Nope. Last week was not it. It&rsquo;s a new week though, so let&rsquo;s not dwell on the past. Let&rsquo;s look to the future, which is one of my favorite arms on the bump today.

&nbsp;

If you still need a PrizePicks account, get a free $100 deposit match when you use promo code KARMA and <a href="https://app.prizepicks.com/sign-up?invite_code=KARMA">click this link to sign up: Claim your $100 bonus</a>&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Shane McClanahan OVER/UNDER 7 Strikeouts

&nbsp;

At this point, if it feels like I have played Shane McClanahan every time he starts, it&rsquo;s because I pretty much have. But how could I not? The kid is yet again the early season front-runner for the Cy Young for the second year in a row. He&rsquo;s pitching to an 8-0 mark, 1.97 ERA, and 75 K&rsquo;s in only 64 innings. Sugar Shane is as consistent as they come.

&nbsp;

The Cubs were riding the struggle bus before their extremely tight win over Tampa yesterday. Snapping a four-game losing streak, thanks to Marcus Stroman&rsquo;s near no-hitter, Chicago will have to see the premier lefty in the MLB. The bad news is the Cubs have struck out the eighth most times in the majors this season (488). However, they have absolutely mashed lefty pitching to the tune of a .277 average and .805 OPS. That being said, the only lefties who could even be deemed comparable to McClanahan are Clayton Kershaw (6 K&rsquo;s), Julio Urias (6 K&rsquo;s), and Framber Valdez (8 K&rsquo;s).&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Outside of those southpaws, Chicago has not faced any studs. And let&rsquo;s be clear, all of those dudes can pitch, but none of them has the stuff that Sugar Shane has. McClanahan has notched seven K&rsquo;s in four of his last five starts. In all transparency, he&rsquo;s been a bit more suspect in the strikeout department on the road, averaging only 5.4 compared to eight at home. Even with subtle indicators telling me this may be an underperforming spot, it&rsquo;s too difficult for me not to back Sugar Shane.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Pick: McClanahan 7+ K&rsquo;s

&nbsp;

&nbsp;If you play a ton on PrizePicks like the rest of us at Karma, you definitely want to sign up for access to the PrizePicks Predictor on this site! It includes A.I. Player Prop Projections EVERY DAY for NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB, CFB, CBB, WNBA, and more! <a href="https://betkarma.com/prizepicks-predictor">Click here to check it out for FREE!</a>&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Aaron Judge OVER/UNDER 1.5 Total Bases

&nbsp;

The Judge is back. Aaron Judge has been sensational since he returned from the IL a few weeks ago. He&rsquo;s batting .357 with ELEVEN TATERS and a 1.377 OPS! He had two bombs last night and a home run robbery. Guy is doing what he did last year, which is willing the Yankees to victory. I know he doesn&rsquo;t want this magic month to end, but on the last day of it, I think we can capitalize on the pixie dust that&rsquo;s on his bat.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Judge is riding a four-game hit streak. In that time period, he has seven hits. Five of those seven hits are for extra bases. With Seattle throwing Logan Gilbert tonight, there is an interesting note I would like to share with you. Against RHP, the reigning MVP is batting .328 with 16 long balls and a 1.182 OPS this season. Gilbert has had Judge&rsquo;s number in a small sample size (1-6 lifetime against him), but it&rsquo;s too miniscule to actually think that&rsquo;s a noteworthy number.

&nbsp;

At the end of the day, Judge is one of the best players in baseball when healthy. And there are very few hitters that can extend a hot streak like he can. When this dude is on fire, ride the train until the wheels fall off. I have to think Aaron is in for an encore tonight!

&nbsp;

Pick: Judge OVER 1.5 Total Bases

 
&nbsp;

&nbsp;

 
 
 
&nbsp;

PrizePicks Player Prop Parlay +300

McClanahan 7+ K&rsquo;s

Judge OVER 1.5 Total Bases

&nbsp;

 Nope. Last week was not it. It&rsquo;s a new week though, so let&rsquo;s not dwell on the past. Let&rsquo;s look to the future, which is one of my favorite arms on the bump today.&nbsp;If you still need a PrizePicks account, get a free $100 deposit 

Today's Taste - Best MLB PrizePicks Player Props (5/30/23)

JEEEEEEZZZZZ. Spot on with Zack Wheeler, but Corbin Burnes picks the first time in like six starts to ramp up the K&rsquo;s. Been like that lately. Looking to at least give one winner this week that would redeem my past sins of my plays. Let&rsquo;s get one.

&nbsp;

If you still need a PrizePicks account, get a free $100 deposit match when you use promo code KARMA and <a href="https://app.prizepicks.com/sign-up?invite_code=KARMA">click this link to sign up: Claim your $100 bonus</a>&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Dylan Cease OVER/UNDER 6 Strikeouts

&nbsp;

Dylan Cease has pitched extremely well as of late. The strikeouts are definitely way down from the past couple of seasons. I have had a hard time figuring out why. One theory I had was because he only uses three pitches mainly, and the teams have a lot of data on the 2022 best pitch in baseball, his wipeout slider. Combine that with him not being able to consistently locate it on a put away count, that might make sense. Then again, I thought maybe he isn&rsquo;t trying to strike everybody out like the past. This season, at least lately, he is not overthrowing like he has been. Instead he&rsquo;s simply pitching to contact, and it&rsquo;s worked wonders.

&nbsp;

Cease Daddy has had NINE straight starts with six K&rsquo;s or less. That&rsquo;s actually comical&hellip; and the longest streak since 2020. We want Cease to be the premier strikeout guy that he is and has been. For right now though, I don&rsquo;t believe he is focused on doing so. Because he&rsquo;s had three straight quality starts, the formula might continue as is.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

He&rsquo;s facing a Tigers&rsquo; lineup he has historically notched a lot of K&rsquo;s against. And this year, that team is actually top 10 in fewest punchouts. Detroit has typically deployed a very lefty-heavy lineup against Cease, which really hasn&rsquo;t mattered both historically or this season. Based on matchup and history, Cease is definitely capable of a high strikeout game. However, I just don&rsquo;t see it happening today, even if he is due. The number at the books is set at 6.5, so if we go off that, I think he stays under today.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Pick: Cease Under 6 K&rsquo;s

&nbsp;

&nbsp;If you play a ton on PrizePicks like the rest of us at Karma, you definitely want to sign up for access to the PrizePicks Predictor on this site! It includes A.I. Player Prop Projections EVERY DAY for NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB, CFB, CBB, WNBA, and more! <a href="https://betkarma.com/prizepicks-predictor">Click here to check it out for FREE!</a>&nbsp;

Spencer Strider OVER/UNDER 9 Strikeouts

&nbsp;

I&rsquo;m sick of the immensely talented Spencer Strider. For my own selfish reason, I really need to see him fall off a cliff. The selfish reasons being I bet Hunter Greene to lead the MLB in K&rsquo;s at 60/1. Strider is hitting his&hellip;stride to start 2023. It&rsquo;s not much of a surprise considering how well he did as a rookie last season. With Max Fried out indefinitely, the Braves turned to this dude with gigantic quads to be the guy, and he hasn&rsquo;t failed them.

&nbsp;

Strider has had nine K&rsquo;s in all but two of his 10 starts this year, where he logged seven and eight respectfully. We could try and break down what makes him so good. But that fact is he has a rocket fastball that hits triple digits, with a whirlwind slider, and a show-me changeup. Because of his arsenal, he has been able to accomplish a lot of strikeouts in five or six innings. Today, he gets a Phillies team that is top 10 in the league in K&rsquo;s (468). They have four players who punched out at least 50 times, and five who have been sat down 40 times. With all this swing and miss prowess, there is a good chance SS can drop another nine K&rsquo;s on this lineup.

&nbsp;

The books are setting this number at 8.5, as usual. It&rsquo;s high, but it&rsquo;s been standard most of the year. I&rsquo;ve rarely seen a pitcher who has had this many K props set at 8.5, but Strider is definitely deserving of it. It&rsquo;s a good play to take him at the over today.

&nbsp;

Pick: Strider 9+ K&rsquo;s

 
&nbsp;

&nbsp;

 
 
 
&nbsp;

PrizePicks Player Prop Parlay +300

Cease Under 6 K&rsquo;s

Strider 9+ K&rsquo;s

&nbsp;

 JEEEEEEZZZZZ. Spot on with Zack Wheeler, but Corbin Burnes picks the first time in like six starts to ramp up the K&rsquo;s. Been like that lately. Looking to at least give one winner this week that would redeem my past sins of my plays. Let&rsquo;s

Today's Taste - Best MLB PrizePicks Player Props (5/28/23)

Right now is full steam ahead on the College Baseball front, but we have a little time to sneak in an MLB PrizePick parleezy. As usual, I look to target the power arms in my quest to nail down a three unit, two leg play. Let&rsquo;s roll.

&nbsp;

If you still need a PrizePicks account, get a free $100 deposit match when you use promo code KARMA and <a href="https://app.prizepicks.com/sign-up?invite_code=KARMA">click this link to sign up: Claim your $100 bonus</a>&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Zack Wheeler OVER/UNDER 6.5 Strikeouts

&nbsp;

I&rsquo;ve featured &ldquo;Baby Back&rdquo; or &ldquo;Throw it back&rdquo; Zack several times by now. There&rsquo;s a thought around the league that he&rsquo;s not a top tier pitcher anymore. Maybe that&rsquo;s what I think other people think, but anyway, Wheeler is still a great arm. He may not be elite like he was for the brief twinkling of a star, but I think putting him as a top 10 starting pitcher in the MLB isn&rsquo;t far-fetched. In something of a down year, he&rsquo;s logged five quality starts in 10 tries. The reason I really wanted to highlight him is because it&rsquo;s a special occasion!

&nbsp;

There are certain trends that bettors like to look for or follow. Sometimes they are difficult to spot as they start to pick up steam. Some are well kept secrets. Wheeler against the Braves might classify as just that. Since he came to the Phillies, there has arguably been no better pitcher against Atlanta than the Phillies&rsquo; right-hander. In the 10 starts as a Phillie against ATL, Wheeler has logged eight quality starts, and at least seven punchies eight times.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

When you factor in those numbers with the fact that the Bravos are middle of the pack in the MLB with strikeouts. A little bizarre considering they have been one of the most strikeout prone teams in the majors for the last couple seasons.The K numbers aren&rsquo;t eye-popping for Zack right now, but they&rsquo;re still strong (64 K&rsquo;s in 57 innings). Wheeler should be in line for another strong start this afternoon, possibly a ladder play.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Pick: Wheeler OVER 6.5 K&rsquo;s

&nbsp;

&nbsp;If you play a ton on PrizePicks like the rest of us at Karma, you definitely want to sign up for access to the PrizePicks Predictor on this site! It includes A.I. Player Prop Projections EVERY DAY for NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB, CFB, CBB, WNBA, and more! <a href="https://betkarma.com/prizepicks-predictor">Click here to check it out for FREE!</a>&nbsp;

 
&nbsp;

Corbin Burnes OVER/UNDER 7 Strikeouts

&nbsp;

One of the biggest shocks of the 2023 season has been the rapid decline of Corbin Burnes. A perennial Cy Young favorite for the last couple years, Burnes has had a dramatic demise to start the year. A lot has been made of the failed contract negotiations stemming from the winter, but whatever the case is, this guy is not the same pitcher right now. I&rsquo;m a huge fan of Corb Daddy, but something is going on that is affecting his play.

&nbsp;

Pitching wise, he&rsquo;s been a lot better recently, logging four quality starts out of his last five tries. A lot of it may just be overcoming a horrendous start. However, the one thing that he is not succeeding at is the thing he became famous for, the strikeouts. Burnes only has 51 punchouts in 56.2 innings, a far cry from the guy who notched 234 K&rsquo;s in 2021 and 243 in 2022. At the end of the day, Burnes is just getting started, and he will probably figure it all out soon. In the meantime, he sees a San Francisco team that is one of the worst strikeout lineups in baseball. SF punches out the third-most times (503) in the league, which has been a huge advantage for a lot of K prop overs this year.

&nbsp;

Unfortunately, I don&rsquo;t believe I can ride the over here. I may end up regretting it, but Burnes has only hit seven K&rsquo;s in three of his 10 outings this season. Also, he&rsquo;s been a much different pitcher at home this season. In Milwaukee, he&rsquo;s pitched to a 4.78 ERA, .260 OBA, and 25 K&rsquo;s in 26.1 innings. At home, his K numbers have been five, seven, five, five, three. Not to mention, he only logged five K&rsquo;s in his first start against SF. I love Corbin, but I need to see it before I get back on the train.

&nbsp;

Pick: Burnes UNDER 7 K&rsquo;s

 
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&nbsp;

PrizePicks Player Prop Parlay +300

Wheeler OVER 6.5 K&rsquo;s

Burnes UNDER 7 K&rsquo;s

&nbsp;

 Right now is full steam ahead on the College Baseball front, but we have a little time to sneak in an MLB PrizePick parleezy. As usual, I look to target the power arms in my quest to nail down a three unit, two leg play. Let&rsquo;s roll.&nbsp;If yo

Today's Taste - Best MLB PrizePicks Player Props (5/27/23)

Only when I play Ronald Acuna does he find time to take a night off. Tuesday was a loser, but Wednesday features the player I bet more than anybody else. Can you guess who that is?

&nbsp;

If you still need a PrizePicks account, get a free $100 deposit match when you use promo code KARMA and <a href="https://app.prizepicks.com/sign-up?invite_code=KARMA">click this link to sign up: Claim your $100 bonus</a>&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Shane McClanahan OVER/UNDER 6 Strikeouts

&nbsp;

SUGAR SHANE. How many times has this dude been on my card? A half dozen at least. The Rays have an intriguing matchup with the Toronto Blue Jays. The Jays just cracked Tampa last night 20-1, something that we think would be answered by the top team in baseball. With McClanahan at the top of the list for the AL Cy Young, it&rsquo;s important he tally up another strong outing.

&nbsp;

McClanahan has been a little elusive for me his last couple of starts, but I think we&rsquo;re on the right side today. He faces a Blue Jays lineup that has a ton of power, and little swing and miss. The Jays are a top 10 team in not striking out. They hit lefties as well as they do righties with a batting average of at least .265 from both sides of the plate. On paper, it seems like a clear no go for Sugar. But what we do know is there are no lefty pitchers like McClanahan. Toronto hasn&rsquo;t faced anybody in the same league as they have with the Rays&rsquo; ace.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

In an earlier start this year, Shane had six K&rsquo;s in six innings, as he only allowed one earned run. It&rsquo;s true he saw the Jays three times last year, and went under six strikeouts in two of them. It is a difficult matchup, no denying that. But a guy like Sugar Shane always has a great chance to hit his strikeout over. Toronto has seven different players with at least 30 strikeouts. I&rsquo;m taking my chances with this superstar.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Pick: McClanahan 6+ K&rsquo;s

&nbsp;

&nbsp;If you play a ton on PrizePicks like the rest of us at Karma, you definitely want to sign up for access to the PrizePicks Predictor on this site! It includes A.I. Player Prop Projections EVERY DAY for NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB, CFB, CBB, WNBA, and more! <a href="http://https://betkarma.com/prizepicks-predictor">Click here to check it out for FREE!</a>&nbsp;

 
&nbsp;

Zac Gallen OVER/UNDER 6 Strikeouts

&nbsp;

Gallen getting lit up by the Pirates in his last start was not something I thought we would see. He has been one of the best pitchers in the league this year, and the Pirates made him look like he wasn&rsquo;t ready for the big time. In all fairness, Pittsburgh has been drinking &ldquo;Michael&rsquo;s Secret Stuff&rdquo; all season because they have been doing this to everybody.

&nbsp;

ZG bloated up his stat line after his last outing, but I think there is room to improve today against the Phillies. Philly has lost seven of their last nine, and are in danger of being swept by this Arizona team this afternoon. They currently pose as a top 10 strikeout team (432), and have seven players with at least 30 K&rsquo;s. Three of them actually have north of 50 strikeouts. The Philly team has not even come close to hitting their stride, much like last season. There are still a lot of opportunities to fade them until they figure it out. Gallen has at least six strikeouts in all but two outings this season. I doubt he throws up two stinkers in a row.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Pick: Gallen 6+ K&rsquo;s

 
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&nbsp;

PrizePicks Player Prop Parlay +300

McClanahan 6+ K&rsquo;s

Gallen 6+ Strikeouts

&nbsp;

 Only when I play Ronald Acuna does he find time to take a night off. Tuesday was a loser, but Wednesday features the player I bet more than anybody else. Can you guess who that is?&nbsp;If you still need a PrizePicks account, get a free $100 deposit

Today's Taste - Best MLB PrizePicks Player Props (5/24/23)

The Monday slate was extremely undesirable for me, so that&rsquo;s why I decided to hold off until today. We have some mega-arms on the mound today featuring a few of the premier strikeout artists in the game of baseball.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

If you still need a PrizePicks account, get a free $100 deposit match when you use promo code KARMA and <a href="https://app.prizepicks.com/sign-up?invite_code=KARMA">click this link to sign up: Claim your $100 bonus</a>&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Dylan Cease OVER/UNDER 5 Strikeouts

&nbsp;

The recent K prop totals of one Dylan Cease have been low. So low, in fact, that I haven&rsquo;t seen numbers like this in a few years. We&rsquo;re talking about a guy who is one of the best strikeout arms in the majors. A pitcher who literally had the best pitch in the MLB last season with that slider. Cease daddy has had a big regression after pushing for an AL Cy Young honor. The walks and command are still an issue with him, but teams are no longer caught off guard by what he is throwing. The fastball velocity is a tick down, and the slide piece isn&rsquo;t catching batters by surprise. A lot of that has to do with the punchouts just not being there like the past couple years.

&nbsp;

On Opening Day, Cease Daddy goes down to Houston and dots the defending World Champion Astros for 6.1 innings, no walks, and 10 punchouts. It was maybe the best I have ever seen him look. The next outing, he handled the Giants, a game he logged eight punchies. DC84 looked like he was on his way to another huge season. Unfortunately, the strikeouts especially have been on a bizarre and sharp decline since. In his last eight outings, the White Sox ace has had six K&rsquo;s or less.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

To make matters worse, Chicago has to face one of the best contact teams of the last few seasons. Cleveland remains the leagues&rsquo; best offense at not striking out. With the fewest in the MLB (334), the Guardians have proved to be a team Cease has trouble with on the strikeout front. Including his latest start (May 18th), Dylan has had less than five strikeouts in four of his last five outings against this team. While Cease has done well against this offense, it does not come via the strikeout, usually. The fact that this is the second time in a row he will see this team, it does not typically support the pitcher.

&nbsp;

I can see Cease have a solid performance, but I don&rsquo;t believe five strikeouts will be reached.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Pick: Cease UNDER 5 Strikeouts

&nbsp;

&nbsp;If you play a ton on PrizePicks like the rest of us at Karma, you definitely want to sign up for access to the PrizePicks Predictor on this site! It includes A.I. Player Prop Projections EVERY DAY for NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB, CFB, CBB, WNBA, and more! <a href="https://betkarma.com/prizepicks-predictor">Click here to check it out for FREE!</a>

&nbsp;

Ronald Acuna Jr. OVER/UNDER 1.5 Total Bases

&nbsp;

RAHNNNN STAPPPP! I&rsquo;m obsessed with saying that when Ronald Acuna does literally anything. The guy has been on an absolute tear this season with his .342 batting average, 11 taters, and OPS north of 1.000. RAJ is running away with the NL MVP early on, as he is nearly an even-money favorite. If you look at what the Braves&rsquo; superstar is doing in a rebound season, he has been red hot the entire 2023 campaign.

&nbsp;

Acuna is currently riding a 12-game hit streak. In the month of May, there are only two games where has not recorded a base hit. During the streak, RAJ has either multiple hits or one extra base hit in nine of them. This outlines a great opportunity to ride the hot hand. The Braves will see Dodgers&rsquo; rookie, Bobby Miller, in his MLB debut. The Louisville product was a strong college pitcher with his fireball 100 MPH heater. Miller carries a really nice mix of pitches. He uses a back-breaking change up and twirling slider to complement that flame throwing heater.

&nbsp;

Miller is definitely a predator, not prey. Still, this is a very difficult test in your first MLB start. RAJ is an ultra-aggressive fastball hunter. My guess is Miller will look to get ahead with number one, something that Acuna should look to capitalize on. With the star likely getting at least four plate appearances, I think there is a good shot Ronald stays hot for us.

&nbsp;

Pick: Acuna OVER 1.5 Total Bases

 
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&nbsp;

PrizePicks Player Prop Parlay +300

Cease UNDER 5 Strikeouts

Acuna OVER 1.5 Total Bases

&nbsp;

 The Monday slate was extremely undesirable for me, so that&rsquo;s why I decided to hold off until today. We have some mega-arms on the mound today featuring a few of the premier strikeout artists in the game of baseball.&nbsp;&nbsp;If you still nee

Today's Taste - Best MLB PrizePicks Player Props (5/23/23)

&nbsp;

If you still need a PrizePicks account, get a free $100 deposit match when you use promo code KARMA and <a href="https://app.prizepicks.com/sign-up?invite_code=KARMA">click this link to sign up: Claim your $100 bonus</a>&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Framber Valdez OVER/UNDER 7 Strikeouts

&nbsp;

Framber Valdez has claimed the ace of the Astros role for himself with the departure of Justin Verlander. After a stellar 2022, Valdez has been off to a strong start in 2023 with a 2.84 ERA and 1.12 WHIP. He also just had a streak of seven quality starts snapped after a disappointing outing against the Cubs.

&nbsp;

The lefty has been racking up the punchies thus far, totaling 65 through 57 innings. He has at least seven K&rsquo;s in five of his last six starts. Facing an A&rsquo;s lineup that has the most strikeouts in the MLB (445), there is a good chance Framber goes wild this afternoon. Ironically enough, the A&rsquo;s actually have really strong numbers against lefties this year (.265 average and .776 OPS). The only true stud southpaw they have faced though is Justin Steele, who went six strong against them. The numbers may be a little juked. Although the option is still on the table, I have to side with Valdez to rack up some K&rsquo;s. Oakland has eight players with at least 30 strikeouts.

&nbsp;

Framber saw the A&rsquo;s three times last year. He punched out seven in two of them. I will say this though, there are signs that point to Oakland possibly being able to steal this game. They are a huge underdog at +300. If you wanted a longshot today, the Oakland moneyline is definitely in play.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Pick: Valdez 7+ Strikeouts

&nbsp;

&nbsp;If you play a ton on PrizePicks like the rest of us at Karma, you definitely want to sign up for access to the PrizePicks Predictor on this site! It includes A.I. Player Prop Projections EVERY DAY for NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB, CFB, CBB, WNBA, and more! <a href="https://betkarma.com/prizepicks-predictor">Click here to check it out for FREE!&nbsp;</a>

 
 
 
 
 
 
&nbsp;

Shohei Ohtani OVER/UNDER 8.5 Strikeouts

&nbsp;

It&rsquo;s been the homeruns that have killed Shohei Ohtani this year. He&rsquo;s allowed eight in his last four starts, which have ballooned his ERA from 0.64 to 3.23. His strikeouts have been all over the place as well lately. On Sunday, he draws a Minnesota Twins team that is tied with the Oakland A&rsquo;s for most K&rsquo;s in the MLB this season.

&nbsp;

Even in a butter matchup, I really don&rsquo;t like taking the over on this high of a number. Especially on Sunday&rsquo;s, where things almost always get weird. We missed our PrizePicks parlay the other day because Shane McClanahan fell one K shy, and I flat out said it felt like too high of a number. I guess I&rsquo;m a fool because I might be making the same mistake again. Ohtani has been inconsistent, yes. However, Minnesota&rsquo;s swing-and-miss lineup provides a lot of opportunity for Sho-time to notch a lot of punchies.

