Today’s MLB Prop Picks: Handicapping Wednesday’s 15-Game Slate

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All 30 MLB teams will be in action on Wednesday, May 18, which means there’s going to be a whole lot of baseball to bet on today.

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As always, we’ve got you taken care of if you’re looking for some traditional analysis on some of the days’ bigger games, but there are other ways to make some money on today’s slate

While taking moneyline, run lines, and totals can be exciting enough, there might not be anything that beats betting on player props. With that in mind, we’re looking at some of our favourite ones of the day here.

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MLB props for May 18

Picks made on 5/18/2022 at 11:30 a.m. ET.
Click on each pick to jump to the full analysis.

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Today’s best MLB prop bets

Buehler… Buehler?

Walker Buehler has been one of the best pitchers in baseball since the start of the 2018 season, and he’s once again going to be right in the mix for the NL Cy Young Award in 2022.

The righty is 4-1 with a 2.81 ERA right now, and he had a 1.96 ERA before turning in a lousy outing against the Philadelphia Phillies last game. With that said, his numbers should get better rather quickly, and a meeting with the Arizona Diamondbacks should help.

When Buehler faced this Arizona lineup on April 25, the righty struck out 10 batters in a complete-game shutout. Los Angeles won that game 4-0 and the team is favoured big to win again here. In addition to dominating the Diamondbacks in his last time out, Buehler was also 3-0 with a 0.89 ERA in three starts against Arizona last year. He struck out 25 batters over those three starts.

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With all of that in mind, it’s just hard to see why Buehler wouldn’t reach the six-strikeout mark in this game. He has some of the best stuff in the game, and this Diamondbacks lineup can really struggle to make contact. In fact, Arizona has the highest strikeout rate in baseball against right-handed pitching at 25.7%.

Pick: Walker Buehler Over 5.5 strikeouts (-118)

Rizzo time

Rizzo is batting just .154 since the start of May, which has dropped his batting average from .269 to .225 this season. The lefty slugger has, however, recorded at least one hit in five of the last six games, and he has gotten at least two total bases in three of those six contests. Now, Rizzo has a match-up that he is going to be really looking forward to.

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The last time Rizzo faced Orioles starter Jordan Lyles, the former Cubs superstar hit two homers off of the righty — and ultimately ended up hitting a third off the Baltimore bullpen later in the game.

Of course, it’s not exactly fair to expect that type of power again, but this is a match-up that Rizzo is clearly comfortable with, and it wouldn’t be surprising if he were to have multiple hits here. And even if he doesn’t, a double would help bettors cash in.

It should also just be noted that Rizzo has always hit right-handed pitching well, as he is batting .272 against righties in his career. When compared to the .254 he hits against lefties, you can see that this is the type of game he prefers.

Pick: Anthony Rizzo Over 1.5 total bases (+130)

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Grandal finale

Our final player prop of the day will feature Grandal looking to find a way to get a hit against Zack Greinke. The catcher has actually had a lot of success against the righty in his career, as he is 13-for-48 against the veteran starter.

He’s not the hitter he once was at this point in time, but he should feel some comfort going against Greinke here.

Grandal has also gotten a hit in two of his last three games, which has brought his putrid batting average up to .174. Of course, that number is not something you really want to hear before backing a player to get a hit, but the point is that his confidence should be coming back a bit after some decent performances this week.

Furthermore, this game appears to have a good chance of going Over the total, meaning we can expect some good performances from unexpected places.

Pick: Yasmani Grandal Over 0.5 hits (-180)

This article originally appeared on Covers.com, read the full article here