips
Freddie Freeman, Atlanta Braves vs. Pittsburgh Pirates
To Record an RBI (-150)
Wager: 1 unit (win would pay 1.67 units)
Freeman is off to a slow start this season with a .227 batting average — well below his career mark of .293. He’s been pretty unlucky given his .202 BABIP, however, so expect to start turning things around shortly. He’s already shown signs of heating up, going 13-for-41 (.317) over his last 11 games. He’s also recorded 10 RBIs during that stretch, giving him a total of 28 on the season. Freeman will have a favorable chance to drive in another run today against righty Wil Crowe (4.35 ERA) and the Pirates, who have the 10th-highest team ERA in baseball this year.
Marcus Semien, Toronto Blue Jays vs. Boston Red Sox
To Record a Hit (-250)
Wager: 1 unit (win would pay 1.4 units)
Semien has caught fire after a sluggish April, slashing .377/.427/.710 with 13 extra-base hits in May thus far. He’s also hit safely in 15 of 17 games this month, including multiple hits in each of his last three games. Toronto’s leadoff man will have a good chance to get another knock tonight against Nick Pivetta, who’s surrendered over a hit per inning throughout his career while allowing righties to bat .269 against him.
J.D. Martinez, Boston Red Sox at Toronto Blue Jays
To Hit a Home Run (+260)
Wager: 0.5 units (win would pay 1.8 units)
Home run wagers are certainly risky, but I like taking a chance here with Martinez. He’s already gone deep 11 times this season, including in Wednesday’s game against these same Blue Jays. A matchup against lefty Steven Matz is also enticing considering that Matz has been extremely homer-prone lately, allowing 20 dingers across 72 2/3 innings dating back to the start of last season. Martinez also destroys left-handed pitching, as he owns a career .590 slugging percentage versus southpaws, so don’t be surprised if he goes deep again tonight.
After reading May 20 MLB Prop Bet Tips and 5/20/21 MLB Player Prop Bets, step up to the plate and make your MLB bets for May 20:
- Read the rest of our MLB betting tips for May 20 and beyond.
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