&nbsp;

Five different Twins have tallied at least 39 individual K&rsquo;s. This is already a lineup Gerrit Cole dominated for a complete game shutty with 10 K&rsquo;s earlier in the year. It is a high number, but look at it from the basics. Ohtani can strike out a lot of batters because his stuff is elite. AND The Twins lead the majors in strikeouts. Fingers crossed here.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Pick: Ohtani OVER 8.5 K&rsquo;s

 
&nbsp;

&nbsp;

 
 
 
&nbsp;

PrizePicks Player Prop Parlay +300

&nbsp;

Valdez 7+ Strikeouts

Ohtani OVER 8.5 K&rsquo;s

&nbsp;

 &nbsp;If you still need a PrizePicks account, get a free $100 deposit match when you use promo code KARMA and click this link to sign up: Claim your $100 bonus&nbsp;&nbsp;Framber Valdez OVER/UNDER 7 Strikeouts&nbsp;Framber Valdez has claimed the ace

Today's Taste - Best MLB PrizePicks Player Props (5/21/23)

I just sent out a tweet for some of my best Saturday College Baseball plays. The only problem with that is today is Friday. Not only am I losing track of what the day is, but now everybody else knows it too.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

If you still need a PrizePicks account, get a free $100 deposit match when you use promo code KARMA and <a href="https://app.prizepicks.com/sign-up?invite_code=KARMA">click this link to sign up: Claim your $100 bonus</a>&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Yordan Alvarez OVER/UNDER 1.5 Total Bases

&nbsp;

The problem with having so many great players on the board at the same time is picking the right ones. It&rsquo;s incredibly difficult to not pick our guy Yordan Alvarez, especially in the butter matchup he has on deck tonight against the A&rsquo;s. Alvarez is having a robust month of May, batting .309 with a .951 OPS. Coming off an 0-5 night against the Cubs, it seems like a great opportunity for him to get back on track.

&nbsp;

Houston will not only see Ken Waldichuk this evening, but they get their point guard back. That&rsquo;s right! Everybody better head for the hills because Jose Altuve will return for his first game of 2023. When that happens, this Houston lineup could be ready for launch. Altuve provides so much depth for this offense, and consistently boosts the other hitters. In the case of Yodan, he&rsquo;s smashed .300 against lefties this season, and he will see a pitcher with an ERA north of 7.00 and WHIP higher than 1.80. After giving up a dozen taters on the year, I think Waldichuk is a prime candidate to give one up tonight, something that would be very fitting for Alvarez.

&nbsp;

Tonight is a game I imagine the Astros score a ton of runs in a big win. I can see several players logging at least two hits. In this case, it seems like a great bet to think Alvarez grabs at least two bases. He&rsquo;s done so in four of his last seven games.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Pick: Alvarez OVER 1.5 Total Bases

&nbsp;

&nbsp;If you play a ton on PrizePicks like the rest of us at Karma, you definitely want to sign up for access to the PrizePicks Predictor on this site! It includes A.I. Player Prop Projections EVERY DAY for NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB, CFB, CBB, WNBA, and more! <a href="https://betkarma.com/prizepicks-predictor">Click here to check it out for FREE!&nbsp;</a>

 
 
 
&nbsp;

Shane McClanahan OVER/UNDER 8 Strikeouts

&nbsp;

It&rsquo;s so difficult for me to not have Sugar Shane Daddy McClanahan on a write-up when he takes the mound. Believe me, I&rsquo;ve tried looking at other people, but it&rsquo;s like he knows when I don&rsquo;t pick him. He got mopped by the Yankees the other day for his first bad start of the 2023 season. He gets an interesting follow up start with the NL Central leading Milwaukee Brewers.

&nbsp;

Although it&rsquo;s an incredibly high K number for Shane, one that I tried finding ways to take the under, I think it&rsquo;s still fair. Sure, Shane has only had eight K&rsquo;s in one of his last four tries, but he faces a Brewers team that is seventh in the MLB in strikeouts. And they are brutal against lefties with a .216 average and .643 OPS, both more than 30 points lower than against right-handers. We talk about it all the time, no lefty can match Sugar Shane. Four pitches with wild movement that he can all throw for strikes. This is not normal, especially for a southpaw.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

I do think it&rsquo;s a high total, which is why I want to take the under, but in this particular case, I do believe our boy can get himself eight punchouts. The Brewers have six players with at least 36 K&rsquo;s individually this season.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Pick: McClanahan 8+ K&rsquo;s

 
&nbsp;

&nbsp;

 
 
 
&nbsp;

PrizePicks Player Prop Parlay +300

&nbsp;

Alvarez OVER 1.5 Total Bases

McClanahan 8+ K&rsquo;s

&nbsp;

 I just sent out a tweet for some of my best Saturday College Baseball plays. The only problem with that is today is Friday. Not only am I losing track of what the day is, but now everybody else knows it too.&nbsp;&nbsp;If you still need a PrizePicks

Today's Taste - Best MLB PrizePicks Player Props (5/19/23)

That&rsquo;s much better. My two power pitchers delivered last night. Wednesday has some really good arms going, so I&rsquo;ll be looking to attack that. Let&rsquo;s dive in.

&nbsp;

If you still need a PrizePicks account, get a free $100 deposit match when you use promo code KARMA and <a href="https://app.prizepicks.com/sign-up?invite_code=KARMA">click this link to sign up: Claim your $100 bonus</a>&nbsp;

&nbsp;

MacKenzie Gore OVER/UNDER 16.5 outs

&nbsp;

Don&rsquo;t look now, but MacKenzie Gore is putting together a solid season so far. He&rsquo;s had a couple outings that bloated his ERA to 3.29. Sure, the 21 walks in 41 innings isn&rsquo;t fantastic, but he is consistently giving his team a chance to win almost every time he takes the mound. This Nationals starting rotation is on the rise. It&rsquo;s my belief if they draft LSU&rsquo;s pitching prodigy Paul Skenes at number two this summer, they will have the BEST starting rotation in baseball within three years, should this core stay intact. And Gore will be a big reason why. Remember who told you first.

&nbsp;

Gore draws a tough test against the fighting fish on Wednesday. Taking a look at his resume in 2023, he&rsquo;s eclipsed 17 outs (5.2 innings) four times this season. Some of the concern relies on high pitch counts he tallies early on his outings. In three of his starts where he went less than five innings, he drew a pitch count of at least 88, which is less than ideal. On paper, Miami has done extremely well against lefties this season, batting a robust .292 with a .765 OPS. If you take a deeper dive though, there have been a couple of guys who have had success against this lineup.

&nbsp;

Justin Steele compiled at least six innings in two of his tries against the Marlins. While Bryce Elder managed six innings in one of his two starts. Outside of those two arms, this offense hasn&rsquo;t faced a decent lefty starter. Gore is somebody that is certainly capable of hanging with Miami long enough to get this number. He&rsquo;s also fared well in road starts this year, eclipsing six innings in three of his four tests in 2023.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Pick: Gore OVER 16.5 outs

&nbsp;

&nbsp;If you play a ton on PrizePicks like the rest of us at Karma, you definitely want to sign up for access to the PrizePicks Predictor on this site! It includes A.I. Player Prop Projections EVERY DAY for NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB, CFB, CBB, WNBA, and more! <a href="https://betkarma.com/prizepicks-predictor">Click here to check it out for FREE!</a>&nbsp;

 
&nbsp;

Eduardo Rodriguez OVER/UNDER 5.5 Strikeouts

&nbsp;

One of the more pleasant surprises, almost shocks, of the new season is the emergence of Eduardo Rodriguez. E-Rod has been sublime so far with a 1.57 ERA and 0.79 WHIP. He&rsquo;s looked like an All-Star early on, but draws a tough home test to the feisty Pittsburgh Pirates. How will he fare?

&nbsp;

Rodriguez has been great anyway you look at it this season, but he&rsquo;s been exceptional at home. Pitching to a 0.42 ERA and .141 OBA, there are few pitchers who have exceeded the numbers at home of the Tigers&rsquo; starter. More importantly, in those home starts E-Rod tallied at least nine K&rsquo;s in two of three starts. Currently riding an insane stretch where has only allowed one earned run in his last five outings, he is set up well on Wednesday.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

While the Pirates are middle of the road with the 18th most K&rsquo;s in the league, they have eight players with at least 25 strikeouts. Of those eight, six have at least 30 K&rsquo;s. With a lot of swing and miss in this lineup, there should be plenty of room for Rodrgiuez to navigate six punchies at home today. Although the Pirates have performed well against lefty pitching this year (.265 average, .780 OPS), they have allowed the better southpaws in the league to take advantage. Shane McClanahan and Nick Lodolo both notched nine K&rsquo;s. Framber Valdez and Julio Urias managed a decent five. Even though many wouldn&rsquo;t consider Rodrgiuez in that tier, he has sure pitched like it.

&nbsp;

He&rsquo;s been a tough matchup all season for opposing teams. I think there is a good chance that our guy can notch six strikeouts this afternoon enroute to another victory on the card.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Pick: Rodriguez OVER 5.5 K&rsquo;s

 
&nbsp;

&nbsp;

 
 
 
&nbsp;

PrizePicks Player Prop Parlay +300

&nbsp;

Gore OVER 16.5 outs

Rodriguez OVER 5.5 K&rsquo;s

&nbsp;

 That&rsquo;s much better. My two power pitchers delivered last night. Wednesday has some really good arms going, so I&rsquo;ll be looking to attack that. Let&rsquo;s dive in.&nbsp;If you still need a PrizePicks account, get a free $100 deposit match

Today's Taste - Best MLB PrizePicks Player Props (5/17/23)

Last week wasn&rsquo;t very good if we&rsquo;re being honest. It comes with the territory, especially on parlays. However, when an ebb happens, the flow usually follows. With a new week, I&rsquo;ve had a couple days to regroup, and now we&rsquo;re getting after it.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

If you still need a PrizePicks account, get a free $100 deposit match when you use promo code KARMA and <a href="https://app.prizepicks.com/sign-up?invite_code=KARMA">click this link to sign up: Claim your $100 bonus</a>&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Zack Wheeler OVER/UNDER 7 Strikeouts

&nbsp;

BABY BACK ZACK toes the rubber tonight against the San Francisco Giants. When you look at Wheeler&rsquo;s outings this season, they have either been really good, or really bad. I don&rsquo;t know if we can consider an elite pitcher anymore, if we ever did, but he&rsquo;s still certainly one of the better arms in the MLB. I would say he can still be a top echelon guy, and he draws one hell of a matchup tonight.

&nbsp;

The Giants are no longer the team that strikes out the most in baseball, as they have been for a while, but they are top five. The team with the fourth-most punchouts this season have five different players with at least 30 K&rsquo;s thus far. Wheeler has been a bit hit or miss in the K department to this point. He&rsquo;s logged at least seven punchies in four of his eight starts. The one area of concern for me is how poorly he&rsquo;s fared on the road. The Phillies&rsquo; ace has pitched to a 4.70 ERA and .281 OBA on the road, both dramatic increases to his strong home numbers. Two of those road starts, he allowed eight earned in only 9.1 innings of work, and the third was a six-shutout inning gem in Houston.

&nbsp;

Wheeler tends to struggle in his first outing of the year, so that one I can chalk up to a new season, against a potent Texas lineup. And the second against Chicago was just plain bad. It seems like he has started to find his groove, registering three quality starts out of his last four tries. Guys like Corbin Burnes and Zac Gallen stayed under this number, but Dylan Cease and Gerrit Cole surpassed it. Zack Wheeler is definitely a guy who can control this lineup, and even though it&rsquo;s a bit risky, I&rsquo;m going with him to get it tonight.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Pick: Wheeler 7+ Strikeouts

&nbsp;

&nbsp;If you play a ton on PrizePicks like the rest of us at Karma, you definitely want to sign up for access to the PrizePicks Predictor on this site! It includes A.I. Player Prop Projections EVERY DAY for NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB, CFB, CBB, WNBA, and more! <a href="https://betkarma.com/prizepicks-predictor">Click here to check it out for FREE!</a>&nbsp;

 
&nbsp;

Kevin Gausman OVER/UNDER 6.5 Strikeouts

&nbsp;

Kevin Gausman is one of my fantasy studs on my wagon of a team this year. Outside of two disaster outings, he&rsquo;s been lights out. In six of eight starts, he&rsquo;s gone at least six innings, and allowed no more than three runs, in addition to notching at least seven K&rsquo;s.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

KG will see the Yankees tonight, a team he fared extremely well against in 2022. In all three starts vs. NYY last year, he logged at least seven strikeouts in all of them. It&rsquo;s true with Aaron Judge back the Yanks have started to flip the switch a little bit, winning six of their last eight games. After Alek Manoah got bombed by New York last night, Toronto needs a strong performance from Gausman to even up this crucial early season series. The key to his success tonight, as it usually is, will be the devastating split piece he throws. His splitter accounts for a 48.5 Whiff %, 50.6 K%, and batters are only hitting .192 against it so far.

&nbsp;

I think KG tosses another strong start tonight enroute to a high strikeout total. So long as the ball stays in the yard, and pitch count is relatively in favor, Gausman should be able to eclipse seven strikeouts to bring us home.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Pick: Gausman OVER 6.5 K&rsquo;s

 
&nbsp;

&nbsp;

 
 
 
&nbsp;

PrizePicks Player Prop Parlay +300

&nbsp;

Wheeler 7+ Strikeouts

Gausman OVER 6.5 K&rsquo;s

&nbsp;

 Last week wasn&rsquo;t very good if we&rsquo;re being honest. It comes with the territory, especially on parlays. However, when an ebb happens, the flow usually follows. With a new week, I&rsquo;ve had a couple days to regroup, and now we&rsquo;re g

Today's Taste - Best MLB PrizePicks Player Props (5/16/23)

Saturday is filled with a ton of star power pitching on the bumpski. And of course, I can&rsquo;t help but include some of the guys. Today is the day we finish strong. Grab a cocktail, and let&rsquo;s hit some winners.

&nbsp;

If you still need a PrizePicks account, get a free $100 deposit match when you use promo code KARMA and <a href="https://app.prizepicks.com/sign-up?invite_code=KARMA">click this link to sign up: Claim your $100 bonus</a>&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Shane McClanahan OVER/UNDER 6.5 Strikeouts

&nbsp;

SUGAR SHANE DADDY! Mr. McClanahan looks just like he did to start the 2022 season. Yet again, he&rsquo;s a Cy Young favorite. The kid has been pitching sensationally. 7-0, 1.76 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 58 K/20 BB ratio across 45.1 IP. The walks are a bit high, something he really didn&rsquo;t do much last season. But when you&rsquo;re throwing the way he is, we can let it slide.

&nbsp;

For the first time of the new season, McClanahan will face the Yankees. Last season, Sugar Shane saw them three times, and registered seven K&rsquo;s every time out. NYY hasn&rsquo;t even faced a lefty close to McClanahan, because there isn&rsquo;t one that&rsquo;s even close to him. The Yanks are in the top 10 of the fewest K&rsquo;s in the league, but individually, they have five players with at least 24 strikeouts. And let&rsquo;s remember, it all comes down to the matchup. This is one of those times where we say my guy is better than yours!

&nbsp;

I&rsquo;m backing McClanahan in a lot of different ways today, but most of all, strikeouts are the best path to success this afternoon.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Pick: McClanahan OVER 6.5 Strikeouts

&nbsp;

&nbsp;If you play a ton on PrizePicks like the rest of us at Karma, you definitely want to sign up for access to the PrizePicks Predictor on this site! It includes A.I. Player Prop Projections EVERY DAY for NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB, CFB, CBB, WNBA, and more! <a href="https://betkarma.com/prizepicks-predictor">Click here to check it out for FREE!</a>&nbsp;

 
 
 
 
 
&nbsp;

James Outman OVER/UNDER 0.5 Total Bases

&nbsp;

We&rsquo;re taking a chance on the rookie today. James Outman is one of the favorites for NL ROY thus far. He&rsquo;s been a big contributor for the Dodgers. We&rsquo;re targeting the rare 0.5 total base number because there is a huge advantage with having to only get one hit to satisfy those requirements.

&nbsp;

Outman has five hits in his last five games. Although he is a tad cool this month with just a .242 batting average, this dude is too good of a player to slump for long. The Dodgers will see Joe Musgrove for the second time in a row. Musgrove threw his first solid outing of the season in their last meeting, 5.2 innings, two hits, no earned runs. Prior to that, the Padres hurler got bombed by the Diamondbacks and Giants for 10 earned in only 8.1 innings.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

It&rsquo;s a common thought that when a pitcher sees the same team in back to back starts, the offense has a significant advantage in the second matchup. It&rsquo;s hard to think Musgrove is fully back because of one decent performance. Outman is starting to string together some knocks. All we need is one today.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Pick: Outman OVER 0.5 Total Bases

 
&nbsp;

&nbsp;

 
 
 
&nbsp;

PrizePicks Player Prop Parlay +300

&nbsp;

McClanahan OVER 6.5 Strikeouts

Outman OVER 0.5 Total Bases

&nbsp;

 Saturday is filled with a ton of star power pitching on the bumpski. And of course, I can&rsquo;t help but include some of the guys. Today is the day we finish strong. Grab a cocktail, and let&rsquo;s hit some winners.&nbsp;If you still need a Prize

Today's Taste - Best MLB PrizePicks Player Props (5/13/23)

Not quite the start I had last week. The last two days have been underwhelming to say the least. It&rsquo;s been the strikeout props that have done me in. Whereas the total base props have been pretty solid overall. With that being said, it might be time to switch it up.

&nbsp;

If you still need a PrizePicks account, get a free $100 deposit match when you use promo code KARMA and<a href="https://app.prizepicks.com/sign-up?invite_code=KARMA"> click this link to sign up: Claim your $100 bonus</a>

&nbsp;

Bobby Witt OVER/UNDER 1.5 Total Bases

&nbsp;

Robert Andrew Witt Jr. is a star in the making. Despite popular opinion, we have not seen many successful MLB careers from prospects who skipped college, or international play over the past 15 years or so. Witt committed to the prestigious program at Oklahoma before being selected second overall by the Royals in 2019. Having your father play in the MLB certainly makes you develop much faster, I would imagine.

&nbsp;

Witt hasn&rsquo;t gotten off to a great start to the new campaign, only hitting .232, but the signs are there for him. He has a 44.6% hard hit rate this season, to the MLB average of 38.7%. We need to remember he&rsquo;s still only 22 years old. The kid just had a seven-game hit streak snapped last night against the White Sox after a dreadful 0-5 showing. With that being said, Witt has only gone hitless in consecutive performances once since April 18th. He draws a butter matchup today against Mike Clevinger, the guy who just returned from a long hiatus at Woodstock. Although he&rsquo;s never faced Clevinger, there are positive signs to a strong rebound day for the young stud. The Sox hurler currently boasts a horrid 4.84 ERA and 1.53 WHIP. He&rsquo;s allowed 38 knocks in only 35.1 IP, to go along with six long balls.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Bobby Dub has already ripped five extra baggers in the month of May, so in the slight instance he does not see two hits, there is a good chance he logs one extra base hit. We have a limited card in the MLB today, which means Witt is one of the best offensive options as far as total bases are concerned. Let&rsquo;s take a chance on our guy going over!

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Pick: Witt OVER 1.5 Total Bases

&nbsp;

&nbsp;If you play a ton on PrizePicks like the rest of us at Karma, you definitely want to sign up for access to the PrizePicks Predictor on this site! It includes A.I. Player Prop Projections EVERY DAY for NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB, CFB, CBB, WNBA, and more! <a href="https://betkarma.com/prizepicks-predictor">Click here to check it out for FREE!</a>&nbsp;

 
&nbsp;

Aaron Judge&nbsp; OVER/UNDER 1.5 Total Bases

&nbsp;

Day three back in action for the Judge. The reigning AL MVP&rsquo;s return is a sight for sore eyes for this pathetic bunch that calls themselves a ball club. Still clinging to the widely overused and outdated motto of &ldquo;27 rings,&rdquo; despite not winning one since 2009, NYY is desperate for some life.

&nbsp;

Judge roared back to life last night with a 3-4 showing against the Oakland A&rsquo;s. Clearly he faces a much bigger test against Tampa, but it&rsquo;s a good start. The Rays will be throwing Drew Rasmussen, a key cog to their starting rotation. Rasmussen has logged a solid 3.11 ERA and 1.19 WHIP so far. However, a lot of his good outings were against the Nats, A&rsquo;s, and Reds. This same guy got lit up by Toronto, Houston, and touched by the White Sox. In Rassy&rsquo;s last outing against the Yankees a week ago, he went 5.2 scoreless frames, giving up only two hits.

&nbsp;

Ideally, when a pitcher faces the same team in consecutive outings, the thought is the offense has a significant advantage in the second game. There aren&rsquo;t a ton of numbers I can provide on this one, but we&rsquo;re giving the benefit of the doubt to the guy who hit 62 home runs last year. Even if Judge can&rsquo;t rack up two knocks, I think he could be a good candidate to visit the tater factory for the first time in about a month.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Pick: Judge OVER 1.5 Total Bases

 
&nbsp;

&nbsp;

 
 
 
&nbsp;

PrizePicks Player Prop Parlay +300

&nbsp;

Witt OVER 1.5 Total Bases

Judge OVER 1.5 Total Bases

&nbsp;

 Not quite the start I had last week. The last two days have been underwhelming to say the least. It&rsquo;s been the strikeout props that have done me in. Whereas the total base props have been pretty solid overall. With that being said, it might be

Today's Taste - Best MLB PrizePicks Player Props (5/11/23)

Missed the boat yesterday. Ready to get after it on a Wednesday. Let&rsquo;s dial it up.

&nbsp;

If you still need a PrizePicks account, get a free $100 deposit match when you use promo code KARMA and <a href="https://app.prizepicks.com/sign-up?invite_code=KARMA">click this link to sign up: Claim your $100 bonus</a>&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Hunter Greene OVER/UNDER 6 Strikeouts

&nbsp;

It&rsquo;s Greene Day! My guy, Hunter Greene, takes the mound this evening against a reeling Mets team. HG has actually looked pretty good overall during his last five starts. Despite the statline in his last one against the White Sox, Greene was pitching really well until a couple of home runs ruined everything. One thing we can typically count on from him are the strikeouts.

&nbsp;

Although the Mets are one of the three best teams at not striking out, the right matchup can always make them buck the trend. Spencer Strider dotted them for eight punchouts. NYM hasn&rsquo;t really faced a ton of elite pitching, so their numbers could be a bit jaded. What we do know is Hunter Greene can rack up the punchies in a hurry. With 47 on the season (33.2 IP), he&rsquo;s managed to log at least seven K&rsquo;s in three of his last five outings. One of the starts where he went under was against the Rays, where left after only three innings because he got hit with a line drive. The consistency has been rounding into form for Greene, so if he continues to keep it moving then we might see a monster outing from him tonight.

&nbsp;

So long as he can keep the walks to a limit, and the homeruns off the field, then I think Greene getting at least six strikeouts is a great bet. Five Mets have notched at least 23 K&rsquo;s individually this season.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Pick: Greene 6+ K&rsquo;s

&nbsp;

&nbsp;If you play a ton on PrizePicks like the rest of us at Karma, you definitely want to sign up for access to the PrizePicks Predictor on this site! It includes A.I. Player Prop Projections EVERY DAY for NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB, CFB, CBB, WNBA, and more! <a href="https://betkarma.com/prizepicks-predictor">Click here to check it out for FREE!</a>&nbsp;

 
 
 
 
&nbsp;

Yordan Alvarez OVER/UNDER 1.5 Total Bases

&nbsp;

Not only am I featuring a power arm on my slate today, but a power bat. Yordan Alvarez has taken the league by storm over the past few seasons. Quick story actually. In August 2019, I went to Camden Yards with a couple of friends, and Houston was in town. Alvarez wasn&rsquo;t really mainstream yet, but because I follow baseball very closely, I knew he had oceans of potential&hellip; and power. Not to mention, the guy in unbelievable fashion ended his rookie campaign with 27 taters, 78 RBI&rsquo;s, and .313 average, and he didn&rsquo;t even get called up until the second week of June! Anyway, Alvarez had three bombs that day. One of the shots he hit, I&rsquo;ve never seen a ball hit that far in my life. It almost hit the building in right center field behind the stadium. Anyway, that&rsquo;s the guy we&rsquo;re looking at tonight.

&nbsp;

Alvarez is one of the best offensive weapons we&rsquo;ve seen in the last two decades. He has been heating up over the month of May, so it would be a good bet to say he stays hot. Yordan, currently riding a seven-game hitting streak, has either had an extra base knock or multiple hits in three of his last four contests. Now, he faces a pitcher in Griffin Canning who has gotten absolutely bombed this year.

&nbsp;

Canning has been a mess to start this season. His 5.31 ERA and 1.33 WHIP don&rsquo;t give a whole lot of reasons for LAA to be confident. But for us, this is like music to my ears. In four starts, Canning has yet to make it past 5.1 innings. He&rsquo;s also allowed three homers. This guy has been getting beaten up, so we can clearly see it&rsquo;s a butter matchup for Alvarez tonight.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Pick: Alvarez OVER 1.5 Total Bases

 
&nbsp;

&nbsp;

 
 
 
&nbsp;

PrizePicks Player Prop Parlay +300

&nbsp;

Greene 6+ K&rsquo; s

Alvarez OVER 1.5 Total Bases

&nbsp;

 Missed the boat yesterday. Ready to get after it on a Wednesday. Let&rsquo;s dial it up.&nbsp;If you still need a PrizePicks account, get a free $100 deposit match when you use promo code KARMA and click this link to sign up: Claim your $100 bonus&n

Today's Taste - Best MLB PrizePicks Player Props (5/10/23)

Monday was certainly a day that we got back on track. Stacking up a couple of stud aces is almost always a sure thing. This Tuesday, I may change the approach just a little bit.

&nbsp;

If you still need a PrizePicks account, get a free $100 deposit match when you use promo code KARMA and <a href="https://app.prizepicks.com/sign-up?invite_code=KARMA">click this link to sign up: Claim your $100 bonus</a>&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Shane Bieber OVER/UNDER 6.5 Strikeouts

&nbsp;

A couple years ago, there were two bets that were nearly automatic. Both of them were because of Shane Bieber. Over strikeouts, and first five under. Neither of those nearly ever missed in the first half of 2021, until Bieber suffered a shoulder strain that turned him into a different pitcher. After missing nearly the entire second half of that year, he started to somewhat regain that preinjury form in 2022. Flirting with that dominance that won him a Cy Young award, it looked like our guy was back to business. Unfortunately, a couple of arms injuries over the last few years have been behind his steadily declining strikeout rates, along with losing velo on his fastball.

&nbsp;

I&rsquo;m not trying to knock Shane Buieber because I actually do like him. Luckily the guy never relied on a high 90&rsquo;s heater to bail him out. Being a finesse pitcher has allowed the Guardians&rsquo; ace to continue pitching extremely well. Last year, he logged 200 innings with 198 K&rsquo;s and held a 2.88 ERA. To start 2023 off, he has a solid 2.96 ERA. The main area he has been affected is in the strikeout department. Bieber is a guy who was averaging 12.5 K/9 from 2019-2021. He only had an 8.9 K/9 last season, and a 5.9 to start this year. The Biebs can definitely still pitch, but after witnessing him log five straight outings with exactly four K&rsquo;s, it&rsquo;s hard seeing him climb over six punchouts tonight. He&rsquo;s only done that once this year, which was against the A&rsquo;s.

&nbsp;

While Shane Daddy Jr. does have a butter matchup against the Tigers, a lineup who has tallied the sixth-most K&rsquo;s (322), I believe going over 6.5 punchies is too high of a number. I would imagine he stays well under 6.5 strikeouts tonight.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Pick: Bieber UNDER 6.5 K&rsquo;s

&nbsp;

&nbsp;If you play a ton on PrizePicks like the rest of us at Karma, you definitely want to sign up for access to the PrizePicks Predictor on this site! It includes A.I. Player Prop Projections EVERY DAY for NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB, CFB, CBB, WNBA, and more! <a href="https://betkarma.com/prizepicks-predictor">Click here to check it out for FREE!</a>&nbsp;

 
&nbsp;

Shohei Ohtani OVER/UNDER 7.5 Strikeouts

&nbsp;

Much has been made about the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes this year. The thought behind it was the Angels would ship him off at some point, but could have done it within the first couple months of the new campaign depending on the team status. With the Angels out to one of their best starts in years, it may be put on hold for the time being. Ohtani will see the defending World Champion Astros on Tuesday.

&nbsp;

For however long Ohtani stays an Angel, we&rsquo;ll keep looking at his props. After going nuclear his last few starts with a combined 32 strikeouts in 18 innings, it seems like one of those times to press his K prop totals. Ohtani is one of only a few pitchers that can go on absolute heater and rack up tons of strikeouts in a short period of time. Perfect example was June-July when he went crazy and totaled six straight outings of double digit punchouts. His A++ stuff will certainly help with that. Now, he faces a familiar foe that he&rsquo;s had a lot of luck against.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;Shohei saw Houston five times in 2022. He has at least eight K&rsquo;s in three of them, and seven in another. The Astros are night and day from the championship team they put together a season ago. Mostly because they are missing their catalyst and leader, Jose Altuve. The system will probably change once he returns to the team, but until that point there are great chances to keep this thing moving. While it&rsquo;s true that only six teams have struck out less than Houston, this offense has been knocked around by high powered righty arms. Guys like Dylan Cease, Joe Ryan, Mitch Keller, Zack Wheeler etc. had success in the strikeout department against this team. 7.5 is a lot of but, a number Ohtani can certainly accomplish.

&nbsp;

Pick: Ohtani OVER 7.5 K&rsquo;s

 
&nbsp;

&nbsp;

 
 
 
&nbsp;

PrizePicks Player Prop Parlay +300

&nbsp;

Bieber UNDER 6.5 K&rsquo;s

Ohtani OVER 7.5 K&rsquo;s

&nbsp;

 Monday was certainly a day that we got back on track. Stacking up a couple of stud aces is almost always a sure thing. This Tuesday, I may change the approach just a little bit.&nbsp;If you still need a PrizePicks account, get a free $100 deposit ma

Today's Taste - Best MLB PrizePicks Player Props (5/9/23)

Mondays mean it&rsquo;s a new week. And a new week means it&rsquo;s time to get off to a hot start. Some of my favorite arms in the MLB will grab the ball tonight. Maybe I include them, maybe not.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

If you still need a PrizePicks account, get a free $100 deposit match when you use promo code KARMA and <a href="http://https://app.prizepicks.com/sign-up?invite_code=KARMA">click this link to sign up: Claim your $100 bonus</a>

&nbsp;

Shane McClanahan OVER/UNDER 6.5 Strikeouts

&nbsp;

It&rsquo;s my boy Shane Daddy on the mound today, one of my favorite days of the week. The two teams in the AL East square off this evening. Despite the white-hot start the Rays have gotten off to, the O&rsquo;s are only 5.5 games back of Tampa. With a big early series, Baltimore can make this a very tight race if they take a couple games.

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Sugar Shane is firmly in contention for the AL Cy Young&hellip;again. In case you missed any of my previous spiels, I believe McClanahan has the best and most electric lefty pitching arsenal since Randy Johnson. The guy has four elite pitches that have serious movement that he can throw for strikes. Sugar has only allowed 28 hits in 40 innings, to go along with a very strong 51 K/16 BB ratio. He&rsquo;s already logged five quality starts out of seven tries. While he will face a Baltimore lineup that is among the best 10 lineups at not striking out, he does have the advantage tonight. Although the Orioles have killed lefty pitching this year with a .273 avg and .815 OPS, there are no southpaws better than Sugar. The O&rsquo;s saw Max Fried and Mackenzie Gore both punch them out seven times, while Eddie Rodrgiuez totaled 11 K&rsquo;s in 12.2 innings. McClanahan has at least nine K&rsquo;s in three of his last five outings. He also has had a successful lifetime against this lineup for a .241 OBA and 32 K&rsquo;s over 108 AB&rsquo;s.

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Despite the Orioles&rsquo; being a non-strikeout team, they have six players who have at least 28 punchouts. As usually, the worry with our guy is the ultra-short leash Rays&rsquo; manager Kevin Cash imposes on his pitching staff. That means Shane Daddy will likely have to accomplish this feat in six innings. In three outings against the birds last year, McClanahan registered seven punchies in two of them. Remember, we always give the benefit of the doubt to power arms. 

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Pick: McClanahan O6.5 K&rsquo;s

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&nbsp;If you play a ton on PrizePicks like the rest of us at Karma, you definitely want to sign up for access to the PrizePicks Predictor on this site! It includes A.I. Player Prop Projections EVERY DAY for NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB, CFB, CBB, WNBA, and more! <a href="https://betkarma.com/prizepicks-predictor">Click here to check it out for FREE!&nbsp;</a>

 
&nbsp;

Zac Gallen OVER/UNDER 6.5 Strikeouts

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Another top pitcher on the schedule tonight is budding superstar, and New Jersey native, Zac Gallen. The Arizona ace is a huge reason why the team is in the thick of the NL West lead early in the season. He will see a pesky Miami lineup that is in the mix for the NL East division.

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Gallen has been imposing to start 2023. Currently neck and neck with Spencer Strider for the NL Cy Young crown, ZG has racked up a ton of punchies early on. He has had at least seven K&rsquo;s in five of his first seven starts. He&rsquo;s racked up at least 11 K&rsquo;s in three of them. Coming off a bad outing against the Rangers, it&rsquo;s time Gallen rebounds in a big way. Miami is currently striking out the 14th most in the MLB (304), with the 11th highest K rate (23.8%). This offense has four guys who have logged at least 29 punchouts. Of course, he will have to deal with the biggest pain in the world, and my arch-nemesis, Luis Arraez, but I don&rsquo;t believe he will be the difference tonight.&nbsp;

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Miami has seen lesser starters like Kenta Maeda, Pablo Lopez, Logan Allen etc. all log at least seven K&rsquo;s against them. Not to mention, Spencer Strider went off for a 13 K outing earlier this year. In Gallen&rsquo;s first outing against the Marlins, he racked up seven punchouts. This is a very strong matchup for Zac Gallen tonight. I have to take my chances that he rebounds like he should.

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Pick: Gallen OVER 6.5 K&rsquo;s

 
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PrizePicks Player Prop Parlay +300

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McClanahan O6.5 K&rsquo;s

Gallen OVER 6.5 K&rsquo;s

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 Mondays mean it&rsquo;s a new week. And a new week means it&rsquo;s time to get off to a hot start. Some of my favorite arms in the MLB will grab the ball tonight. Maybe I include them, maybe not.&nbsp;&nbsp;If you still need a PrizePicks account, g

Today's Taste - Best MLB PrizePicks Player Props (5/8/23)

Kevin Gausman wasn&rsquo;t feeling my three in a row the other night. Of all days to play like trash. Nevertheless, we&rsquo;re going to finish the week how we started, on a roll. There are a couple of players that I absolutely have to write about today.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

If you still need a PrizePicks account, get a free $100 deposit match when you use promo code KARMA and <a href="https://app.prizepicks.com/sign-up?invite_code=KARMA">click this link to sign up: Claim your $100 bonus</a>&nbsp;

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Ronald Acuna Jr. OVER/UNDER 1.5 Total Bases

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I can&rsquo;t ever say or even think Ronald Acuna&rsquo;s name without hearing Sammy Sweetheart&rsquo;s &ldquo;RAHHNNN STAPPP!&rdquo; in the back of my head. I basically quote tweet that GIF out everytime Acuna does something highlight-worthy. Anyway, the kid has been on a tear to start 2023, as he looks like he put the last two years behind with the injury and down season in 2022. RAJ is ripping right now with his .351 average, 1.018 OPS, and 15 stolen bases.

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Tyler Wells is one of the many names most people have never heard of that are part of the rebuild in Baltimore. While it&rsquo;s debatable that 6&rsquo;8&rdquo; Wells may have chosen the wrong sport, he&rsquo;s off to a good start this season. His 3.34 ERA and 0.77 WHIP have certainly kept him as one of the team&#39;s best arms early on. Wells does have an issue with the long ball, though, as he has given up seven of them in his first 35 innings of work. Regardless of that fact, he hasn&rsquo;t faced many lineups with this much pop and depth in his career.

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There aren&rsquo;t many key matchup factors to really support a decision, one way or the other. However, we can look at RAJ&rsquo;s incredible start to the month of May, and say it&rsquo;s certainly a worthy endeavor. Acuna is batting .348 with four extra base hits, seven RBI&rsquo;s, and a 1.162 OPS. He&rsquo;s a career fastball hunter. As he&rsquo;s batting .542 against the heater so far this year, he faces a pitcher who&rsquo;s thrown ole&rsquo; number one a little over 38% of the time. Look for the Braves&rsquo; superstar to attack early in the count. Plsu, let&rsquo;s not forget that our guy bats leadoff, which means he would be the one to grab an extra AB.&nbsp;

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Pick: Acuna O1.5 Total Bases

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&nbsp;If you play a ton on PrizePicks like the rest of us at Karma, you definitely want to sign up for access to the PrizePicks Predictor on this site! It includes A.I. Player Prop Projections EVERY DAY for NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB, CFB, CBB, WNBA, and more! <a href="https://betkarma.com/prizepicks-predictor">Click here to check it out for FREE!</a>&nbsp;

 
&nbsp;

Bo Bichette OVER/UNDER 1.5 Total Bases

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We&rsquo;re back with Bo!. He&rsquo;s been one of my favorite targets all year on these 1.5 total base props. The dude is pumping right now. He&rsquo;s off to a tremendous start that&rsquo;s seen him log a .326 batting average and .898 OPS. In a sneaky tough matchup with Pittsburgh, can Bichette log multiple bases for the fourth game in a row?

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These props can be very fluky, but when you have a guy who has been as consistent as BB has, it makes it a tad more bearable. Since last Sunday against the Mariners, the short stop has either multiple hits or an extra base hit in five of seven contests. The Jays will face something called Roansy Contreras, who actually has shown flashes of talent this season. Overall, Contreras has allowed 31 hits and 16 walks in 33 innings of work. Where has had big success so far is with that slider that has only a .141 OBA against it.

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If Bichette can stay off the slider, and stick to the heater, then we should see him barrel up a few today. Contreras&rsquo; slider has an OBA of .422, so that&rsquo;s where Bo needs to live. In any case, this is a classic example of me trusting my guys over your guys. I say Bichette stays hot.

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Pick: Bichette OVER 1.5 Total Bases

 
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PrizePicks Player Prop Parlay +300

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Acuna OVER 1.5 Total Bases

Bichette OVER 1.5 Total Bases

&nbsp;

 Kevin Gausman wasn&rsquo;t feeling my three in a row the other night. Of all days to play like trash. Nevertheless, we&rsquo;re going to finish the week how we started, on a roll. There are a couple of players that I absolutely have to write about t

Today's Taste - Best MLB PrizePicks Player Props (5/7/23)

THREE IN A ROW! JohnnyVTV is getting hot. Super hot. On top of being extremely handsome, I&rsquo;m running up these units. Let&rsquo;s see if we can manage four in a row. Shall we?

&nbsp;

If you still need a PrizePicks account, get a free $100 deposit match when you use promo code KARMA and <a href="https://app.prizepicks.com/sign-up?invite_code=KARMA">click this link to sign up: Claim your $100 bonus</a>

&nbsp;

Kevin Gausman OVER/UNDER 6 Strikeouts

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KG has been amazing this year. He&rsquo;s on pace for a career year with his 54 K/6 BB ratio and 2.33 ERA. He&rsquo;s certainly solidified himself as the ace of the loaded Toronto Blue Jay staff. How will he fare against a team he has had a lot of success against in recent years?

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Gausman has notched three games with double digit punchies in his last four outings. The guy is on fire right now. I would really like to know what got into him over the past few years to become one of the top pitchers in the MLB, after a long stretch of being totally average. Anyway, if we look at the matchup he has today, this is a favorable look. Facing a Red Sox team that is actually ranked as one of the best teams in the bigs at not striking out, how does Gausman have an advantage?

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Remember what I said yesterday when it comes to betting against teams that have good ranks on paper. Sometimes it comes down to my guy being better than yours. In terms of stuff, the red-hot Red Sox have only seen two pitchers on the same level as KG, that would be Corbin Burnes and Shohei Ohtani (left after two innings). That aside, let&rsquo;s look at the success Gausman had against Boston in 2022.In six outings, he had 47 K&rsquo;s in 34 innings to go along with a 2.65 ERA. In two of the starts, he logged 10 K&rsquo;s. In two others, he notched eight and nine K&rsquo;s, respectively. In fact, Gausman only has less than six strikeouts one time, and that was because he got pulled early.&nbsp;

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The bottom line is I like this matchup for the stud Toronto pitcher. Not only do I think he notches at least six strikeouts, but I believe he is a great ladder candidate this evening. You can find him at 10+ K&rsquo;s at +830. With the recent hot stretch he is on, this would surprise me in the least.

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Pick: Gausman 6+ K&rsquo;s

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&nbsp;If you play a ton on PrizePicks like the rest of us at Karma, you definitely want to sign up for access to the PrizePicks Predictor on this site! It includes A.I. Player Prop Projections EVERY DAY for NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB, CFB, CBB, WNBA, and more! <a href="https://betkarma.com/prizepicks-predictor">Click here to check it out for FREE!</a>&nbsp;

 
&nbsp;

Vladdy Guerrero Jr. OVER/UNDER 1.5 Total Bases

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To be honest, I really couldn&rsquo;t decide who I wanted to pick between Vladdy or Bichette. Both are great options that I believe can be in for big nights. Ultimately, Vladdy is a little bit hotter and more consistent than Bo at the moment, so he was my choice by a hair.&nbsp;

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Guerreo hit a ball that fell a few feet short of the moon last night. There are very few players in the game that have the kind of raw power and torque that he does. Vladdy Jr. has been crushing the ball lately to bring that average up to a pristine .317. Although the Jays are in danger of getting swept by Boston tonight, the prodigy has done his part with a 5-13 series mark. He has had either an extra base hit or multiple hits in three straight contests. Drawing an inconsistent, there could be opportunities to stay hot.

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The Sox are throwing high-level prospect, Brayan Bello. Bello has shown flashes of his potential, but has not been able to put it all together. Showing his bloated 6.57 ERA and 1.86 WHIP, it&rsquo;s hard to say Boston has an advantage tonight when Toronto, as a team, has a career batting average of .444 against Bello. Although it&rsquo;s a relatively small sample size, it&rsquo;s quite obvious that there are multiple candidates in this lineup that can inflict a lot of damage. Vladdy is 3-8 against Bello, and I would imagine he might leave the yard again.

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Pick: Guerrero OVER 1.5 Total Bases

 
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PrizePicks Player Prop Parlay +300

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Gausman 6+ K&rsquo;s

Guerrero OVER 1.5 Total Bases

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 THREE IN A ROW! JohnnyVTV is getting hot. Super hot. On top of being extremely handsome, I&rsquo;m running up these units. Let&rsquo;s see if we can manage four in a row. Shall we?&nbsp;If you still need a PrizePicks account, get a free $100 deposit

Today's Taste - Best MLB PrizePicks Player Props (5/4/23)

Two in a row, this could be the start of a hot streak. We&rsquo;re up six units in the first two days of May off these PrizePicks two-play stacks. With a ton of aces on the mound today, I feel pretty confident 3-0 is on the table. There are so many to choose from, but ultimately I believe I locked in the correct targets.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

If you still need a PrizePicks account, get a free $100 deposit match when you use promo code KARMA and <a href="https://app.prizepicks.com/sign-up?invite_code=KARMA">click this link to sign up: Claim your $100 bonus</a>&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Shane McClanahan OVER/UNDER 7 Strikeouts

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Sugar Shane daddy McClanahan has been on one to start the year. Off to a roaring start for the second season in a row, McClanahan is hungry to claim the AL Cy Young award that he narrowly missed in 2022. He&rsquo;s been one of the four best arms in the MLB thus far, now he draws one of his toughest opponents in the suddenly rejuvenated Pittsburgh Pirates.

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In previous years, the Pirates would be a layup. This season, however, they have been playing so far above their expectations and capabilities, we have to wonder how sustainable this is. In my opinion, McClanahan has the best and most electric lefty arsenal the league has seen since Randy Johnson. The kid has four elite pitches he can throw in any count, all for strikes. In terms of electric arsenals, the only lefty the Pirates have seen that has come close to &ldquo;Sugar&rdquo; is the Reds&rsquo; Nick Lodolo, who notched nine K&rsquo;s in their lone matchup. With Pittsburgh killing southpaws in 2023 (.283 average and .818 OPS), I still always believe Shane Daddy has the edge against any lineup.&nbsp;

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McClanahan has logged north of six K&rsquo;s only twice this season. A large part has been because he is getting yanked after five or six innings when he&rsquo;s been in solid pitch count shape. Rays&rsquo; manager, Kevin Cash, is notorious for pulling his starters early to preserve them for the whole season. That can make life difficult when backing one of their arms. Ultimately, I believe Shane has a signature outing at home against a team that strikes out the sixth-fewest times in the MLB. The innings would be the only thing to really cause concern, but sometimes you have to disregard certain factors and just say my guy is better than your guy.

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Pick: McClanahan 7+ K&rsquo;s

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&nbsp;If you play a ton on PrizePicks like the rest of us at Karma, you definitely want to sign up for access to the PrizePicks Predictor on this site! It includes A.I. Player Prop Projections EVERY DAY for NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB, CFB, CBB, WNBA, and more! <a href="https://betkarma.com/prizepicks-predictor">Click here to check it out for FREE!</a>&nbsp;

 
 
&nbsp;

Shohei Ohtani&nbsp; OVER/UNDER 6.5 Strikeouts

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From one power arm to another. Shohei Ohtani is the league&rsquo;s favorite player, that&rsquo;s no secret. The kid has looked great to begin his 2023 campaign. On the mound, Ohtani has been a true Cy Young candidate with his 1.85 ERA and 46 punchies in 34 innings. After getting tagged for a couple of taters in Oakland, Sho-time will be looking for a bounce back outing against a ferocious, but struggling St. Louis lineup.&nbsp;

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The Cardinals are 10-20 this season, a far cry from where they expected to be at this point. While there is still a ton of time to make up, the month of May is one where they cannot allow things to slip away even further. Life gets no easier with one of the premier strikeout artists coming to town. With the exception of his start against Boston, where he left after two innings, Ohtani has managed at least six punchouts in every start this year. Battling a Cardinal&rsquo;s lineup that historically does not strike out a lot, this is another case of my guy being better than yours. An exception to the rule if you will. During their four-game losing streak, St. Louis has only mustered seven runs, and struck out 32 times.&nbsp;

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After missing pitchers like Corbin Burnes, Spencer Strider, and Zac Gallen, this will easily be the most electric righty the Cards will have seen to this point. Earlier, they saw Luis Castillo fan them eight times, and his strikeout stuff is not on the same plane as Ohtani&rsquo;s. Given how pathetic the lineup is, I like Shohei to notch at least seven K&rsquo;s enroute to a quality start.

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Pick: Ohtani OVER 6.5 K&rsquo;s

 
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PrizePicks Player Prop Parlay +300

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McClanahan 7+ K&rsquo;s

Ohtani OVER 6.5 K&rsquo;s

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 Two in a row, this could be the start of a hot streak. We&rsquo;re up six units in the first two days of May off these PrizePicks two-play stacks. With a ton of aces on the mound today, I feel pretty confident 3-0 is on the table. There are so many 

Today's Taste - Best MLB PrizePicks Player Props (5/3/23)

The first of the month was like the Truman Show. Good morning. Good afternoon. Good night. An easy cash that gets us off to a strong start. Let&rsquo;s start the winning streak back up with a couple of new faces.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

If you still need a PrizePicks account, get a free $100 deposit match when you use promo code KARMA and <a href="https://app.prizepicks.com/sign-up?invite_code=KARMA">click this link to sign up: Claim your $100 bonus</a>&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Joe Ryan OVER/UNDER 6 Strikeouts

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What a start it has been for the guy who might have won the AL ROY award in 2022 if Julio Rodriguez wasn&rsquo;t such a generational stud. Joe Ryan has followed a very good year one up with an awesome start to year two. Ryan currently sits at 5-0 with a 2.81 ERA, 0.81 WHIP, and a 36 K/4 BB ratio in 32 innings pitched. What kind of outing can we expect against the White Sox?

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Ryan has logged at least six innings in all five of his starts this season. Additionally, he has only failed to record six punchies in one contest. Facing a White Sox team that is middle of the pack in strikeouts, there is an opportunity for Ryan to continue his hot start. Chicago has a lot of strikeout-prone bats in this lineup. Seven players have recorded at least 20 punchouts. Chicago hasn&rsquo;t really seen too many above-average right handed pitchers thus far, so their numbers might look a little better than they should. Against Jose Berrios, they fanned nine times. And against Cristian Javier, they tallied six K&rsquo;s. With how effective Ryan has been, I would probably put him as a top three RHP the Sox will have faced to this point.

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Logging at least six K&rsquo;s is definitely in the cards tonight. Chicago is not only in a freefall, but it looks like they have completely given up with the lack of effort they have been playing with. I&rsquo;m looking for my fantasy sleeper to go out there and shove once again.

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Pick: Ryan 6+ K&rsquo;s

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&nbsp;If you play a ton on PrizePicks like the rest of us at Karma, you definitely want to sign up for access to the PrizePicks Predictor on this site! It includes A.I. Player Prop Projections EVERY DAY for NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB, CFB, CBB, WNBA, and more! <a href="https://betkarma.com/prizepicks-predictor">Click here to check it out for FREE!</a>&nbsp;

 
 
&nbsp;

Gerrit Cole +Tanner Bibee OVER/UNDER 11.5 Strikeouts

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The first combo strikeout prop of the season!? HELLO! I just saw this one on PrizePicks and knew I had to give it a shot. After a thrilling 3-2 finish on Monday night, in favor of the Guardians, it seemed fitting to come right back to this matchup that features a pair of electric arms on the mound.

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Gerrit Cole hasn&rsquo;t looked this good in a few years, maybe it was cutting the hair, I don&rsquo;t know. But he&rsquo;s been phenomenal from his control to his consistency. It&rsquo;s the main reason this cat is the favorite to win the AL Cy Young this year, and actually have a chance to do so. Drawing the always-pesky Cleveland offense, Cole has actually had success in the strikeout department over the last couple seasons. While it is true this team strikes out the second-least in the MLB (217), behind Washington of all teams, Cole managed 31 K&rsquo;s in 26 IP last year over four starts (including postseason). He did only muster three punchies in seven innings early in April, but GC has been one of the few pitchers in the MLB to tally a solid K count against this lineup. I don&rsquo;t know if he goes over his number of 6.5, but I do believe five or six could be enough to let Bibee finish the job.

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Bibee, a rookie out of Cal State Fullerton (who runs a really solid program by the way), dazzled in his first MLB start of his career. Last Wednesday, he dotted the Rockies for only one earned run and eight punchouts over 5.2 innings. He displayed a great change piece and sick 12-6 curveball. The kid definitely has some swing and miss stuff. Against the Yankees, with no Aaron Judge or Giancarlo Stanton, I believe Bibee will have a strong encore performance. It&rsquo;s hard to judge him off one outing, but this NYY team is really struggling right now, losing four straight and seven of their last nine.

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I do feel like this is an opportunity to smash the over. Between them, Cole and Bibee should manage at least a dozen strikeouts. In my estimation, I would expect something along the lines of a six K each game for both starters.&nbsp;

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Pick: Cole+Bibee O11.5 K&rsquo;s

 
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PrizePicks Player Prop Parlay +300

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Ryan 6+ K&rsquo;s

Cole+Bibee OVER 11.5 K&rsquo;s

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 The first of the month was like the Truman Show. Good morning. Good afternoon. Good night. An easy cash that gets us off to a strong start. Let&rsquo;s start the winning streak back up with a couple of new faces.&nbsp;&nbsp;If you still need a Prize

Today's Taste - Best MLB PrizePicks Player Props (5/2/23)

Didn&rsquo;t end the weekend strong. A complete dud by Joey Gallo and another strong outing from Josiah Gray results in a loss. That was yesterday, this is today. It&rsquo;s a new week, and another opportunity to get back in the win column. Check out who I&rsquo;m stacking today for a rebound.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

If you still need a PrizePicks account, get a free $100 deposit match when you use promo code KARMA and <a href="https://app.prizepicks.com/sign-up?invite_code=KARMA)">click this link to sign up: Claim your $100 bonus</a>&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Bo Bichette OVER/UNDER 1.5 Total Bases

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Bo Bichette has gotten off to a strong start in 2023, unlike last year. Through April, the stud show stopper is batting a robust .317 with a strong .863 OPS. He&rsquo;s been a catalyst for the 18-10 Toronto Blue Jays. In the start of a brand new series against the flailing Boston Red Sox, Bo is primed for a big night.

&nbsp;

The Jays will see the once upon a time star pitcher, Corey Kluber. While Kluber is still in the show, the guy is definitely on his way out, as he looks nothing like the guy that claimed several Cy Young awards. Showing a brutal 6.75 ERA and 1.33 WHIP, this is a butter matchup for Bichette and the Jays offense. Lifetime against Klubot, the Jays shortstop is five for 11 with two extra base hits. Seeing how Bo is heating up again, this seems like a good spot to take him notching at least two bases.

&nbsp;

Kluber has been a disaster at home this year with his 8.78 ERA and .273 OBA, to go along with five homers allowed. This is an outing where I can see Toronto hang a crooked number early enroute to a big win.&nbsp;

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Pick: Bichette OVER 1.5 Total Bases

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&nbsp;If you play a ton on PrizePicks like the rest of us at Karma, you definitely want to sign up for access to the PrizePicks Predictor on this site! It includes A.I. Player Prop Projections EVERY DAY for NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB, CFB, CBB, WNBA, and more! <a href="https://betkarma.com/prizepicks-predictor">Click here to check it out for FREE!</a>&nbsp;

 
 
 
 
 
 
&nbsp;

Rafael Devers OVER/UNDER 1.5 Total Bases

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Staying in the same game, let&rsquo;s flip sides real quick. Rafael Devers has not been great to begin the campaign. Batting only .232, he&rsquo;s relied on the long ball to count for his production. Devers and the rest of the lineup will see Jose Berrios, a pitcher who has started to come around in his last few outings.

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Aside from Raffy Taters struggles at the plate, going two for his last 18, he has not fared well against Berrios during his career. Going four for 23 lifetime is hardly an encouraging sign in the middle of a slide for Devers. The four hits did come via the long ball and three doubles. However, the inconsistency is not enough for me to say he will pop off tonight.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Berrios has been locking it down as of late. Only allowing two runs and seven hits over his last 14 innings across two starts, Toronto might have finally found what they were looking for when they made the move to acquire the former Twin. I&rsquo;m a huge fan of Devers, but I think in this matchup it&rsquo;s more prudent if I take under the mark of 1.5 total bases.

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Pick: Devers UNDER 1.5 Total Bases

 
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PrizePicks Player Prop Parlay +300

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Bichette OVER 1.5 Total Bases

Devers UNDER 1.5 Total Bases

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 Didn&rsquo;t end the weekend strong. A complete dud by Joey Gallo and another strong outing from Josiah Gray results in a loss. That was yesterday, this is today. It&rsquo;s a new week, and another opportunity to get back in the win column. Check ou

Today's Taste - Best MLB PrizePicks Player Props (5/1/23)

Closing out the week, I&rsquo;m heading in the direction of a couple wild cards. Perhaps these two can deliver me what I need to finish out a solid weekend on the PrizePicks board. SEND IT!

&nbsp;

If you still need a PrizePicks account, get a free $100 deposit match when you use promo code KARMA and <a href="https://app.prizepicks.com/sign-up?invite_code=KARMA)">click this link to sign up: Claim your $100 bonus</a>&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Joey Gallo OVER/UNDER 0.5 Total Bases

&nbsp;

Joey Gallo has gotten off to an okay start with his new team, the Minnesota Twins. While the batting average has not been dramatically catapulted yet because of the shift, the power is still there. With seven homers on the young season to go along with an OPS of 1.080, Gallo is still finding ways to contribute.

&nbsp;

Against a KC Royals team that is in major rebuilding steps, there may be an opportunity to take advantage of a matchup against the former Florida Gator, Brady Singer. Singer is a guy who might be a good MLB pitcher one day, but that day isn&rsquo;t today. Holding a 6.67 ERA and 1.37 WHIP, one would expect Minnesota to close out this series with a thump. Singer has allowed 31 hits in 27 innings this, not to mention at least five earned runs in three of his last four starts.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Gallo is not the epitome of a consistency machine, but the fact that we only need a single hit from him makes me think there is a chance he&rsquo;s the guy we should call on. Though the average is a weak .245, he&rsquo;s managed to tally a base hit in five of the last six games. There should be a better than not chance to have four cracks to grab one knock today.

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Pick: Gallo OVER 0.5 Total Bases

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&nbsp;If you play a ton on PrizePicks like the rest of us at Karma, you definitely want to sign up for access to the PrizePicks Predictor on this site! It includes A.I. Player Prop Projections EVERY DAY for NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB, CFB, CBB, WNBA, and more! <a href="https://betkarma.com/prizepicks-predictor">Click here to check it out for FREE!</a>&nbsp;

 
 
 
 
 
 
&nbsp;

Josiah Gray OVER/UNDER 5 Strikeouts

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The Gray man. The next potential star pitcher of the Washington Nationals. Thus far, he&rsquo;s had a strong start to the 2023 season. Typically known for his strikeout ability, Gray has only registered 25 K&rsquo;s in 27.2 innings. Against a scorching Pirates team, is there a chance he might be able to dazzle them?

&nbsp;

Pittsburgh has only punched out 220 times this year as a team, which ranks them inside the top 12 fewest. It&rsquo;s a huge mystery but this 20-8 Pirates team is playing better than they have in decades. Taking down top notch teams, this is a hot organization right now. As Pittsburgh goes for the sweep at Washington, they get one last favorable spot. Gray has been bad at home to start the year. With a 5.40 ERA and .289 OBA, it doesn&rsquo;t set up as a spot where I would think he shines.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Because the strikeouts are down for him, I don&rsquo;t imagine gray registers the number he has to. I see him having a short outing, and only picking up three or four. OF course Gray dazzled the Mets in his last start for nine K&rsquo;s in six innings, but let&rsquo;s take a shot going under here.

&nbsp;

Pick: Gray U5 K&rsquo;s

 
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&nbsp;

 
&nbsp;

PrizePicks Player Prop Parlay +300

&nbsp;

Gray U5 K&rsquo;s

Gallo OVER 0.5 Total Bases

&nbsp;

 Closing out the week, I&rsquo;m heading in the direction of a couple wild cards. Perhaps these two can deliver me what I need to finish out a solid weekend on the PrizePicks board. SEND IT!&nbsp;If you still need a PrizePicks account, get a free $10

Today's Taste - Best MLB PrizePicks Player Props (4/30/23)

Picking up a little steam this week with another cash on Wednesday with Sandy and Bo Bichette doing God&rsquo;s work on the ballfield. I like to try and keep mixing things up with some different looks and players. Friday will feature two new guys I have not yet played out.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

If you still need a PrizePicks account, get a free $100 deposit match when you use promo code KARMA and <a href="http://https://app.prizepicks.com/sign-up?invite_code=KARMA)">click this link to sign up: Claim your $100 bonus</a>

&nbsp;

Byron Buxton OVER/UNDER 1.5 Hits+RBI&rsquo;s+Runs

&nbsp;

Byron Buxton is one of those players when he heats up, he can extend a hot streak. Coming off a big night where went 2-4 with a double and home run, Buxton might be coming into a heater. Over his last six games, Buxton has seven hits in his last 24 AB&rsquo;s with two bombs, three RBI&rsquo;s, and four runs scored.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

The Twins draw Jordan Lyles and the Royals. Lyles has been largely unimpressive this year with a 4.88 ERA and 1.18 WHIP. In his last four tries, he has surrendered 16 earned runs and 24 hits. Better yet, Lyles has allowed seven taters this season, something he is very well known for. Buxton being a career 3-9 against Lyles leads me to believe this is a favorable matchup for the Twins&rsquo; stud outfielder. In the first series of the season, he compiled a fantastic 6-13 mark with three runs scored.

&nbsp;

There are three different ways this play can hit. Seeing how it&rsquo;s only 1.5, it seems fairly feasible for Buxton to comfortably grab a couple hits or an RBI base knock. In the middle of heating up, I like this leg a lot. 

&nbsp;

Pick: Buxton Over 1.5 Hits+RBI&rsquo;s+Runs

&nbsp;

&nbsp;If you play a ton on PrizePicks like the rest of us at Karma, you definitely want to sign up for access to the PrizePicks Predictor on this site! It includes A.I. Player Prop Projections EVERY DAY for NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB, CFB, CBB, WNBA, and more! <a href="http://https://betkarma.com/prizepicks-predictor">Click here to check it out for FREE!</a>&nbsp;

 
 
 
 
 
 
&nbsp;

Pablo Lopez OVER/UNDER 6 Strikeouts

&nbsp;

From one Twin to another, Pablo Lopez is also set up nicely for a bounce back outing against a Kansas City team that is still in the middle of a rebuild. Before getting shelled in his last start against Washington (of all teams), Pablo was shoving. To this point in the year, he has tallied at least six K&rsquo;s in every start, do we see that again today?

&nbsp;

In Lopez&rsquo; first start of the year against KC, he went 5.1 scoreless, only allowing two hits and three walks, while punching out eight batters. Kansas City is near the top of the board in strikeouts thus far, ranking seventh (238) to go along with a 25.4 K rate (fifth worst). The 6-20 Royals have five different players that have logged at least 20 strikeouts, in addition to a few that have either 16 or 17. It&rsquo;s not a team that puts the ball in play very often, so Pablo should be set up nicely to resume his early AL Cy Young bid.

&nbsp;

This number seems a tad low to me. FanDuel has Lopez set at 6.5 K&rsquo;s with DraftKings sitting at 5.5 with a -190 vig to the over. With DK likely heading for a 6.5 mark, grabbing Lopez for an even six is a valuable mark.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Pick: Lopez 6+ K&rsquo;s

 
&nbsp;

&nbsp;

 
&nbsp;

PrizePicks Player Prop Parlay +300

&nbsp;

Lopez 6+ K&rsquo;s

Buxton Over 1.5 Hits+RBI&rsquo;s+Runs

&nbsp;

 Picking up a little steam this week with another cash on Wednesday with Sandy and Bo Bichette doing God&rsquo;s work on the ballfield. I like to try and keep mixing things up with some different looks and players. Friday will feature two new guys I 

Today's Taste - Best MLB PrizePicks Player Props (4/28/23)

There it is. The Texas stack last night of Martin Perez and Adolis Garcia came home. Today, we&rsquo;re going with a top ace and bat to try and repeat last night&rsquo;s success.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

If you still need a PrizePicks account, get a free $100 deposit match when you use promo code KARMA and <a href="https://app.prizepicks.com/sign-up?invite_code=KARMA)">click this link to sign up: Claim your $100 bonus</a>&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Sandy Alcantara OVER/UNDER 6 K&rsquo;s&nbsp;

&nbsp;

The reigning NL Cy Young winner has gotten off to a slow start in 2022, showing a 5.47 ERA. Sandy doesn&rsquo;t usually stay silent for long though. On Wednesday he draws an elite Atlanta Braves lineup that has a lot of swing and miss in their lineup, but will he be able to strike out enough batters?

&nbsp;

Alcantara saw the Bravos three times a season ago, which featured two masterpieces and one outing to forget. In its entirety, Sandy punched out 24 hitters in 22 innings. With ATL striking out the third-most in the bigs this year (230 K&rsquo;s) and having the seventh-highest K rate (24.9%), this is a matchup that sets up well for Sandy to notch some punchies today. With Alcantara giving up 12 earned runs in his last 10 innings across two starts, this could still be a spot where he starts to regain that Cy Young form again.

&nbsp;

To this point, it&rsquo;s fair to say this is the toughest pitching matchup the Braves will have faced. I&rsquo;m trusting Sandy to notch at least six punchouts today with the possibility of finishing near eight or nine. The good thing about backing him is there are only a few pitchers in the MLB that are given that &ldquo;extra inning&rdquo; where most guys would be out after throwing 98 pitches, but Sandy (and Gerrit Cole) is one of those arms that usually gets a crack at trying to nail down three more outs. That could ultimately be the difference.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Pick: Alcantara 6+ K&rsquo;s

&nbsp;

&nbsp;If you play a ton on PrizePicks like the rest of us at Karma, you definitely want to sign up for access to the PrizePicks Predictor on this site! It includes A.I. Player Prop Projections EVERY DAY for NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB, CFB, CBB, WNBA, and more! <a href="https://betkarma.com/prizepicks-predictor">Click here to check it out for FREE!</a>&nbsp;

 
 
&nbsp;

Bo Bichette OVER/UNDER 1.5 Total Bases

&nbsp;

Bo Bichette is always a threat to lead the MLB in hits, often one of the top favorites in the preseason. He&rsquo;s hitting a robust .324 with a strong .851 OPS. Definitely putting him on pace for another strong campaign in his young career. With the series already in the bag, the Blue Jays will be going for the sweep of the Chicago White Sox. How much of a role does Bo play in the finale?

&nbsp;

Admittedly, Bichette has not been crushing the ball lately. He is only six for his last 30 with one extra base hit in his last eight contests. Although Bo has been on the cooler side lately, today&rsquo;s pitching matchup affords him some opportunities to get hot heading into the next series against Seattle. Michael Kopech has the ball for the ChiSox, and he&rsquo;s been brutal.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Kopech comes into Wednesday with a bloated 6.87 ERA and 1.74 WHIP, giving up 12 hits over his last 10 innings across two outings. The command is simply not there either, allowing 14 walks in 20.2 innings pitched. Even in his small sample size of a career 2-3 against Kopech, this seems like one of those games where Bichette can easily nab two or three knocks. Of the 22 hits Kopech has surrendered, 12 of them have been extra base hits. Having Bo at the top of the lineup for a potential fifth at-bat could prove to be the difference in this one.

&nbsp;

Pick: Bichette O1.5 Total Bases

 
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&nbsp;

 
&nbsp;

PrizePicks Player Prop Parlay +300

&nbsp;

Sandy Alcantara 6+ K&rsquo;s

Bo Bichette O1.5 Total Bases

&nbsp;

 There it is. The Texas stack last night of Martin Perez and Adolis Garcia came home. Today, we&rsquo;re going with a top ace and bat to try and repeat last night&rsquo;s success.&nbsp;&nbsp;If you still need a PrizePicks account, get a free $100 dep

Today's Taste - Best MLB PrizePicks Player Props (4/26/23)

No dice on Monday. Nick Lodolo had the strikeouts working, but only ended up with six because he was forced from the game early on account of getting hit too hard. It happens. On Tuesday, I&rsquo;m looking at doubling up a couple of teammates for a nice little stack.

&nbsp;

If you still need a PrizePicks account, get a free $100 deposit match when you use promo code KARMA and click this link to sign up: Claim your $100 bonus&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://app.prizepicks.com/sign-up?invite_code=KARMA" style="text-decoration:none">https://app.prizepicks.com/sign-up?invite_code=KARMA</a>)

&nbsp;

Martin Perez OVER/UNDER 5 K&rsquo;s&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Adolis Garcia OVER/UNDER 1.5 Total Bases

&nbsp;

After suffering an unconscionable loss to the Reds in a game where they led 5-1 at one point, the Texas Rangers are in a nice bounce back spot today. On the bump is a 2022 breakout performer in Martin Perez.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Perez has been solid, but not great to start this year&rsquo;s campaign. A 3.38 ERA is okay, but we expect more from Marty P. Facing a Reds team that has struck out the second most times in the bigs (224) and has the second highest K rate (26.1%), this is the perfect get right spot. Marty P has tallied five or more strikeouts in two of his four starts this season, but similar to Jordan Montgomery last night, it&rsquo;s all about picking the right matchup. With the Texas pitcher being arguably the best lefty Cincy will have faced to this point, I believe hitting five punchouts is definitely in the cards tonight.

&nbsp;

After a slow start, Adolis Garcia went on an absolute tear, batting .400 with six extra base hits and 14 RBI&rsquo;s, which was good enough to earn him AL Player of the Week. The Rangers lineup will be seeing Reds&rsquo; Luke Weaver, making just his second appearance of the young season. In his only outing, Weaver allowed four hits and two taters to the Pirates. Garcia is one of those hitters when he gets hot, he&rsquo;s tough to cool down. To me, this seems like an opportunity to ride the hot hand.

&nbsp;

Pick: Perez 5+ K&rsquo;s

Pick: Garcia O1.5 Total Bases

 
 
 
&nbsp;

&nbsp;If you play a ton on PrizePicks like the rest of us at Karma, you definitely want to sign up for access to the PrizePicks Predictor on this site! It includes A.I. Player Prop Projections EVERY DAY for NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB, CFB, CBB, WNBA, and more! Click here to check it out for FREE!&nbsp;<a href="https://betkarma.com/prizepicks-predictor" style="text-decoration:none">https://betkarma.com/prizepicks-predictor</a>)

 
&nbsp;

&nbsp;

 
&nbsp;

PrizePicks Player Prop Parlay +300

&nbsp;

Martin Perez 5+ K&rsquo;s

Adolis Garcia O1.5 Total Bases

&nbsp;

 No dice on Monday. Nick Lodolo had the strikeouts working, but only ended up with six because he was forced from the game early on account of getting hit too hard. It happens. On Tuesday, I&rsquo;m looking at doubling up a couple of teammates for a 

Today's Taste - Best MLB PrizePicks Player Props (4/25/23)

On the list today we have some fire player props featuring a couple of lefty hurlers. Player markets have been interesting to me. There are definitely opportunities to cash in big money on them, especially when you get a butter matchup. Drawing straight from the PrizePicks well on a Monday night, we have exactly that.

&nbsp;

If you still need a PrizePicks account, get a free $100 deposit match when you use promo code KARMA and click here to&nbsp;<a href="https://app.prizepicks.com/sign-up?invite_code=KARMA">Claim your $100 bonus</a>

&nbsp;

Jordan Montgomery OVER/UNDER 5.5 K&rsquo;s&nbsp;

&nbsp;

What can we say about Monty other than he has been reborn since being traded to the St. Louis Cardinals last summer? Outside of a few horrendous outings, he&rsquo;s been not only strong, but a huge boost to this rotation that&rsquo;s in desperate need of arms. He has compiled seven quality starts of his 15 outings as a Cardinal.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

He typically is not considered a big strikeout guy, but does have his moments in the right matchup. Going against the San Francisco Giants, there is a better than not chance Montgomery can skate toward the over in this one. SF has punched out an MLB-leading 226 times this year in addition to having the highest K rate at 27.7%. Against lefties, the Bay Area Bombers have struggled mightily with a .215 average and .608 OPS, as well as 88 K&rsquo;s in 261 at-bats.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

The competition dictates this play being over the 5.5 K mark. And coming off a bad start against Arizona, I think J Mont is ready to dot this lineup.

&nbsp;

Pick: O5.5 K&rsquo;s

 
 
&nbsp;

&nbsp;If you play a ton on PrizePicks like the rest of us at Karma, you definitely want to sign up for access to the PrizePicks Predictor on this site! It includes A.I. Player Prop Projections EVERY DAY for NBA, NHL, NFL, MLB, CFB, CBB, WNBA, and more! <a href="https://betkarma.com/prizepicks-predictor">Click here to check it out for FREE!</a>

 
&nbsp;

Nick Lodolo OVER/UNDER 7.5 K&rsquo;s&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Hunter Greene AND Nick Lodolo?! This is every fan&rsquo;s dream to have two young gun superstars anchoring the rotation for years to come. Most of you should know the affinity I have for Greene, but Lodolo was also a guy I pondered taking a shot on to lead the league in strikeouts - and even win the Cy Young. The flashes this kid has shown makes it evident he will be one of the better strikeout pitchers of this decade.

&nbsp;

Coming off an impressive rookie season where he piled up 131 punchies in only 103.1 IP, Lodolo has picked up right where he left off with his 31 K&rsquo;s in 21.2 innings this season. Outside of a blow up against the Reds in his latest start, the lefty looks sensational this season with the cheddar bomb high 90&rsquo;s heater and diving slider. On the board for his bounce back opportunity are the resurgent Texas Rangers. Fair warning, Texas is not only in first place in the AL West with a 14-7 record, but they have been great at not punching out.

&nbsp;

The Rangers have struck out the sixth-fewest times in the bigs thus far (174), and hold a K rate of 21.4% (10th best). That being said, a lot of those numbers have been the result of cupcake pitching matchups against Kansas City (twice), Oakland, and Baltimore. Framber Valdez and Zack Wheeler both managed to tally seven K&rsquo;s a piece, but at this point, there could be a chance Lodolo has the most electric arsenal they have faced this season.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

The number may be a tad high, but I&rsquo;m taking a chance on this young blood to show out in a big way. Lodolo is either going to get crushed, or dazzle this fine Texas offense.

&nbsp;

Pick: Over 7.5 K&rsquo;s

 
&nbsp;

PrizePicks Player Prop Parlay +300

&nbsp;

Nick Lodolo Over 7.5 K&rsquo;s

Jordan Montgomery Over 5.5 K&rsquo;s

&nbsp;

 On the list today we have some fire player props featuring a couple of lefty hurlers. Player markets have been interesting to me. There are definitely opportunities to cash in big money on them, especially when you get a butter matchup. Drawing stra

Today's Taste - Best MLB PrizePicks Player Props (4/24/23)

An absolutely brutal beat from Arkansas cost us a Thursday night sweep. Leaving 11 runners on base against the worst pitching staff in the world will definitely cause a lot of heartbreak. Those are the perils of betting this chaotic sport. Today is a new day, one that features a ton of games on the slate. I&rsquo;m only giving out a one-game taster, so you have to check out <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dChrv4Rh9aE">Breaking Bet at 1pm ET</a> to find out my whole board.

&nbsp;

#4 Vanderbilt Commodores (-160) @ Tennessee Volunteers (+130)

&nbsp;

Quite frankly, the two paths these teams have traveled thus far is the opposite of what I expected in the preseason. The 29-8 Vandy Boys have been mowing down the competition with a 5-0 mark in SEC play (13-2 overall). They have won a lot of games in different fashions, which is something I expected from the Vols. Tennessee looks lost this year, only winning one series in SEC play. My Vols have been in a free fall over the last few weeks, losing seven of their last nine conference games. Will they finally right the ship against their in-state rival?

&nbsp;

I&rsquo;m not surprised UT&rsquo;s offense has struggled this season after being gutted in the 2022 MLB draft where they lost almost every starter from their historic team a season ago. This is not the team many people expected to see. In addition to the offense, their superstar pitching rotation has been mostly dreadful. On Friday, they won&rsquo;t be throwing top prospect Chase Dollander. Instead, they will go with hybrid righty Andrew Lindsey, a guy who has been used in two-four inning situations. Vandy doesn&rsquo;t boast a top offense, but they are pretty strong in timely situations. Led by CF Enrique Bradfield Jr., this generation&rsquo;s Carl Crawford, the Commodores are great at making opposing pitchers make mistakes. Bradfield is 26-30 in the stolen bases department this season, and 119-129 in his career. If they let this guy on a few times today, that could be the difference.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Carter Holton has the ball for the &lsquo;Dores this evening. Other than a rough outing last weekend against South Carolina, where he was battling tightness in his side, he&rsquo;s been outstanding in 2023. Prior to last weekend&rsquo;s appearance, the stout lefty had shoved three quality starts in his last four tries. Facing a Tennessee lineup that only mustered seven runs in three games against Arkansas last weekend, the advantage is definitely in favor of Holton. Aside from walking batters, the only way he can really get hurt is if he lets behemoth Blake Burke start hitting light tower shots. Burke&rsquo;s 13 homers leads this offense, so he is the one guy to pitch carefully to. Furthermore, in the event of tight game late, Tennessee does still have a strong bullpen, but Vandy features a capable one themselves. With one of the top closers in the nation this year, Nick Maldonado, I definitely feel more comfortable with him on the mound than anybody the Vols would throw.

Tennessee is in must-win mode for the rest of the season if they want to even make the tournament. However, nothing they&rsquo;ve done has given me any confidence to bet on them. I still maintain Vandy is overrated, even though they have proved me wrong, but still they have found ways to win ball games. Tennessee has found ways to lose. Maybe this is the time UT turns the ship around, but Vanderbilt has the clear edge tonight. It might ultimately be a race to five runs. The &lsquo;Dores should take game one.

&nbsp;

I gave this out at -155 last night before it ballooned to -180 with some buy back ultimately coming on Tennessee. I would play it out to -175.

&nbsp;

Pick: Vandy ML -160

&nbsp;

 An absolutely brutal beat from Arkansas cost us a Thursday night sweep. Leaving 11 runners on base against the worst pitching staff in the world will definitely cause a lot of heartbreak. Those are the perils of betting this chaotic sport. Today is 

Today's Taste: Best College Baseball Plays (4/21/23)

The second half of the College Baseball season is in full swing. Now is the time where teams start deciding who exactly they are. There are still a lot of games to be played, but this is generally when a bubble team will start taking charge and rattle off a lot of wins looking to get hot before the tournament. I think there may be a few of those squads lying around. Tonight we have two games on the dockett, which features three teams inside the top six.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

#5 Arkansas Razorbacks (-180) @ Georgia Bulldogs (+150) | Total: 13

&nbsp;

Here we have a matchup of two SEC teams heading for much different destinies. On one hand, Arkansas is one of the eight or nine teams that I really believe has a chance at winning it all. After making the final four a season ago, there is no reason this program can&rsquo;t return for a deep run. Then we have Georgia. A team who has some young talent, but is not ready to compete in this conference right now. Here&rsquo;s the best way to attack this opener.

&nbsp;

Knowing the pitching matchups is one of the most important parts of understanding and betting this sport. The hard part is the lack of information. Teams don&rsquo;t always reveal who they will be throwing until it&rsquo;s five minutes before game time. The Hogs are keeping their rotation this weekend a mystery, but did give us what we wanted to know ahead of Thursday&rsquo;s tilt. To no surprise, the team has said it will be defacto ace, Hunter Hollan, on the bump (as projected). Hollan has been a huge piece for the Arky rotation with his 6-1 mark, 2.89 ERA, and 45 K/15 BB ratio across 48 innings of work. The Razorbacks have also won seven of the nine outings he started. Coming off 12 innings of one earned run ball over his last two outings against Ole Miss and Tennessee, HH is set up nicely against UGA.

&nbsp;

Similar to Ole Miss, the Bulldogs struggled mightily when they squared up with Vandy, who deploys the very rare all-lefty starting rotation. During that weekend sweep in late March/early April, the Commodores outscored UGA 29-10. Though Georgia did tally a solid 19 hits in those three games, Vandy&rsquo;s starters only allowed 12 of them. The point is they struggled against the lefty pitching, which is a huge matchup advantage for Hollan. There are only two, maybe three worries in this offense if you&rsquo;re Arkansas. Charlie Condon has been hitting the cover off the ball this season (.444 avg, 1.439 OPS, 17 HR, 53 RBI), so he clearly needs to be pitched to carefully. Then Connor Tate (.369 avg, 1.164 OPS, 12 HR, 38 RBI) is also a threat, who forms a dangerous 2-3 combo with Condon. Even Parks Harber can get you (11 HR, 37 RBI).&nbsp;

&nbsp;

With the Bulldogs dealing with a lot of pitching issues in both the rotation and bullpen, they will be trotting out freshman Kolten Smith and his 4.80 ERA in lieu of typical game one starter, Jaden Woods. Smith isn&rsquo;t a starter, so this might be a patch-work pen game. Either way Arkansas should have a big advantage here this evening. The Razorbacks should win comfortably, covering the -1.5 runline. I also do believe this game stays under 13. However, I&#39;m keeping it simple.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Pick: Arkansas ML -180

&nbsp;

#3 Florida Gators (+100) @ #6 South Carolina Gamecocks (-130) | Total: 13.5

&nbsp;

This right here is arguably the best series for the entire weekend. Two teams ranked inside the top six, who both have a legit chance to win the whole thing. Both are on my list of eight or nine teams that could pull it off. This series will feature some offensive DADDY WAGONS, complemented by stud pitchers. Truly a coin flip series, I&rsquo;m telling you how I see it going down.

&nbsp;

South Carolina is coming off a bad series loss to Vanderbilt. After taking game one, SC put up a quick first inning four-spot over their opponents in game two, only to relent the lead and lose 8-5. Last weekend marked the first time the Gamecocks lost a series in 2023. Can they bounce back?

&nbsp;

The Gamecocks are nicknamed the &ldquo;Rakecocks&rdquo; thanks to their nation-leading 88 taters, and seventh-most runs scored (349). They have five players in double figures with home runs and an OPS over 1.000. This offense has tons of fire power led by the likely freshman of the year, Ethan Petry (.424 avg, 1.366 OPS, 18 HR, 56 RBI). Despite facing some high-powered quality starters for the Florida Gators, there should be opportunities to attack Florida&rsquo;s Friday guy (game one starter), Brandon Sproat.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Sproatzilla turned down a third-round draft selection from the Mets last summer to return for one more year. Although he has a lot of talent with a high octane arsenal, consistency is not Sproat&rsquo;s game. His 4.96 ERA and 25 free passes in 49 innings is the ugly. The pretty is his 69 punchies and only 31 hits allowed. Florida&rsquo;s starter has given up at least four runs in three of his last four outings, and has yet to face as potent a lineup as South Carolina&rsquo;s. While there is always a chance he can come out and shove for seven scoreless, one would think SC can tag him for at least a few. More importantly, the Cocks should have a big advantage in the later innings featuring a huge liability with the Gator bullpen that is without their primary closer Brandon Neely (serving a four-game suspension).&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Florida also represents one of the elite offenses in the country. A team that is second in slugging percentage (.589%), third in round-trippers with 82, and fourth in runs scored (361). The primary culprits responsible for the meat of these stats would be arguably the best 2-3-4 lineup combo in the NCAA with Wyatt Langford, Jac Caglianone, and Josh Rivera. Langford is likely a top five pick in this summer&rsquo;s MLB draft, and in my opinion this generation&rsquo;s Mike Trout. Caglianone is the college version of Shohei Ohtani, as he leads the country with 22 ta-ta&rsquo;s (and might be the first pick in the 2024 MLB Draft) to accompany his 99 MPH heater. Rivera has broken out with a .400 average, 14 HR&rsquo;s, and 52 RBI&rsquo;s, and could be a first-rounder this summer. It&rsquo;s very possible this Gators&rsquo; team has four guys selected in the first round. This is what SC&rsquo;s projected top 20 pick Will Sanders will deal with tonight.

&nbsp;

Sanders has been far from somebody who looked like a top pick this season. His 5.03 ERA and inability to log more than five innings has hindered his growth and draft stock. Like Sproat, the upside is obvious, but the consistency has been weak. This is an outing where I expect him to answer the call like he did against LSU a couple weeks ago. Before a lengthy rain-delay derailed his three-inning, no earned run start, Sanders looked like the guy we expected. Furthermore, the SC bullpen is an advantage over Florida&rsquo;s, so in a pinch that&rsquo;s the obvious side. I&rsquo;m expecting this showdown to be tight in the late innings, one that goes in favor of the Rakecocks.

&nbsp;

I&rsquo;ll say this though, whoever wins tonight, I would bet on the other team tomorrow. Then game three is a toss up.

 
&nbsp;

Pick: South Carolina ML -130

&nbsp;

 The second half of the College Baseball season is in full swing. Now is the time where teams start deciding who exactly they are. There are still a lot of games to be played, but this is generally when a bubble team will start taking charge and ratt

Today's Taste: Best College Baseball Bets (4/20/23)

Wow. Last night was brutal. Hunter Greene got yanked after three innings because he got scorched with a ground ball, which didn&rsquo;t allow him to compete for the strikeouts. And Kevin Gausman had a brutal first inning in Houston, so Toronto had no chance. There are ups and downs in this game, but today is a new day to turn it around.

&nbsp;

Philadelphia Phillies (-122) @ Chicago White Sox (+104) | Over/Under 8

&nbsp;

Things aren&rsquo;t off to the best of starts for both the defending NL Champion, and a team people expected to be contending in this decade. The Phillies are clearly missing Bryce Harper (and Rhys Hoskins) as they look utterly lost without him. Chicago, meanwhile, seems like a ship without a captain. It&rsquo;s still early, so it can turn around, but you&rsquo;re better off not falling in too deep of a hole.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Philly was my team I picked to win it all in the preseason of 2022. Oh so close. Of course I understood the difficulty of reaching the same heights the very next season, even if they have weapons everywhere. It&rsquo;s evident that this 6-10 Phillies team has no swagger or confidence right now. However, when that is the case, they have just the guy to set things back in order. Zack Wheeler will have the ball this evening as his team tries to notch their third win in the last four games. Wheeler has been strong in his last two outings, allowing only three earned runs in 11.1 innings. Drawing a White Sox team in the midst of a brutal stretch where they have lost seven of their last 10, this is a good spot for the reigning NL Champs to heat up.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Outside of Luis Robert (and a little bit of Jake Burger), nobody on this Sox offense has really made an impact. The scoring has been a bit shady, only hitting over three runs in three of their last seven outings. Wheeler is one of the best pitchers in baseball. It&rsquo;s a butter matchup against a touch and go CWS team.

&nbsp;

With Lance Lynn on the mound for Chicago, he could have his hands full against the team with the highest collective batting average in the MLB (.293). The probability that the Phillies rack up hits and get on base against Lynn should ultimately bear fruit in the form of runs. Although one bad outing has bloated his overall stat line, LL has still surrendered 19 hits and seven walks over 16 innings. I would imagine he is solid today, but he should still yield a few runs, which is more than enough when &ldquo;Throw it back&rdquo; Zack is on the bumpski.

&nbsp;

Pick: Phillies ML -122

&nbsp;

 Wow. Last night was brutal. Hunter Greene got yanked after three innings because he got scorched with a ground ball, which didn&rsquo;t allow him to compete for the strikeouts. And Kevin Gausman had a brutal first inning in Houston, so Toronto had n

Today's Taste: Best MLB Bets (4/18/23)

It&rsquo;s a new week, which means it&rsquo;s also a new start. There are several aces on the mound today, so let&rsquo;s see where we can find the best value on the board! Coming in hot.

&nbsp;

Hunter Greene Over/Under 6.5 K&rsquo;s (Yes: -142/No: +112)

&nbsp;

As is the case with strikeout props, there are differing totals and prices hanging out there. Another one I was looking at had the line out to 7.5 K&rsquo;s in case you were wondering. Here we go. My guy Hunter Greene has the ball this evening against the hottest team in the MLB, the Tampa Bay Rays. Tampa has been one of the best teams at not striking out this year, but can HG buck the trend?

&nbsp;

Greene is coming off arguably one of his best outings as a pro. Against an elite Atlanta Braves lineup on Wednesday, he logged his first quality start of the season. As he tossed six innings of three-run ball, my preseason NL Cy Young longshot notched 10 punchies and walked NO Batters. The only other time he has had 10 K&rsquo;s to no walks was last September against the Cardinals. And of the seven hits he allowed, most were weakish contact that just found a lane out of the infield. HG outdueled Spencer Strider. With his command looking sharp, and pitch selection keeping hitters off-balance, I said to myself he will win the Cy Young this year if this is how he continues to pitch. Now he has to carry it over to the 14-2 Rays.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Tampa is among the top teams in baseball at not punching out, both in total strikeouts and K rate. A large part of that, in my estimation, is because they have faced incredible weak pitching. The Tigers, Nationals, A&rsquo;s, and Red Sox don&rsquo;t exactly feature any Cy Young contenders. Toronto is the best they have seen thus far. Jose Berrios dazzled them for their first loss of the year, and punched out six over five frames. Yusei Kikuchi shut them down with six shutty and nine K&rsquo;s. If Kikuchi can do it, so can Greene. The Rays have a couple of true weapons in Wander Franco and Randy Arozarena with a hot streak from Brandon Lowe, but nothing too scary for the Reds&rsquo; ace. As a matter of fact, he struck this same lineup out nine times over six innings a season ago.

&nbsp;

I&rsquo;m taking the over here because he should be able to carry that momentum over to this start. Tampa is a fun story, but they are a team that can be overmatched by a guy like Greene. The 6.5 is a solid number as well, even if there is a bit of a vig to it.

&nbsp;

Pick: Hunter Greene O6.5 K&rsquo;s -142

 
 
 
 
&nbsp;

Toronto Blue Jays (-120) @ Houston Astros (+100) | Over/Under 8

&nbsp;

This is going to be a fun series. Two of the top AL contenders battling it out will be a nice litmus test early on. The Jays are currently standing strong at 10-4, while Houston has some work to do at 7-9. We&rsquo;ll see Kevin Gausman v Cristian Javier tonight. Who ya got?

&nbsp;

Gausman was stellar in his last outing against the Tigers. His three runs and 10 punchies over eight innings was marred by a late two-run tater by somebody who will be bagging groceries in a couple of weeks. But nonetheless, Gaus continues to impress logging three straight quality starts. On Monday night, he will see a shell of the Astros lineup he faced last season where he shoved for two runs over seven innings with 10 K&rsquo;s. As is the case with Houston right now, they are virtually garbage with no production outside of Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker, who have combined to drive in 33 of the team&rsquo;s 74 runs. If he is careful and concise against those two boppers, KG can have a very strong evening against this reeling offense.

&nbsp;

Cristian Javier was on the list as a potential breakout player for 2023, in fantasy, betting, and real life. Early on, he&rsquo;s been up and down. Not exactly bad, nor good. This is his first season truly transitioning into a pure full-time starter role. He has a ton of swing-and-miss prowess in his arsenal, which is one of the reasons he was a popular sleeper this winter. Javier will see his first true test of the new season against a Toronto team that is lighting up righty pitching (.281 avg/.792 OPS), and have been stallions on the road (.288 avg/.773 OPS). Making timely pitches, and keeping traffic on the bases to a minimum will be paramount in this matchup.

&nbsp;

This is an extremely difficult call for me, but I have to go with the Jays. They are a better overall team right now with an extreme offensive edge and decisive advantage on the mound. Houston winning at home would not surprise me at all, but the way Gausman is throwing gives me way more confidence. I have two approaches on how to play this one.

&nbsp;

Pick: Blue Jays ML -120

Pick: Kevin Gausman 7+ K&rsquo;s AND Blue Jays ML&nbsp;

&nbsp;

 It&rsquo;s a new week, which means it&rsquo;s also a new start. There are several aces on the mound today, so let&rsquo;s see where we can find the best value on the board! Coming in hot.&nbsp;Hunter Greene Over/Under 6.5 K&rsquo;s (Yes: -142/No: +1

Today's Taste: Best MLB Plays (4/17/23)

My write-up yesterday featured a nice double-dip winner with Gerrit Cole and Sugar Shane Daddy McClanahan getting the wins as my best plays. Right now, I only have one for Wednesday that should be a PLUS MONEY BANGER! Who doesn&rsquo;t love those?

&nbsp;

Washington Nationals (+144) @ Los Angeles Angels (-172) | Over/Under 9

&nbsp;

Washington is one of the worst teams in the MLB as they enter an aggressive rebuild. Although they were projected in the 100-loss range, that still means they should win about 60 games. Even a team this bad will win games throughout the season. One of my favorite betting secrets to start the year will be taking the Nats when Mackenzie Gore is on the mound.

&nbsp;

Gore is a talented lefty who came over to Washington in the Juan Soto deal. He was shut down in the second half of 2022 with elbow inflammation, but before that there was a lot of promise. In his first eight outings, he managed a 1.72 ERA to go along with 47 punchies in 42 innings of work. To begin 2023, he has impressed with a 2-0 mark and three runs in 11.1 innings. He out-maneuvered the Braves in the opening series with 5.1 IP,and one earned. Facing an Angels team that hit only .226 with a .658 OPS against lefties in 2022, it sets up well for him to shove once again.

&nbsp;

This Angels team saw Shohei Ohtani go seven shutout last night, and only won 2-0. LAA will throw Griffin Canning out there today, making his first appearance since 2021. In 43 career showings, Canning is sporting a terrible 4.73 ERA. In my opinion, this is the spot where you take a shot on a Washington team that plated 29 runs in their last four contests (before Tuesday night). The Angels have a lot of issues, so it&rsquo;s not crazy to think we can catch them on a bad night.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Pick: Nationals ML +144

&nbsp;

 My write-up yesterday featured a nice double-dip winner with Gerrit Cole and Sugar Shane Daddy McClanahan getting the wins as my best plays. Right now, I only have one for Wednesday that should be a PLUS MONEY BANGER! Who doesn&rsquo;t love those?&n

Today's Taste: Best MLB Play (4/12/23)

It&rsquo;s a big time Tuesday slate on diamond. Your boy is looking at several aces this evening. Let&rsquo;s get to work.

&nbsp;

New York Yankees (-172) @ Cleveland Guardians (+144) | Over/Under 8

&nbsp;

Gerrit Cole will toe the rubber tonight against a Cleveland Guardians team that has won seven of their last 10 outings. Will the Cole Train be enough to overcome this surging Cleveland squad?

&nbsp;

Cole has had a nice start to his 2023 campaign, compiling 19 strikeouts in 12.1 innings while allowing only one earned run. He dominated the Giants and Phillies in his first two starts of the year. Now he draws a Cleveland team that is playing some good baseball at the moment. For the Yankees ace, he was superb against this team in 2022. In four starts (including the postseason), Cole only allowed five earned in 26 innings of work (struck out 31 batters). Furthermore, he recorded the win in every one of those contests. Cleveland&rsquo;s offense has been okay at best, but only two of their starting bats have an average over .300, and nobody on the team has more than two homers.

&nbsp;

The Yankees have taken all three of their series thus far, but with the loss last night, they are in danger of dropping their first of the year if they don&rsquo;t win tonight with their ace on the bump. The moneyline for NYY is too stiff, and the strikeout number is tough to trust against one of best lineups in the MLB at not punching out. The best look for me this evening is Cole to record the win. Cole has recorded six wins in the last 10 regular season starts.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Pick: Gerrit Cole to record the win -105

&nbsp;

Boston Red Sox (+154) @ Tampa Bay Rays (-184) | Over/Under 7

&nbsp;

Oh baby, don&rsquo;t stop me now. We have another star-studded ace toeing the rubber tonight. That would be Sugar Shane Daddy McClanahan. I routinely said this a lot last year, McClanahan has the best and most electric arsenal as a lefty since Randy Johnson. Here&rsquo;s a guy who throws four pitches, all for strikes, with insane movement. The question is, &ldquo;how do we attack this game tonight?&rdquo;

&nbsp;

The Rays are out to their best start since ever. No team has started a season 10-0 since the 1987 Milwaukee Brewers! At some point you figure they have to lose soon. Every game is becoming a prediction of when that will happen. With Sugar Shane on the mound tonight, I can&rsquo;t say it will happen this evening. McClanahan has logged two quality starts in two tries so far, beating down the Tigers and Nationals. After uncharacteristically walking four batters in six innings in his last start against Washington, he&rsquo;ll be looking for a &ldquo;bounce back.&rdquo; On the schedule is a Red Sox team that hit lefty pitching well (.265) a season ago. But for Sugar Shane, he dominated Boston last year with a 2.03 ERA and .191 OBA in two outings. Since the start of 2022, he has notched 20 quality starts out of 30 tries.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

With the Sox throwing youngster Garrett Whitlock, there is opportunity for the Rays to pounce on him early in his first outing of 2023. He only started nine games in 31 appearances after being transitioned into a primarily reliever role in the second half. This sets up nicely to back a scorching Tampa team.

&nbsp;

Similar to the Yanks, the moneyline is too high to take the Rays. And the strikeouts are fun, but you always worry about Kevin Cash&rsquo;s short leash on his starters. The best way to attack this for me is taking McClanahan to record the win at a juicy price. Out of his last 19 starts where he factored into the decision, Sugar has recorded the win in 13 of his last 19 tries.

&nbsp;

Pick: Shane McClanahan to record the win +145

&nbsp;

 It&rsquo;s a big time Tuesday slate on diamond. Your boy is looking at several aces this evening. Let&rsquo;s get to work.&nbsp;New York Yankees (-172) @ Cleveland Guardians (+144) | Over/Under 8&nbsp;Gerrit Cole will toe the rubber tonight against 

Today's Taste: Best MLB Bets (4/11/23)

Yesterday only ended up featuring one play since the Arkansas/Ole Miss game was postponed. Vandy ML ended up coming home, nearly giving me an ulcer in the process. There are a ton of games on my college slate today. To hear those, check out <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3yGXmR65E4">Breaking Bet at 1pm ET on Friday</a>. I have one MLB play, so here it is.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Hunter Greene Over/Under 7.5 Strikeouts @ Philadelphia Phillies

&nbsp;

My guy Hunter Greene gets his first true test of 2023 against the defending NL champion Phillies. Although he wasn&rsquo;t particularly sharp in his first outing against the Pirates, he still tallied eight strikeouts in 3.1 innings. Realistically, that number should have been about 11 or 12, but there were some horrendous calls from the umpire where he got squeezed. Nevertheless, he managed to hit his first over of the season.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Thus far the Phillies have struck out the 10th most times in the majors (59), and have the sixth-highest K rate (26.5%). Although Philly touched Jacob DeGrom in his first start for five runs in only 3.2 innings, the Rangers&rsquo; ace still managed seven K&rsquo;s in that time frame. Martin Perez last Sunday night also managed seven in a strong outing. In the last series against the Yankees, Philly saw Domingo German and Gerrit Cole pile up eight punchies a piece. Additionally, this is a team that has the second-worst walk rate in the MLB (5.4%). That tells me there is a lot of swing and miss in this offense right now to go along with some poor plate discipline.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Greene has one of, if not the most, electric heaters in the game. If he can manage to keep the pitch count somewhat favorable, he should be able to bring this home if he can tally five innings. He&rsquo;ll have to keep the walks to a minimum as well. I went on SportsGrid last night and dished this play out at +120, but it&rsquo;s taken considerable steam since then. I would play this to -125.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Pick: Hunter Greene O7.5 K&rsquo;s -105

&nbsp;

 Yesterday only ended up featuring one play since the Arkansas/Ole Miss game was postponed. Vandy ML ended up coming home, nearly giving me an ulcer in the process. There are a ton of games on my college slate today. To hear those, check out Breaking

Today's Taste: Best MLB Plays (4/7/23)

MLB is off to such a strong start for me thus far this season, and we&rsquo;ve really been hitting our stride on the college side over the last couple weeks. As much as I love the MLB, I&rsquo;m so wrapped up in the NCAA Baseball whirlwind right now. A lot of people say they love college football and basketball better than the NFL and NBA, I think we can add baseball to that list. It&rsquo;s a completely different game, and we&rsquo;re getting unreal matchups for every weekend series. This Thursday features a loaded slate of a ton of College Baseball weekend series starting. Let&rsquo;s lock down some winners.

&nbsp;

#5 Arkansas Razorbacks (-115) @ Ole Miss Rebels (-115) | Over/Under NA&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Some of you may remember this was one hell of a series last June to determine who moved on to the College World Series Finals a season ago. In the final two contests, they were so evenly matched that it really was a coin flip. The Razorbacks took the first one 3-2, with Ole Miss securing their CWS Finals appearance by clinching a 2-0 victory behind a complete game shutout from Dylan Delucia. Ole Miss eventually went on to win the whole thing. A lot has changed since that point. Who has the edge this weekend?

&nbsp;

23-5 Arkansas has looked amazing this season, currently sitting as the #5 ranked team in the nation. Despite losing a lot of key arms, they have found a way to win games. With all of the injuries to their pitching, manager Dave Van Horn made an executive decision to take his best starter, Hagen Smith, out of the weekend rotation in order to preserve him. With Smith now a key bullpen piece, lefty Hunter Hollan has assumed ace of the staff duties, pitching basically every weekend opener. That should be no different today. Prior to a brutal outing against Alabama last week (4 IP, 7 ER), Hollan had been sensational, allowing only seven earned runs in 32 innings. With a bounce back start looming, it is fair to say HH has the advantage against the Rebels today.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Ole Miss is 1-8 in SEC play thus far, but what stood out was how poorly they played against Vanderbilt a few weeks ago. The Commodores are one of the few, if not the only, teams in the country that feature an entirely southpaw starting rotation. During that three-game sweep, Vandy limited Ole Miss to just four runs the entire series. So all of those lefty starters only allowed four runs in 20 innings to go along with just 11 hits. While the power of Ole Miss is the offense, it does not appear to be a good matchup for game one. To make matters worse, the Rebels are throwing Jack Doughtery, who holds a 5.79 ERA. I&rsquo;ll take my chances with Ark.

&nbsp;

The Rebels should take one game this series, but I highly doubt it is today.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Pick: Arkansas ML -115

&nbsp;

#4 Vanderbilt Commodores (-190) @ Missouri Tigers (+155) | Over/Under NA&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Speaking of Vandy, there&rsquo;s no team that has been better than them in the SEC than LSU. The &lsquo;Dores are off to a scorching SEC-Best 9-0 start to their 2023 campaign, and 24-5 record. Additionally, Vandy is on a 12-game win streak. This team has been playing lights out so far.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

For Vandy, their ace has been amazing this season. Through six starts, Carter Holton has pitched to a 2.59 ERA with 35 punchies in 31.1 innings. He also has three quality starts out of his last four tries. The Vandy Boys represent the sixth-best ERA in the nation right now with a 3.21 mark, which has been the anchor to their recent success. Furthermore, the offense has heated up like lightning rod, plating at least 25 runs in each of their last three weekend series. Facing Mizzou&rsquo;s freshman starter, Logan Lunceford, could be just another day at the office since he is turning in his first weekend start of his career.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

The world has come crashing down on the Tigers since that weekend sweep of the Tennessee Volunteers a few weeks ago. Since then, they have been swept in consecutive series against South Carolina and Kentucky, being outscored a total of 47-16. Aside from one of those six games, they have not plated more than five runs in any other contest. While Lunceford has been strong on paper, he has not seen a team of this caliber, ever. The kid does have some strikeout stuff with a 36 K total in only 22.1 IP. There is some strikeout proneness in this Vandy lineup (197 K&rsquo;s in 1,002 At-bats). That would be the key for Mizzou. Short of that, this could be a tall task indeed.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Vandy has a good chance to sweep another series this weekend. However, if they were to lose one, I would probably say it&rsquo;s game three on Saturday with Mizzou&rsquo;s best starter, Chandler Murphy, on the mound. I typically don&rsquo;t like laying -190 for a ML pick, but this is one of my best plays on the Thursday slate. Vandy is also a good leg in a parlay.

&nbsp;

Pick: Vandy ML -190

&nbsp;

 MLB is off to such a strong start for me thus far this season, and we&rsquo;ve really been hitting our stride on the college side over the last couple weeks. As much as I love the MLB, I&rsquo;m so wrapped up in the NCAA Baseball whirlwind right now

Today's Taste: Best College baseball Bets (4/6/23)

Soooo close. The Twins came through in sweat free fashion. And it just so happened I picked the wrong Oriole to swipe a bag, but if you took a little of Cedric Mullins, you brought home another winner. Tuesday features a slough of aces on the bumpski. Let&rsquo;s dive into it.

 
 
&nbsp;

Minnesota Twins (+120) @ Miami Marlins (-140) | Over/Under 7

&nbsp;

In a similar fashion to Eminem, Shady&rsquo;s back. Back again. Well, at least when it comes to dipping in on the Twins for the third day in a row, and this matchup on back to back days. Minny has been pumping so far to start their &lsquo;23 campaign. A little 4-0 never hurt anybody. Can they make it 5-0?

&nbsp;

Reigning NL Cy Young winner Sandy &ldquo;Not Sandra&rdquo; Alcantara has the ball this evening. While he was not particularly sharp (5.2 IP, 3 ER, 4 BB, 2 K) to the Mets in his first go around, there is reason to think this time will be better as he looks to halt Miami&#39;s three game losing streak. Though it&rsquo;s not realistic to expect the same things from him as 2022, Sandy had an incredible 1.64 ERA and .191 OBA at home last year. A lot of the Twins success in the last two games were because they took advantage of weaker pitching matchups, but the Royals held them to two runs a piece in each of the first couple contests. Today, Miami has a significant advantage on the mound.

&nbsp;

Starting for Minnesota is Kenta Maeda, a name I have not heard in a long time. The last time he pitched was in August of 2021, thanks to Tommy John that cost him all of last year. Even before the injury, Maeda registered a bloated 4.66 ERA and 3.8 K/BB ratio, as well as yielding 16 home runs in 21 starts. The fact that we think this guy is going to come back from the dead after a year and a half and dot the Marlins is a bit far-fetched. This is exactly what a struggling Miami team needs right now. They have only scored four runs over the last three contests, but I have a feeling that changes today. By the way, I can&rsquo;t expect Maeda to get a long leash after such a layoff. There should be a lot of bullpen arms for Minny.

&nbsp;

We&rsquo;re getting Sandy on a bounce back at -140. That&rsquo;s like a solar eclipse, a rare occurrence. I know the Marlins are far from a daddy wagon, but there will be times this year you can pick and choose your spot on them. I&rsquo;m taking this one.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Play: Marlins ML (-140)

 
&nbsp;

Los Angeles Angels (+144) @ Seattle Mariners (-172) | Over/Under 7

&nbsp;

Hello, my old friend. The Seattle Mariners have hit the skids over the last few games. Since my AL Cy Young pick shut down Cleveland on Opening Night, the M&rsquo;s have found ways to lose games. It&rsquo;s not that surprising they are struggling to start the year, that is if you watched them as much as I did last season. Their ace, Luis Castillo, is back on the mound, and it&rsquo;s time to right the ship.

&nbsp;

Castillo had everything working in his first outing. The fastball looked good, sitting between 93-96. The sinker was inducing some ground balls,and his stellar change up was providing the extra umph he needed to keep the Guardians off balance. Plus he issued zero walks across six shutout innings. Battling an Angels team that has found its power stroke during this three-game win streak (26 runs scored), Castillo will need to feature pristine command once again. The main culprits to the Angels&rsquo; success have been Taylor Ward, Mike Trout, Logan O&rsquo;Hoppe, and Shohei Ohtani. So the key for Luis will be keeping runners off the base paths, and getting the change up to have the fading away effect. In his only start against LAA in 2022, Castillo delivered a strong 6 IP, 2 ER, 1 BB, 9K performance.

&nbsp;

One of the other reasons I want to fade the streaking Angels is because of who they are throwing. Jose Suarez was below average a season ago with a 3.96 ERA and 1.25 WHIP. He pitched to a 3.92 ERA and .250 OBA against Seattle in 2022 over four appearances. Plus, the M&rsquo;s were a little better against LHP than RHP last year (.233 AVG and .711 OPS). More specifically, if you tally their main starters&#39; career against Suarez, they combined for a .370 average with four bombs,15 RBI&rsquo;s, and a 1.076 OPS. Suarez is a decent pitcher, but after a big opening series win for the Angels, it&rsquo;s time for Seattle to bounce back.

&nbsp;

I can&rsquo;t justify laying -172 for the M&rsquo;s on the ML, and I don&rsquo;t love the home run line in this one, so the best bang for your buck is a double result. Seattle should win this, and I expect Castillo to fan at least half a dozen batters as the Angels led the MLB in team strikeouts in 2022 with 1,539.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Play: Luis Castillo 6+ K&rsquo;s AND Mariners ML -125

&nbsp;

 Soooo close. The Twins came through in sweat free fashion. And it just so happened I picked the wrong Oriole to swipe a bag, but if you took a little of Cedric Mullins, you brought home another winner. Tuesday features a slough of aces on the bumpsk

Today's Taste: MLB Best Bets (4/4/23)

Opening Weekend in the MLB was a solid 6-3 +3.1u. Although there wasn&rsquo;t a ton of great baseball on, it&rsquo;s good to have the game back. Some of the better teams were complete no shows, so it&rsquo;s hard to gauge them until we see they are capable of competing like a Major League ball club. There&rsquo;s a little something to help us start the week in the green, so let&rsquo;s see what the slate has to offer.

 
&nbsp;

Jorge Matteo to steal a base vs. the Rangers (Yes: +210 | No: -295)

&nbsp;

If you hopped in your time machine a couple weeks ago, you&rsquo;ll remember hearing me dish out a Jorge Matteo to lead the MLB in steals at +5000. For a player who led the AL in swiped bags at 35 in 2022, the number was ludicrous. And, of course, after I made a few appearances explaining that, and wrote an article about it, FanDuel corrected the number to about 25/1. My guy, Jorge, has already grabbed four in just two games to start the year. Is number five in store on Monday night?

&nbsp;

Assuming he is in the lineup, the short answer is yes. Texas is throwing their number four/five starter this evening, Mr. Jon Gray. While Gray is an okay-at-best starter, he was ranked 17th over the last two seasons in stolen bases allowed. Runners converted 23 of 27 tries on the Rangers&rsquo; hurler, good for a 0.852 success rate. The 6&rsquo;4&rdquo; Gray has a long delivery to the plate, allowing runners to get that extra jump. Better yet, if Jonah Heim is indeed catching him today, you have to like your chances even more. Heim allowed a whopping 57 stolen bases in 2022, which led the American League.

&nbsp;

For the price of +210, it&rsquo;s too good to not take a chance on considering Matteo already leads the MLB despite having only 10 plate appearances. With the rule changes regarding pick off attempts and pitch clock, Matteo will be a profitable player in this market all season. If you want another Oriole, the obvious is Cedric Mullins (Yes: +185). These two could wreak havoc tonight if they get on base.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Play: Matteo to steal a base (+210) 0.5 units

&nbsp;

Minnesota Twins (-122) @ Miami Marlins (-104) | Over/Under 7.5

&nbsp;

What a weekend from the Minnesota Twins! They pulled the ole&rsquo; sweeparoo on their divisional rival the Kansas City Royals, outscoring them 11-4 in the process. For the new week, they take on a Marlins team that nearly got swept by the Mets in a four-game set. Can Miami get back in the win column?

&nbsp;

It&rsquo;s not elite, but the Twins have one of the better rotations in the MLB. On Monday they are throwing Tyler Mahle, who was fairly unimpressive a season ago with his 4.40 ERA. Mahle was much better on the road than at home last season, pitching to a 3.94 ERA and .201 OBA (4.71 ERA and .249 OBA at home). He will see a Miami lineup that only managed eight runs in four contests over the weekend. The key question is how will their offense fare against a revived Johnny Cueto?

&nbsp;

Cueto had a nice bounce back season in Chicago in 2022 with a 3.35 ERA. He is still certainly capable of good outings from time to time. And against the Twins, he twirled three quality starts in four outings as a member of the Black Sox. While he has had success against the majority of this offense, can we really expect to see the same thing from him at age 37? My guess is probably not. Over his five starts in the month of September a year ago, he registered a 5.20 ERA, .322 OBA, and 37 hits allowed in only 27.2 IP. A fine outing is not out of the norm, but it&rsquo;s hard predicting Cueto will be dominant out of the gate.

&nbsp;

&nbsp;The pitching edge in the pen also goes to Minny. I&rsquo;m expecting a tight contest here, ending in a Twins victory. Minnesota should move to 4-0 after today.

&nbsp;

Play: Twins ML (-122)

&nbsp;

 Opening Weekend in the MLB was a solid 6-3 +3.1u. Although there wasn&rsquo;t a ton of great baseball on, it&rsquo;s good to have the game back. Some of the better teams were complete no shows, so it&rsquo;s hard to gauge them until we see they are 

Today's Taste: Best MLB Plays (4/3/23)

A nice Opening Day 2-0 to kick off my first MLB season with Bet Karma. You, in fact, love to see it. Baseball has been a little (looking for the word)... terrible in the first couple of days. I suppose that&rsquo;s not a big deal considering teams and players can start slow in a&nbsp; 162 game season. In any case, the slate for Saturday is largely uninspiring. However, one play, and one play only caught my eye.

 
&nbsp;

Spencer Strider Over/Under 6.5 Strikeouts (-122/-104)

&nbsp;

To go along with highly impressive quads, Spencer Strider drew a lot of love in the market and from bettors this offseason in regards to the NL Cy Young and to lead the MLB in strikeouts. Not to mention fantasy baseball with his mid to late second round ADP. And why not? Strider piled up 202 strikeouts in only 131.2 innings as a rookie! If you bust out your calculator, that&rsquo;s a 13.8 K/9, which was easily the best in the MLB last season. But because Strider did not meet the innings requirement of 162, he didn&#39;t register as the MLB leader.

&nbsp;

In three starts against the Nats last season, Strider only managed more than four punchies in one outing. That doesn&rsquo;t mean much to be honest. This is a much different Washington team than last year. They have no more Juan Soto, and are firmly entrenched in rebuild mode. Plus Strider should be carrying over that tremendous finish into this year. Of his finals 15 starts in 2022, he eclipsed at least seven K&rsquo;s in 11 of them. It&rsquo;s a butter matchup for the best K prop of the day. No overthinking this.

&nbsp;

I gave this out last night at -125, but it&rsquo;s still playable up to -145. There&rsquo;s even an interesting strategy to ladder him on this occasion. Because he rack up so many punchouts in so few innings, taking him on the alternate at 9+ K&rsquo;s (+285) or 10+ K&rsquo;s (+500) isn&rsquo;t a bad sprinkle.

&nbsp;

Play: Strider O6.5 K&rsquo;s (-122)

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

 A nice Opening Day 2-0 to kick off my first MLB season with Bet Karma. You, in fact, love to see it. Baseball has been a little (looking for the word)... terrible in the first couple of days. I suppose that&rsquo;s not a big deal considering teams a

Today's Taste: MLB Best Bet (4/1/23)

Okay, okay. You got a taste of my best and favorite AL futures bets. We wouldn&rsquo;t be complete without touching on the other league. Some of my biggest longshots this year come out of the National League. Gear up, and get ready to make enough money to put a down payment on your dream home!

&nbsp;

JohnnyVTV&rsquo;s Best NL Futures Bets:

&nbsp;

Hunter Greene NL Cy Young (+10000)&nbsp;

&nbsp;

The Greene machine! In the middle of January, I spoke about how ridiculous the 100/1 price on Hunter Greene to win the Cy Young is. Not too long after my aggressive campaigning and dishing out to a couple of heavy bettors, Greene started to quickly drop in price. The representation of the number up top is what I got/played them at.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Anyway, back to HG. This is a kid who off that bat profiles with top 15 stuff in the majors. He&rsquo;s got a fastball that will consistently sit between 98-101, a slide piece that generated a 34.3% K rate and 38% whiff rate last season, and a developing change up. Sure, Greene got banged up last year for 24 taters and 48 free passes in only 125.2 IP, but that&rsquo;s not uncommon for a young pitcher to go through. A lot of that was him still learning how to pitch, command his stuff, and sequence. Ultimately, what we need to focus on is what happened in his final six starts of 2022.

&nbsp;

35.1 IP, 4 ER, 8 BB, 51 K&rsquo;s is what happened from July 26th to the end of the year for the Reds&rsquo; sensation. Once he started figuring out what was working, he was pitching in another dimension. This stud has all the tools to become an elite pitcher in the MLB. Maybe I&rsquo;m a year too early on him, but for the ceiling and upside he has, there was no way I couldn&rsquo;t take a shot on him. And by the way, we have already seen playing on a losing team doesn&rsquo;t matter, just look at Sandy Alcantara.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Even at the 100/1 number, I was saying all along my fair price on him was 45/1, and it still is.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Hunter Greene to lead MLB in Strikeouts (+6000)

&nbsp;

Could you actually imagine? If both of these happen, let&rsquo;s just say I&rsquo;ll be going on a nice long vacation. As you can see, I&rsquo;m fully invested in Hunter Greene this season. Even if you disregard him as a serious Cy Young candidate in only his second season, there&rsquo;s no possible reason to dismiss him as a viable threat to lead the league in K&rsquo;s.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Greene&rsquo;s biggest strength is the ability to punch people out. Even in only 125.2 IP, he compiled 164 ring ups as a rook. The short amount of innings was an issue because of his lacking control early in the year. In his first 16 starts, Greene only managed to notch six innings in three of them, compared to his final eight outings where he accomplished that feat six times. The point is we should see a lot more innings out of him in 2023. If he keeps that 11.7 K/9, which ranked top five among all MLB pitchers with at least 120 IP last season, then Greene can certainly flirt in the 240-250 strikeout range if those innings can creep up into the 185-190 territory.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

The 60/1 made no sense for his upside, and again, it was quickly cut down on FanDuel after I gave this play out. Even in the 40/1 range that it currently sits in, it&rsquo;s a very strong value play.

&nbsp;

Hunter Greene Over 178.5 Strikeouts (-115)

&nbsp;

Here we go again. It&rsquo;s a simple example of differing futures prices on sportsbooks. FanDuel gave me 178.5, while DK gave out 191.5. That&rsquo;s a big margin. Either way, I think he goes over both of those numbers, but obviously I&rsquo;m taking the more favorable one.

&nbsp;

Greene had 164 K&rsquo;s in only 125.5 innings of work last season, one would think he is in good shape to exceed both totals by a big gap this year. If I&rsquo;m taking him as the MLB strikeout leader, then he has to hit this over along the way.

&nbsp;

Julio Urias NL Cy Young (+2000)

&nbsp;

This is another guy I like for the Cy Young this year at his current value. He&rsquo;s probably a more realistic candidate than Greene, but regardless I think he has a shot.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Julio Urias, at least for right now, is the new ace of the LA Dodgers, the best team in baseball. It took me a little while to make up my mind on him about just how legit he is, but I find him to be a good starter with an above average ceiling. Urias led the NL last season with a 2.16 ERA, and had a strong 2.1 walk rate to go with it. He&rsquo;s a guy that&rsquo;s won 37 games over the past two seasons (most in that span). Like how I explained with Luis Castillo, Urias pitches for an elite team that will score a lot of runs and play great defense for him, something that allows a pitcher to not stress and go more freely.

&nbsp;

He&rsquo;s not a sexy name but for 20/1, Urias is probably in the ballpark of 16-20 wins, and 2.20-2.35 ERA and about 180 K&rsquo;s in 180 innings. It won&rsquo;t be flashy, but at the end of the year, you&rsquo;ll see his name among the leaderboard for some of the most key stats in the NL. He finished 3rd in voting last season, and had it not been for Sandy&rsquo;s wire to wire dominance, he would have had a chance to split hairs with Max Fried. It&rsquo;s too good to pass up.

&nbsp;

Trea Turner NL MVP (+1200)

&nbsp;

2022 was a bit of a &ldquo;down year&rdquo; for Turner in terms of the power department (21 long balls) compared to 2021 when he mashed 28 round trippers. But he still notched a career-high 100 RBI&rsquo;s for the first time in his career, as well as 100+ runs (third time). The stolen bases, 27, were also the fewest of his time in the majors, excluding the 2020 Covid season.

&nbsp;

In 2023, Turner is going to be the primary threat in the Phillies lineup with Bryce Harper shelved for the first couple of months. We know he is capable of hitting .300 or better (did it three times, and batted .298 in two seasons), hitting close to 30 bombs, and stealing 30 bags. The fact that Turner could have a season where he hits .300 (or better), 25+ Home Runs, steals 30+ bases, drives in 100 RBI&rsquo;s, and scores 100+ runs leaves an insane ceiling that would surely have him as a top candidate. Playing in an already potent lineup, in what is an extremely friendly hitters&rsquo; park, won&rsquo;t hurt at all either. Turner can simply do it all.

&nbsp;

One of the biggest things for me is if he can help lead the Phillies to a possible NL East title, it adds to the narrative of his addition. He finally has the chance to be the star putting up big numbers on an already good team. As a preseason look, anything 11/1 or better is great value for a guy who checks all the boxes. 

&nbsp;

Jordan Walker NL ROY (+700)&nbsp;

&nbsp;

While Jordan Walker&rsquo;s overall spring training stats might not jump out (.277 BA, 3 HR, 9 RBI), he was all the buzz. His incredible 6&rsquo;5&rdquo; 220 LB frame oozes upside to begin with, but when you factor in his mammoth power and ferocious bat speed, it becomes something else entirely. Because of the strong spring he had, it was the primary cause for his aggressive plummet in the market moving from about 7/1 to 4/1.

&nbsp;

Fortunately, I was able to grab him before the dip happened, so I&rsquo;m sitting pretty with a ticket on him. Walker will be in one of the best lineups in the NL, so hitting among guys like Nolan Arenado and reigning NL MVP winner Paul Goldschmidt should bolster his statistical profile. Furthermore, there is a narrative surrounding him now, so should he be in the 20 HR, 70 RBI range, I don&rsquo;t have much doubt he&rsquo;s going to be in a great position to take home the award.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

The one bugaboo in his offensive game is the high strikeout rate (226 K&rsquo;s in 222 games across his entire minor league stint). That said, reigning NL ROY winner, Michael Harris struck out 107 times in 114 games last year, so it may not end up mattering. The high ceiling at 21 years old is there for Walker.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

At 4/1, it&rsquo;s one I would hold out for in hopes a better number comes along. But keep your eye on him because the media loves him, and if he delivers, the 4/1 might still be extremely valuable.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

 Okay, okay. You got a taste of my best and favorite AL futures bets. We wouldn&rsquo;t be complete without touching on the other league. Some of my biggest longshots this year come out of the National League. Gear up, and get ready to make enough mo

The Weekly Taste: Best Futures Bets for the National League

&lsquo;Bout that TIME! Opening Day is upon us, and it&rsquo;s hard to believe it has finally arrived. The sheer thought makes me quake in my blacked out timbs. Last season proved to be another successful handicapping campaign for yours truly, both in the futures market and game-to-game plays (55% +32.54u). As bettors though, enough is never enough. There is no settling, only looking for improvement. You&rsquo;ve seen my futures plays for the upcoming season, so let&rsquo;s take a stroll at some of my best bets for the card on Day 1.

 
&nbsp;

Atlanta Braves (-245) @ Washington Nationals (+205) | Over/Under 8

&nbsp;

The hopes are high for Atlanta, while Washington is just seeing what they have in this young roster. Coming off a 101-win, NL East clinching season, the Braves get to square up against the team they went 14-5 against last season right out of the gate.

&nbsp;

This is probably my best play of the day, so let&rsquo;s not over think it. Max Fried, the runner up for NL Cy Young, was marvelous a season ago with his 14-7 record, 2.48 ERA, and 170 K&rsquo;s across 185.1 innings. Despite his 5.2 IP 5 ER disaster on Opening Day of last year, I believe there is more optimism this time around. He faces a lineup who has been gutted, leaving Joey Meneses as arguably the best player. Out of the 20 starts that the Braves won when Fried was on the bump last season, 15 of them were by multiple runs. His 21 quality starts (at least 6 IP with three earned runs or fewer) out of 30 outings signify what kind of consistency he brings to the table. With a loaded line up at his back, Atlanta should be in for a big first game,

&nbsp;

The main reason I like Atlanta is because the Nationals announced the once upon a time stud, Patrick Corbin, as their pitcher. Corbin has been one of the biggest busts of the last decade since his move to the Nats. In 2022, he pitched to a 6.31 ERA, which probably would have been the worst in baseball had he qualified with enough innings. The rapid demise of Corbin is a case that should be studied by science. Anyway, he allowed 15 earned runs in 14.1 IP across four starts against ATL a year ago. Dealing with one of the best offensives in the MLB, this is not a spot that sits well for Corbin. I&rsquo;m taking my chances with Atlanta winning by margin in this butter matchup.

&nbsp;

Play: Braves RL -1.5 -140

&nbsp;

Side Note: I played this on Tuesday at -125, but it&rsquo;s still good up to -145 in my opinion. Despite my confidence, I typically am not a fan of laying two runs AND a vig of -150. If you want to have a little fun with this, you can take the Braves -3 for +150.

 
&nbsp;

Cleveland Guardians (+100) @ Seattle Mariners (-120) | Over/Under 6.5

&nbsp;

One of the games I am looking forward to the most. A stellar late night pitching duel in the Pacific Northwest over a few Espresso Martinis is what it&rsquo;s all about for JohnnyVTV. Two teams that were both eliminated in the ALDS a season ago have high hopes for the new year. The always-pesky Cleveland team against my dear darling Seattle squad. Who has the edge in game 1 of 162?

&nbsp;

You have seen my futures plays. In case you haven&rsquo;t, you know I&rsquo;m riding Seattle all the way to the finish line. With my AL Cy Young pick toeing the rubber on Opening Day, there&rsquo;s no way I can bet against the M&rsquo;s. Castillo saw the Guards twice last year, which resulted in 12 innings, 9 hits, 1 earned run, and 14 punchies. He was in total control in both starts as he only issued two free passes. Luis is a guy who can tally up a nice strikeout count, but he does not live or die by it. That&rsquo;s a good thing when you face a Cleveland team that struck out the fewest times in the majors a season ago (1,122). While they added a little umph with Josh Bell in the off season, this is still a relatively uninspiring lineup once you get past superstar hot corner holder, Jose Ramirez. I&rsquo;m looking for Castillo to keep them off balance with his gross change piece en route to a nice clean six innings of work.

&nbsp;

Shane Bieber is still one of the premiere pitchers in this league. He was a cash cow in the first half of 2021 when I religiously played his K prop overs and first five unders. A bad shoulder injury post-All Star break had him looking like a shell of himself for the rest of that year. It carried over into the beginning of 2022 as he was trying to ramp his velocity and movement back up. But it came together after a couple starts. Even against a potent Seattle lineup, I expected Biebs to get his, which doesn&rsquo;t leave a lot of wiggle room in the scoring department. However, he is dealing with a much more difficult matchup than his counterpart is. This is a tight contest, but Julio Rodriguez will be the difference in this one.

&nbsp;

Play: Mariners ML -120

&nbsp;

 &lsquo;Bout that TIME! Opening Day is upon us, and it&rsquo;s hard to believe it has finally arrived. The sheer thought makes me quake in my blacked out timbs. Last season proved to be another successful handicapping campaign for yours truly, both i

The Weekly Taste: Best MLB Opening Day Bets (3/30/23)

The MLB season is upon us. And I for one, haven&rsquo;t been this excited in a while. It&rsquo;s always great to just sit back and watch your favorite players and teams go to war while you&rsquo;re holding a big fat ticket. Although I am an avid game to game bettor, there&rsquo;s nothing that tickles my fancy more than the futures markets. Any real bettor will tell you that&rsquo;s where the money is, as well as the best value on the board. In this edition, we&rsquo;re hitting my favorite futures in the AL Markets. Buona furtuna.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

JohnnyVTV&rsquo;s Best AL Futures Bets:

&nbsp;

Luis Castillo AL Cy Young (+1800)

&nbsp;

Castillo was a guy I picked in 2019 to win the NL Cy Young with the Reds. When I watched him pitch as a youngster, I thought to myself he has to win this award at least once in his career. After his breakout campaign in 2019, he hadn&rsquo;t really progressed because of nagging injuries. The pitcher I saw wasn&rsquo;t even looking like an ace. But after his impressive 2022 season, I saw that stud again. Compiling a sub-3.00 ERA for the first time in his career, while managing a 10.0 K/9 rate, it looks like Castillo has been reborn thanks to a reviving trade to one of the MLB&rsquo;s best and most exciting teams.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

In a conference with loaded pitching, I believe he can stand out and lead this Seattle team to the promised land. If Castillo can keep that walk rate in the mid 2.0&rsquo;s, compile about 190 IP (and keep a 10.0 K/9 or better), it will propel him to have an ERA between 2.25-2.40, which could be enough. Playing behind this offense that should score plenty of runs, he&rsquo;ll have the opportunity to pitch more freely -without the worry of having to not allow more than two runs in order to win. Most importantly, the value at 18/1 is there. If Castillo has a 2.30 ERA with over 200 K&rsquo;s in 190 IP, it&rsquo;s hard to imagine he&rsquo;s not in the running in 2023.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Seattle Mariners to win the World Series (+2000)

&nbsp;

Castillo is only one-fifth of this pitching rotation that has a case to be the best in baseball. With ceilings of Robbie Ray (a former Cy Young winner), Logan Gilbert, and the youngster George Kirby, this Seattle staff could provide fits to opposing offenses all season long. Not to mention, a few solid pieces in the back end of the bullpen, like Paul Sewald and Andres Munoz. As a team, the Mariners had the eighth best team ERA (3.59) in the MLB last season. Like we&rsquo;ve seen from a lot of the previous World Series winners, pitching is key in October, and these boys have it in bunches.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Anybody that followed me last season knew how high I was on Seattle. I was so upset when they folded to the Astros in the playoffs. This team only improved in the off-season, adding Blue Jays raking OF Teoscar Hernandez, who compiled 121 taters and 119 doubles in Toronto from 2018-2022. But the big reason I had high expectations on this team was because of their prized superstar, Julio Rodriguez, who only had 28 bombs and 25 steals in 132 games as a rookie. There&rsquo;s a lot of firepower for Seattle on both sides of the ball, so the fact that we&rsquo;re getting them at 20/1 is ludicrous. In my honest opinion, the only team that can truly stand in their way in the AL, is Houston.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

This year, I believe this ultra-deep Seattle squad finishes the job.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Seattle Mariners to win the AL (+1000)

&nbsp;

Pretty much a reference to what I explained above. This is one of the deepest teams in not only the American League, but the MLB. Seattle is one of the best seven or eight rosters in the league. The Astros are the one team that has given them problems. For a 10/1 ticket, it&rsquo;s too good to not take a bite on.

&nbsp;

Triston McKenzie AL Cy Young (+4000)&nbsp; 0.5 units

&nbsp;

Julio Rodriguez to lead MLB in Home Runs (+4200)&nbsp; 0.5 units

&nbsp;

Sensing a common theme here? Rodriguez had 28 round trippers in only 132 games as a rookie. And if you watch him play last season, especially early on in the year, then you&rsquo;ll know he was terrible in April and the first half of May. Compiling no home runs until May 7th, he struck out 36 times before that, and batted .205 in April.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

His biggest issue was lack of pitch recognition, plate discipline, and breaking balls. Once he figured it out though, he was a terror to deal with. Even in a pitcher friendly Seattle park, J Rod has 45 home run power. If he can manage to log 155 games this season, we could see him multiply his rookie total by 1.5 times. Excluding the Covid season of 2020, the MLB tater leader has been under 50 home runs in seven of the last 11 years.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

While it&rsquo;s difficult battling an Aaron Judge playing Yankee Stadium&rsquo;s wiffle ball park or Kyle Schwarber in a very friendly hitter&rsquo;s park, Julio has the capability to be there in the end. If he hits 45 bombs this season, he will be there at the end of the season. 42/1 is way too big of a number to not take a swing on. Anything 30/1 or better is fair game.

 
 
&nbsp;

Shohei Ohtani AL MVP (+220)

&nbsp;

I&rsquo;m not picking Ohtani to win the MVP because I want to, but because I feel like I have to. Yes, Ohtani is incredible, no denying that. But honestly, I&rsquo;m so sick of him and the media&rsquo;s infatuation with him. The fact that Aaron Judge set the record for most Home Runs in the AL last year (62), and literally willed the Yankees to the playoffs, and people still thought Ohtani should have won pisses me off. It speaks volumes.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

This is basically a bet on Ohtani&rsquo;s health because if he has even an average season, it&rsquo;s likely that writers will vote him in since he got &ldquo;robbed&rdquo; in 2022. Nonetheless, Shohei should still mash at least 30-35 dingers and compile 200 K&rsquo;s, so even if the Angels are 1-161, he&rsquo;ll win this award.

&nbsp;

We might as well not even have a voting system anymore, and give him the award.

&nbsp;

If you are inclined to take a stab elsewhere, may I suggest Luis Robert (60/1) and Byron Buxton (40/1).

&nbsp;

Jorge Matteo to lead MLB in Steals (+5000) 0.5 units

&nbsp;

As is the case with a few of my bets, the market has moved dramatically after I released them. Jorge Matteo is on that list. I was staring at him to lead the MLB in steals at 50/1 for weeks, and when I made an appearance in mid March broadcasting it, the number got cut in half the next day. All other books except for Fanduel held him between 20/1-30/1 before they corrected their price on him and dropped it to 25/1.

&nbsp;

Matteo is an interesting name. He led the AL in steals with 35 a season ago. Despite the fact that he bats in the bottom of the lineup, and wasn&rsquo;t exactly an on-base machine (.267 OBP), Matteo still managed to swipe a lot of bags in his first full season. Given what his number was, it was silly to not sprinkle it, but there is still value on 20/1-30/1. Just by pure regression to the mean, one would think his on-base percentage improves in 2023.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

There&rsquo;s a lot of good names on the list to lead the league in steals, but for such a difficult market to handicap, I&rsquo;m not in love with grabbing top of the market players.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Dylan Cease Over 202.5 Strikeouts (-110)

&nbsp;

CEASE DADDY. I was disgusted when he got hosed for the AL Cy Young a season ago. Total hatchet job. The fix was in. In any case, if there is one thing we know Dylan Cease for, it&rsquo;s piling up the punchies. After notching 226 and 227 in the past two seasons, Fan Duel had an extremely low projection on him at 202.5 when DraftKings had a fair 212.5 out there.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Cease pitches in one of the worst divisions in baseball, a la the AL Central. Of his 227 punchouts in 2022, 89 came from divisional opponents (39%). Perhaps his high walks rates have caused low projections on Cease, but the fact remains he has one of the most unhittable arsenals in the game, led by literally the best pitch in baseball - his slider. Not only did his slide piece generate a 37.5% K rate and 43.3% whiff rate, but it had a raw value (RV) of minus 33 (next best was Shohei Ohtani&rsquo;s minus 24).

&nbsp;

I expect he will improve on the command and consistency of not walking 78 batters and working tons of deep counts. If that holds up, he will throw less pitches, which in turn gets him more innings, which ultimately should provide more strikeouts. Bottom line, Dylan Cease should flirt with 230 strikeouts again.

&nbsp;

Rafael Devers Over 28.5 home Runs (-110)

&nbsp;

Raffy Taters managed 27 home runs in a year in which he only logged 141 contests. Except for the 2020 Covid season, he&rsquo;s had 27 long balls in every season since 2019. Devers is one of the true mashers of the game we know today. Even on a bad, rebuilding Red Sox team, he is always a good bet to hit 30 bombs. But what really made me like this bet was FanDuel put out a special bet for players to hit 30 home runs, and at the top of the list was Devers at -750 to do so. That clearly doesn&rsquo;t line up with his projected number here. If he can play even 145 games, we should see the Sox slugger flirt with 40 dingers.

&nbsp;

 The MLB season is upon us. And I for one, haven&rsquo;t been this excited in a while. It&rsquo;s always great to just sit back and watch your favorite players and teams go to war while you&rsquo;re holding a big fat ticket. Although I am an avid gam

The Weekly Taste: Best 2023 MLB Futures Bets for the American League

Every week in conference play feels like Christmas. There&rsquo;s usually a bunch of new and exciting matchups that provide a ton of entertainment, and of course, valuable lines. In an effort to keep it short and sweet, I&rsquo;ll just hang a couple of my favorites, and you&rsquo;ll have to tune into <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJmyuD93APs" style="text-decoration:none">Breaking Bet at 1pm ET on Friday to hear the rest.&nbsp;</a>

&nbsp;

#5 Arkansas Razorbacks (+135) @ #1 LSU Tigers (-165) | Total: N/A

Because I&rsquo;m giving these plays out when I am, they usually come without a runline or a total. You&rsquo;ll usually find that somewhere between 11am-Noon ET each day. Regardless, my best play here isn&rsquo;t coming from a total, or the run line.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

What we&rsquo;re witnessing right now is a historic stretch by LSU&rsquo;s ace pitcher, Paul Skenes. A transfer from the Air Force, Skenes has done nothing but garner Stephen Strasburg comparisons as a college prospect. What he&rsquo;s doing right now hasn&rsquo;t been seen in a long time. In (five starts) 30.1 innings, he has tallied 59 punchouts to only four free passes, while compiling a microscopic 0.59 ERA. And he&rsquo;s doing this while pitching for the best team in America, a team that is top five in batting average, OPS, and runs scored. The offense, led by All-American and top prospect Dylan Crews, has managed to total 49 runs in Skenes&rsquo; first five starts this season. While Crews is likely to go number one overall this summer, his teammate could push the envelope to usurp that if he continues his torrid pace. With a 100 MPH heater, fall off the table slider, and sparkling change up, Paul Skenes is somebody I have to bet pretty much everytime he takes the mound, especially at this number.

&nbsp;

Arkansas is one of the quietest top seeds I&rsquo;ve heard about in a while. They get virtually no publicity or hype, but they allow their winning to speak for itself. The strength of this team, even last year, is their pitching - mainly the bullpen. However, the guy that heads this rotation is Sophomore Hagen Smith. Smith won over a lot of fans last season for his strong performance in the College World Series. This year, he&rsquo;s off to an impressive 3-0 start with a 1.17 ERA and 34 punchouts in 23 innings. The lefty has provided stability at the top of the rotation for this hogs team. With a couple boppers in the lineup, like Jered Wegner and Kendall Diggs, This Razorbacks unit is a formidable opponent that I expect not only gives LSU a hard time, but even challenges them to take the series.

&nbsp;

That being said, I have to take LSU today. I&rsquo;m not ready to bet against Skenes. However, I do think Arkansas is live to be the first team to take a series against the mighty Tigers this year. Oh, and based on the matchup, we could see a big time pitchers duel this afternoon. Anything set 9.5 or higher is a good play to the under. I grabbed this moneyline at -155 for LSU, it&rsquo;s good to -190.

&nbsp;

Play: LSU ML (-165)

&nbsp;

Washington Huskies (+240) @ #7 UCLA Bruins (-305) | Total: N/A

&nbsp;

This is no doubt one of my favorite games of the Friday slate. The #7 Bruins have garnered a lot of attention from the College Baseball press about having a legit team. Maybe they do, and then again, maybe they don&rsquo;t.

&nbsp;

What UCLA does have is a strong pitching rotation, led by their Friday guy, Jake Brooks. Brooks has been a little hit or miss to start the season, though. His 4.91 ERA has been a product of his inconsistency, and war wounds against Vandy. He doesn&rsquo;t have elite stuff, but has still managed 27 K&rsquo;s in 25.2 innings. Facing this Huskies offense, he could struggle against the persistent lineup led by Aj Guerrero, Cam Clayton, and Will Simpson. And the bigger problem for him, his offense is not particularly great. While the Bruins have a couple of hot hitters right now, the cause for concern lies in who Washington has on the mound.

&nbsp;

Kiefer Lord (a.k.a. Chief Kiefer Lord Sosa) is one of my favorite pitchers in the NCAA. Not many know who he is if you don&rsquo;t follow the team. Lord has a high 90&rsquo;s heater with a big 12-6 curveball. His wind up is a bit whacky and unorthodox, but he&rsquo;s had success. The Carleton transfer has 35 K&rsquo;s in 27.2 IP to go along with a strong 2.60 ERA. The biggest reason I like him tonight is because he got beat up by Rhode Island in a shocking manner in his last start. Getting Lord on a big bounce back stage against a top ranked conference opponent has upset written all over it. The Bruins are an overrated team, and because the books don&rsquo;t really know much about Washington, they hung a crooked price.

&nbsp;

If Washington takes one game in this series, I think it is tonight. Lord has the stuff and the makeup to go out and dot tonight. This could be one of my favorite upsets of the entire season by moneyline price. The biggest so far was Grand Canyon (+295) vs. Tennessee on opening weekend.

&nbsp;

Play: Washington ML (+240)

&nbsp;

 Every week in conference play feels like Christmas. There&rsquo;s usually a bunch of new and exciting matchups that provide a ton of entertainment, and of course, valuable lines. In an effort to keep it short and sweet, I&rsquo;ll just hang a couple

The Weekly Taste: College Baseball Best Bets (3/24/23)

The College Baseball season has been a grind thus far. This week, conference play commences across the board, which is an electric time of the season. Now a lot of you might be asking why I&rsquo;m so involved in College Baseball instead of the March Madness Tournament at the moment. I have no answer for it. There&rsquo;s a ton of plays on my card today, but you&rsquo;re going to have to check out <a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/lswG3fR763A?feature=share" style="text-decoration:none">Breaking Bet</a> to see them all. Happy St. Patrick&rsquo;s Day. And remember, St. Patrick was ITALIAN.

&nbsp;

#2 Tennessee Volunteers (-280) @ Missouri Tigers (+220) | Over/Under 9.5

&nbsp;

There&rsquo;s been a secret weapon for me every Friday (or Game 1 of the series), and you&rsquo;ll find out what it is shortly.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

The Tennessee Volunteers came up short a season ago, despite possessing one of the best teams in College Baseball history. Their roster, particularly lineup, got gutted in the MLB Draft in July losing all but two starters from a season ago. What remained intact - mostly - was their elite pitching rotation. The Vols have likely three first rounders between this year and next, but just to have three weekend starters of this caliber is almost unheard of. The guy who heads the rotation is Chase Dollander, arguably the best pitching prospect since Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg. With an electric four-pitch arsenal cemented by a high 90&rsquo;s heater, Dollander is able to throw all his pitches with incredible command and movement. And although he hasn&rsquo;t gotten off to the typical start he is accustomed to, it&rsquo;s been pretty good nonetheless (3-1, 2.45 ERA, 41 k&rsquo;s in 22 IP). We&rsquo;re backing the guy, who I believe should be the top pick in this summer&rsquo;s draft.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

The Vols offense, which has heated up tremendously over the last couple of weeks (six plus runs scored in last 11 games), will battle Mizzou&rsquo;s ace Chandler Murphy. Murphy has been decent this season with his 3.48 ERA across four starts. The 13-3 Tigers squad has benefitted from an easy schedule, and is projected to be at the bottom of the SEC in 2023. You can never take this conference for granted because any SEC team could give most squads across the country problems, but we should see UT flex their muscles as they often do on Friday nights.

&nbsp;

While I am not giving out a direct Vols ML play at this price, it&rsquo;s the first leg of our parlay.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Leg #1: Vols -280

&nbsp;

#1 LSU Tigers (-175) @ #15 Texas A&amp;M Aggies (+140) | Over/Under 10.5

&nbsp;

I&rsquo;ll save you the suspense. LSU is the second leg of this here parleezy. Let me explain why.

&nbsp;

Paul Skenes, the Air Force transfer, has been unbelievable. 4-0 with a 0.75 ERA and 48 punchouts in just 24 innings. His stuff is unhittable with a fast ball that profiles over 100 MPH and a fall off the table slide piece. His impeccable command has also allowed him to go six innings in every start. He is likely going to be the second arm off the board this summer after Dollander. Facing a TAMU lineup that is a shell of itself from the team that made the College World Series last year, Skenes should be in a good position to excel in his SEC debut.

&nbsp;

The real firepower of this Tiger team is the lineup. Led by the consensus number one pick, Dylan Crews, LSU has roared out to score 195 runs in 17 games (third best in NCAA). With Crews batting a comical .519, he provides a strong anchor to an offense that can score 20 on any given night. With all of the weapons this offense possesses, it could be tough sledding for the Aggie ace Nathan Dettmer who got banged up by Louisville a couple weeks ago. While I do believe Dettmer is a strong pitcher when he&rsquo;s on, he&rsquo;s never faced a DADDY WAGON like this LSU team.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

They&rsquo;re the best team in the country for a reason. The Tennessee/LSU ML parlay every Game 1 of the series is a religious bet for me this season. It should hit a lot more times than not. Let&rsquo;s play LSU straight and in the parlay.

&nbsp;

Leg #2: LSU -175

&nbsp;

Parlay: LSU/Tennessee ML +113

&nbsp;

Play: LSU ML -175

&nbsp;

 The College Baseball season has been a grind thus far. This week, conference play commences across the board, which is an electric time of the season. Now a lot of you might be asking why I&rsquo;m so involved in College Baseball instead of the Marc

The Weekly Taste: College Baseball Best Bets (3/17)

All in all, Friday was a great day that featured a ton of good College Baseball contests. The Daddy Wagon Florida Gators flexed their muscles on Miami after the first inning, and the rest is history. Friday was great, but Saturday needs to be better.

<h2>Miami Hurricanes (+105) @ Florida Gators (-135) | Total: 13.5</h2>

Again? Again. There was a reason Florida was my top play yesterday. On my <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgbR_mGhKiE&amp;t=584s" style="text-decoration:none">Breaking Bet </a>podcast yesterday, I spoke about the importance of reading the series. The Gators were always going to be another smash play for me on Saturday as well, largely because they have one of the best pitching prospects in the nation, Hurston Waldrep.

Waldrep, a Southern Miss transfer, has gotten out to a roaring start on his new team.19 K&rsquo;s in 11 innings with four earned runs. The five walks isn&rsquo;t a concern, just something that should correct itself as the season progresses. Although he played in a much easier conference in 2022, he totaled 140 punchies (to just 33 walks) in 90 innings, so I&rsquo;m sure it will be fine. His high 90&rsquo;s fastball, bending slider, and split change has kept a lot of batters off balance, and I would imagine that continues to be a trend against a Miami team that has punched out at least 10 times in two of the last three contests. In combination with the dominance of the starting pitcher, their offense absolutely rakes. Putting up another 10 runs in the opener, that marks seventh straight contest they have notched at least eight runs.&nbsp;

This Florida team puts a lot of pressure on their opponents in several different ways. The star pupil OF Wyatt Langford (two HR on Friday, a likely top five draft pick in July, is on fire right now with a .429 average and five bombs to start his 2023 campaign. With the amount of runs this team can drop, it&rsquo;s perhaps the biggest test of the year for Miami&rsquo;s Saturday guy Karson Ligon. He&rsquo;s off to a hot start as well, compiling 13.2 IP of one run ball against Penn St and Dartmouth. Ligon got bombed by the better teams last season, but this time last year he went seven strong innings of one run ball against this Gators squad. If Florida can stay patient, and make Ligon throw a lot of deep counts, it&rsquo;s only a matter of time before they get to him.&nbsp;

I&rsquo;ll say the same thing I said ahead of the opener, the only way Miami can win is if Yohandy Morales takes control of the game. Yesterday he hit one of the furthest ta-ta&rsquo;s I&rsquo;ve ever seen in a college game. Yo-Yo profiles as a top 15 pick in this summer&rsquo;s draft, a Nick Castellanos type of comparison. While it&rsquo;s definitely possible, it&rsquo;s still difficult for a &lsquo;Canes roster that is extremely top heavy. If Waldrep pitches to his capability, he should be able to dot this lineup.

The bottom line is Florida is one of the six or seven teams that have a legit chance to win it all in 2023. Even in SEC play, there won&#39;t be many times you can grab them at a -135 price. With the market way too overzealous on an undermatched Miami team, Florida is the edge in this tight series. This is absolutely my favorite play of the day, again&nbsp;

Side Note: The total closed at 11 yesterday, and opened at 13.5 today. I sent out a tweet liking the over for yesterday&rsquo;s game, and it looks like they learned 11 is too low for a Gator game

Prediction: Florida Gators ML (-135)

&nbsp;

 All in all, Friday was a great day that featured a ton of good College Baseball contests. The Daddy Wagon Florida Gators flexed their muscles on Miami after the first inning, and the rest is history. Friday was great, but Saturday needs to be better

The Weekly Taste: College Baseball Best Bet (3/4/23)

So far, so good. This College Baseball season has brought me joy I haven&#39;t felt since the new season of Emily in Paris came out. A lot of these early season matchups have been exciting, largely because they are out of conference games that we won&#39;t see until June. It&#39;s so important for teams in tougher conferences to get out to fast starts because by racking up wins, they position themselves for not only a spot in the NCAA Tournament, but better seedings. March is one of my favorite months to bet this sports because by now, we have a good feel about certain teams before the book catches on. Let&#39;s get hot on a Friday.

<h2>Miami Hurricanes (+105) @ Florida Gators (-135) | Total: N/A</h2>

Unfortunately, the totals and run lines are a bit slow to open on sportsbooks, at least early in the season. That being said, there&#39;s plenty of good matchups with fair prices that can be decided via the moneyline. Not only my favorite look of the day, but best series of the weekend is between the Hurricanes and Gators, two top 25 teams. In a contest littered with first round picks, JohnnyVTV has a distinct edge.&nbsp;

The Florida Gators are a straight up DADDY WAGON. I have them ranked as number 2 in the country behind LSU. Their offense profiles as a top 3 unit at the moment, with a pitching staff that is at worst third best behind Tennessee and Wake Forest. You can really make a case no team has as much depth and playmakers in the country than Florida does. They&#39;re going to have two players taken in the first round for sure in 2023, with the possibility of them both as top 10 picks in star OF Wyatt Langford and SP Hurston Waldrep. Now, they expanded sophomore slugger, Jac Caglianone, into a pitcher after focusing primarily on mashing taters in 2022. Cags not only leads the country in round trippers (8), but he&#39;s tallied 15&nbsp;punchies and a 2.38 ERA in two starts this season (11.1 IP). As he blossoms into the superstar that he is, Jac Jack is pushing hard to be the number 1 propsect in the country for 2024. This hot start gives me good vibes for this weekend&#39;s series.&nbsp;

On the bumpski for Florida is their current ace (Friday guy), Brandon Sproat. Sproat took over as the ace in the middle of last year after one of the top projected pitchers, Hunter Barco, went down with a torn UCL. He was selected as a third round pick to the Mets, which he ultimately declined. Sproat&#39;s got a rocket heater that zooms into triple digit territory, something that has propeled his 16 strikeouts in 10.2 IP this season. However, he&#39;s had some early season&nbsp;struggles against the likes of Charleston Southern and&nbsp;Cincinnati. While one would surmise that he figures it out sooner than later, the run support this power offense is providing is off the charts. These Gators have tallied at least eight runs in six straight contests, and nine of 10 overall. Even better, they draw the struggling Miami ace, Gage Ziehl.

Just to give you an idea, Ziehl made 30 appearances as a freshman last year, none of them as a starter. All of the sudden in 2023, they decide he should be the Friday guy to replace Carson Palmquist. In his two outings against Penn State and Dartmouth, he&#39;s been curb stomped with nine earned runs and 14 hits in seven innings. It&#39;s fair to say that if he is indeed capable of heading this rotation, he needs a little more time to settle in. In the meantime, there isn&#39;t much to fret about with this top heavy &#39;Canes roster. The two biggest concerns would be slugger Third Basemen Yohandy Morales (likely top 20 pick), and lights out closer Andrew Walters. The 7-2 Hurricanes are no push over, but if they were to start stomping around in Gainesville this weekend, it would be because a few players.&nbsp;

The bottom line is Florida is one of the six or seven teams that have a legit chance to win it all in 2023. Even in SEC play, there won&#39;t be many times you can grab them at a -135 price. With the market way too overzealous on an undermatched Miami team, Florida is the edge in this tight series. This is absolutely my favorite play of the day.&nbsp;

Side Note: With no total on the board yet, keep a lookout later in the day. Given how powerful these offenses are, and shaky the pitching has been, this could be an absolute slugfest. I would be good to take the over at 12.5 or lower.

Prediction: Florida Gators ML (-135)

&nbsp;

 So far, so good. This College Baseball season has brought me joy I haven&#39;t felt since the new season of Emily in Paris came out. A lot of these early season matchups have been exciting, largely because they are out of conference games that we wo

The Weekly Taste: College Baseball Best Bets (3/3/23)

The first weekend of the 2023 College Baseball season was a goodie. Watched a ton of games, many with exciting prospects and chances to make a deep run throughout the year. You can track my bets in every sport <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1f5d7lI9CpurxcDLQjh4DphCdtyxDFN0m3Y1S0ZiEtrg/edit#gid=1965241670">here</a>&nbsp;for the season. Before I dive into my favorite futures bets for the season, let me just say they are difficult to get down. I had to go to an obscure book located in Arkansas (Oaklawn Sports) to find a lot of them, but there are a handful any bettors can place in a&nbsp;legalized sports betting state. Following up on the <a href="https://twitter.com/_JohnnyVTV/status/1626616861172584448">tweet I sent last week</a>, here&#39;s what JohnnyVTV is looking at this season.&nbsp;

*These odds are via DraftKings&nbsp;Sportsbook.&nbsp;<a href="https://sportsbook.draftkings.com/featured?referrer=singular_click_id%3d161096ab-38ab-4da5-a19b-bd2e112b2089">Click here</a>&nbsp;for a FREE bet upon your first deposit with your promo code*

<h2>Teams to Make the College World Series</h2>

Wake Forest Demon Deacons (+300)

Wake is a WAGON! They are right up there with Tennessee in terms of a starting rotation (and bull pen) that is headlined by future first round pick Rhett Lowder. The Demon Deacons were a team I was looking out for coming into the year after their abrupt ending after losing in the 2022 regionals to Maryland. In addition to their loaded pitching, they have a front runner for the ACC player of the year (and dark horse for the Golden Spikes award) in firstbasemen Nick Kurtz that spearheads and great offensive attack. For a team like Wake, who is even better than they were last year during a 41-win season, their combination of playmakers and depth is right up there with the likes of LSU and Florida. There is no reason this team does not have a realistic chance to make the final eight. This is a team you will be hearing a lot of about in 2023.

Campbell Camels (+4000) 0.25u

The Camels were a huge sleeper last year. I hammered them in the early part of the season, but in typical fashion, it&#39;s difficult to find lines for every game, particularly the smaller schools, once in-conference play starts. I was in love with that team, and thought they had real potential to make a lot of teams uncomfortable. Long story short, they end up getting the worst possible draw by having to play in the Volunteers region. If they played in any other one, I believe they make the College World Series. Fast forward to 2023, the Camels lose star SS, Zach Neto, and star SP Thomas Harrington, both first rounders in the 2022 MLB draft. This season though, they still have loads of talent and potential. A lot of their lineup, which hit 118 taters last season (top five in the country) is still in tact. Their number two arm (Saturday guy) from a season ago, Cade Keuhler, now their Ace with first round potential. Although the team is not as good as it was last season, this is still a unit that can come out and surprise a lot of people if they get a better draw than they did in 2022.

South Carolina Gamecocks (+1000) 0.5u

I watched a fair amount of SC baseball in 2022, which was largely unimpressive. Fast forward to 2023, the 5-0 Game Cocks have scored 80 runs and hit 23 bombs. They have also won five straight games by double digits, something they had not accomplished since March of 1997. And the best part for them is their schedule remains extremely generous for the next month or so. I&#39;m sure a lot can be credited to the easy opponents they have played so far, but right now they have a confidence and swagger about them. What if what we are seeing is real? The Rake Cocks could be a team to make a lot of noise for the rest of the year. Their pitching seems to be extremely capable as well, led by first round prospect Will Sanders. At some point, they will regress to the mean, but if they end up winning 35 games this season, they should be in a good position come time to suit up for the regionals. Keep a look out for South Carolina (100/1 to win it all).&nbsp;

&nbsp;

<h2>Teams to Win Their Conference</h2>

SEC Florida Gators (+650)

We just talked about Wake being one of the best programs in the country with talent and depth. Florida is probably right there with LSU being the best in that department. The Florida pitching has some serious firepower despite the loss of their 2022 ace, Hunter Barco, who was drafted over the summer as senior after tearing his UCL. The current ace is Brandon Sproat, who took over as the Friday guy last season when Barco went down. Sproat turned down his third round draft pick by the Mets to come back to school for another year. The Gators also brought in one of the best hurlers in the country, a likely top 20 pick in this summer&#39;s draft, in Southern Miss transfer, Hurston Waldrep. Then of course, they are transforming their big boy lefty slugger, Jac Caglianone into their Sunday guy. After making his debut against Charleston Southern in the opening weekend, throwing 6.2 innings of shutout baseball, Cags hit in the high 90&#39;s consistently as a Southpaw. Of course their hitting is elite too, led by one of the top prospects in America, Wyatt Langford. The point is this team can compete with ANYBODY. Taking LSU at +200 right now is short sided when you consider a team like the Gators can run with them. This is going to be a team that makes a deep run in 2023.

SEC Arkansas Razorbacks (+700)&nbsp;

Arkansas was in the final four last year after a hard fought chess match to the eventual winner in the semi finals, Ole Miss. My knock on the Razorbacks in 2022 was a severe lack of starting pitching. Their ace Connor Noland was good for most of the year before nose diving in May, only to reappear like a Pheonix for the rest of June. With him gone, it was supposed to be Jaxon Wiggins and Hagen Smith holding down the fort. However, Wiggins tore his UCL the week before the season started, so he&#39;s done with Tommy John. Now with Smith as the de facto Friday guy, they are using a combination of guys right now featuring Junior LHP Hunter Hollan, and starter-reliever hybrid Will McEntire (one of the top RHP prospects in the 2023 draft). I&#39;lll say the same thing about Arky this year that I did last year, they have an elite bullpen. One of the best in the nation. That&#39;s one of the reasons they made it so far last year, and historically teams that have deep pitching, make deep runs. With a solid enough offense that is featuring a possible superstar breakout in Creighton transfer, Grad Student Jared Wegner.&nbsp; The Razor Backs have a good team that is definitely capable of sneaking up on everybody in the SEC.

<h3>BIG 12 Oklahoma Sooners (+700)</h3>

I was so hurt when the Sooners lost in the CWS Finals last year. I dished them out at 60/1 right before the tournament started. They had an absolute wagon for a team, both hitting and pitching. After getting absolutely gutted in the draft, Coach Skip Johnson brought in a ton of transfers to asses the damage. The Big 12 is one big question mark. TCU is the rightful favorite for a reason (+250), but again, this early in the season is not something I&#39;m into, usually. Not to mention, I have questions about the Frogs pitching. The Sooners slow start is not a concern to me, the same thing happened last year before they got hot. This is a new team that needs time to gel. The conference has a lot of uncertainies with Texas, Texas Tech, and OK State. I&#39;m looking for value, and the Sooners could be a sleeper this season.

<h3>Big South Campbell Camels (+150) 2u</h3>

The Camels are the class of their conference. This is maybe the only large favorite I feel comfortable taking in any conferece. It&#39;s more than likely only one team is making the tournament from this conference, so if that&#39;s the case, then the Camels would have to win it.&nbsp;

<h3>PAC 12 UCLA Bruins (+400) 0.5u&nbsp;</h3>

Okay, let&#39;s run it back. Stanford is and has been the class of the Pac 12. They are like the Dodgers. And like the Dodgers, they usually don&#39;t show up in the postseason. While it&#39;s like the Cardinal manges to win the conference, it&#39;s definitely not bad to try and shop around this early in the year. Besides, Stanford is one big red flag in the pitching department after stud lefty, Quinn Matthews. The UCLA Bruins were more pitching focused last season. They had an absolute stud in Max Rajcic (drafted), as well as a promising young arm who got hurt extremely early in Thatcher Hurd (now with LSU). A lot remains to be seen with this team once conference play actually starts, but they are a storied program who has a couple of good pieces that can contend in this conference. That&#39;s why it&#39;s only worth half of a play.

<h3>PAC 12 Arizona Wildcats (+900) 0.5u</h3>

Okay, this is a little more unlikely to hit, but you can&#39;t count out the Arizona Wildcats. It&#39;s a top heavy team, but one that can sneak up on you. After losing their Friday guy from 2022, Garrett Irvin, they call on hard thowing TJ Nichols to step into that role. Their solid offense lost stud catcher, Daniel Susac in the first round to the A&#39;s (19th overall, second catcher taken), and OF Tanner O&#39;Tremba (accounted for 11 homers and 56 RBI&#39;s). However, they still have OF Chase Davis remaining. Davis is also a highly touted prospect with loads of power. If Zona hopes to accomplish anything of note this year, Davis is going to have to have the best season of his young career.

<h3>ACC Wake Forest Demon Deacons (+400) 2u</h3>

You saw what I wrote about Wake above. This team is on the right side of being legit. I need to see a little bit more against better competition to make sure what we&#39;re seeing is real, but given that they have been here before last season, it&#39;s probably a safe bet. The ACC is good, not great. Teams like Miami, UNC, Virginia, Virginia Tech are solid, but they don&#39;t have nearly the talent and depth. The real team that could challenege for the conference is Louisville, but even they don&#39;t tickle my fancy. The Cards lost their two biggest boppers in Cam Masterman and Dalton Rushing who combined for 41 bops last season. This conference is the Deamon Deacons to lose.

<h2>Teams to Win the College World Series</h2>

<h3>Tennessee Volunteers (+800)</h3>

This is my team. I LOVE the Vols. They were an absolute DADDY WAGON in 2022. They broke the 50-win mark, were one of the best teams in College Baseball history, and still didn&#39;t make the College World Series. Unfortuantely they ran into the worst possible matchup they could have gotten, Notre Dame in the Super Regionals. Looking at the 2023 team, nearly their entire lineup got cleaned out via the draft. They had to bring in a lot of transfers, and elevate some of the younger guys. Still with some real bangers in that offense, like Sophomore Firstbasemen Blake Burke (hit 14 tanks in only 95 at-bats in 2022), Kansas transfer SS Maui Ahuna, Cincy transfer OF Griffin Merrit etc. The offense has and is taking time to gel, the slow start is not a worrying factor. Their real power this year, like last year, is the pitching. The Vols were extremely fortunate to keep 75% of their starting rotation in tact, only losing 2nd round draft pick, Blade Tidwell to the Mets. The Friday guy, the ace, is none other than Chase Dollander. Dollander is not only the best pitcher in the country, but he&#39;s probably the best pitching prospect since Stephen Strasburg or Gerrit Cole. He&#39;s the real deal with asbolutely everything you can ever ask for in a pitcher. In my opinion, if he doesn&#39;t win at least two Cy Young awards as a pro, his career was a let down. And then the best part is, they have another one coming right behind him next year in Sophomore Chase Burns. Burns would be the ace on almost any other team in America. That&#39;s their Saturday guy. Then of course, there&#39;s Drew Beam, probably a top 15 pitcher in the country, and best Sunday in all of College Baseball. Once the offense catches up, this team will be back to being the force of nature they are.

<h3>Mississippi State Bulldogs (+6000) 0.25u</h3>

I had my eye on the Bulldogs for the last month. After winning it all in 2021, they got ransacked by injuries in 2022, which obviously correlated with a brutal season. Now in 2023, their team an extremely young team with 26 Freshman/Sophomores. For an SEC team with championship pedigree and a fantastic coach in Chris Lemonis, I thought 60/1 was a little wild. Some books have them at 50/1 (which is more fair in my opinion), and others priced them between 25/1-35/1 (also a little wild). Though my preseason prediction was there would be some early season growing pains, I thought they would start to gel and ignite a fire. Part of the reason I was high on this team was their freshamn phenom, switch-hitter AND switch-pitcher, Jurrangelo Cijntje (who a lot of people probably have heard of by now). He sits 95 as a righty, and 92-93 as a lefty. A kid like that provides a tremendous advantage to a ball club, especially when it comes to not having to worry about pitching on short rest... because he can just throw from the other side. I threw a small piece on the Bulldogs because I think they will be a team that will get stronger as the season goes on.

<h3>Wake Forest Demon Deacons (+2500)</h3>

The Demon Deacons are a popular team for me this year as you can see. I did a podcast the week before the Super Bowl headlining an overall preview of 2023. Of course, I had been checking out the futures prices for a week or so before that. One team that caught my eye was Wake Forest at 40/1. On my podcast, I brought in a great guest in Joe Doyle of Prospects Live. He also thought Wake was a great look, betting aside. I thought 40/1 was an unreal number, and of course within a day or so, it got crushed to 25/1 in some places, and even down to 18/1-20/1 in others. Somebody also could have hit it hard, which caused it to drop. But the point is I think Wake has a real chance to make a lot of noise this season. 25/1 is the fair price right now, so I wouldn&#39;t bother dipping too low on other places to get them. While I&#39;m high on them, I don&#39;t think it&#39;s fair to start overrating them in the market.

&nbsp;

Enjoy the taste, cuzzadeech.

Catch all of&nbsp;my baseball plays (College and MLB) all season long right here on Bet Karma. And don&#39;t forget to tune into my podcast, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@BetKarma/streams">Breaking Bet</a>, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 1pm ET <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@BetKarma">here.&nbsp;</a>

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

 The first weekend of the 2023 College Baseball season was a goodie. Watched a ton of games, many with exciting prospects and chances to make a deep run throughout the year. You can track my bets in every sport here&nbsp;for the season. Before I dive

The Weekly Taste: College Baseball Best Futures Bets

The 2022 NFL season has been turbulent to say the least. In all honesty, it wasn&#39;t good. It was actually one of the worst seasons in recent memory in my opinion. At least your boy did pretty good with the NFL awards futures bets. The culimation of this season, as per usual, is the highly anticipated Super Bowl. We have a couple of patty wagons facing off in the desert between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles. Who ya got?

Kansas City Chiefs vs. Philadelphia Eagles&nbsp;(-1.5) | Over/Under 50.5

Here&#39;s the deal. This is a tough one to predict. For the last few Super Bowl&#39;s I knew who was going to win. I had the feeling in my stomach. The one we have this year is as good as a coin flip to me. The Eagles ridiculously easy Mickey Mouse schedule left them with no challenges this year. And when they finally get one in the 49ers, they lose both of their QB&#39;s and the officiating was probably instructed to make sure everything went their way. For the Chiefs, you can make the case they really are not that good after Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, and Chris Jones. And if you watched KC this season, you would know there were about five more games they should have lost that they didn&#39;t. I can predict paths to victory for both squads, but at the end of the day, who shows up?

KC overcame a lot of preseason doubts from a ton of people, myself included. Because Mahomes is so special, and plays in one of the best offensive systems in NFL history, he was the catalyst for dragging the Chiefs to a 14-3 record and No.1 seed in the AFC (plus the MVP) without Tyreek Hill. Nevertheless, they led the NFL in scoring with 29.2 PPG and total offense at 413.6 YPG. Not too shabby. Here&#39;s the formula for KC to win: run the rock 30 times, mix in downfield passes to test the gambling Eagles&#39; corners, and target Kelce 15+ times against the suspect linebackers in coverage. Remember I diced it up a couple weeks ago when I said all three of Philly&#39;s losses this year were when teams ran the ball at least 30 times. The two wins they had in that situation were against Houston and Chicago, both teams had the Eagles on the ropes. On paper, the Eagles were solid against Tight ends this year allowing 81 catches, 801 yards, and 3 tuddies. However, they hardly faced any elite players at the position, and you&#39;re not facing better than Kelce right now. Let&#39;s see how those downhill backers fare against him if Mahomes has time. Speaking of which, Philly led the NFL in sacks (70) with the Chiefs being behind them (55). Althought 15 was only dropped 26 times in 17 games this year, there were games he was sacked three or four times. Out of the five games this season he was dropped three or more times, they either lost or had the game come down to the wire in all but one. If that line can&#39;t or doesn&#39;t hold up, KC has NO chance.&nbsp;

I&#39;ll be frank. I&#39;m not a huge fan of the Eagles (outside of Jalen Hurts, AJ Brown, and DeVonta Smith), or their rotten fans. They do have a hell of a team construct. Depth and playmakers at every turn with an outstanding offensive scheme perfectly designed to fit Hurts&#39; electric playing style. Philly is a good team, no denying that. The question against KC will be if they can get that consistent pressure - especially with the front four- and if they can succeed with their heavy artillery ground attack. The Chiefs defense has been successful in one area: sacks. Along with those sacks, they&#39;ve managed to get a few takeaways, but nothing to brag about. Usually though, their pressure and turnovers have gone hand in hand. They have held their own against the run (107.2 YPG -8th in NFL), but have struggled to containt backs in the pass game, allowing the most catches (112) and fourth most yards (806). Additionally, they have allowed the fifth most YAC in the league this year, which is bad news playing against a team that have several guys that can take it to the house on any play. The Eagles have several weaknesses to take advantage of. The key will be how well Hurts can effectively play from the pocket.

Aside from my ticket on them, I&#39;m siding with KC. It&#39;s still a tad peculiar that the Eagles have been the favorite for almost two full weeks. I still think there are serious questions about Philly. And of course I can see this game going 17.5 different ways. All comes down to execution. But at the end of the day, you&#39;re giving me Mahomes as an underdog in a situation he&#39;s been in before? Need to back the future Hall of Famer. Oh and by the way, if you like the Chiefs to win, you&#39;re better off grabbing Mahomes at +130 for the MVP because there&#39;s basically no chance KC wins without the QB getting it. He&#39;s got about a 97% chance to win the award. Remember their SB win against the 49ers where he accounted for three turnovers and still won over Damian Williams, who tallied over 100 rush yards and two scores.

Prediction: Chiefs ML +105

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 The 2022 NFL season has been turbulent to say the least. In all honesty, it wasn&#39;t good. It was actually one of the worst seasons in recent memory in my opinion. At least your boy did pretty good with the NFL awards futures bets. The culimation 

The Weekly Taste: Super Bowl Sunday

I would have bet my life on Cincinnati to win last weekend. It was one of those kinds of plays that happens maybe once or twice in any given NFL season. That kind of play is of course referring to a &quot;Bet the House, and if you don&#39;t have a house, buy one and then go bet it&quot; type of one. The Weekly Taste did not fail in its Bet Karma debut.

Three more games remain in the season, and on Championship Sunday, we find out who will be representing their respective conferences. So instead of ripping up Gasparilla today like the old days, check out the breakdowns I&#39;m about to throw your way.&nbsp;

San Francisco 49ers @ Philadelphia Eagles&nbsp;(-3) | Over/Under 46.5

Don&#39;t look at me like that. There are 100% a couple of threes hanging out there. In remarkable fashion, the books are telling us that Philly is 1-1.5 points better than the Gold Rush on a neutral field. San Fran will be playing in their second consecutive title game, and third in four years. But the real question is if this number one seeded Eagles team is as good as they have made themselves out to be.

12. That&#39;s the number of games the 49ers have won in a row. That also signifies the second longest streak in franchise history after the 1989-1990 teams. This team has been a wagon all season long, even after a brutal 3-4 start. It&#39;s a team littered with show ponies and Yac Daddies that make their enemies shake with fear. On the flip side, one could also argue this Eagles team is built eerily similar to SF, and with a much better QB. The big question mark for the Niners has obviously been Brock Purdy, their 7-0 rookie out of Iowa State, who has 18 total scores to only four turnovers this year. The operation of the Kyle Shanahan offensive system has garnered tons of success for QB&#39;s and RB&#39;s alike for the better part of a decade. As long as Purdy continues to play within this system (and not turn the ball over) this team should have a great chance to pull of the road upset. This Philly defense, while it looks great on paper, is very beatable by land and air. If you take a look at where the Eagles have gotten in trouble this season, it&#39;s when teams have run the ball at least 30 times. All three times they lost that was the case, and the only times they won in those scenarios were against the Texans and Bears, who both had Philly on the ropes. That&#39;s where White Lightning comes in, aka Christian McCaffrey. Oh and by the way, San Fran is 6-0 when they have run the rock 30 times in the Purdy era.&nbsp;

The Eagles rank as the best defense against the pass this season. They have been strong overall, but of course had fits against guys like Terry McLaurin, Cee Dee Lamb, and Christian Watson etc. Facing the bully brothers of Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk for 60 minutes will certainly test your will. The bottom line is this Philly defense lives to generate pressure on opposing offenses. Their NFL league leading 70 sacks has been the cornerstone of this unit. As great as they have been this season, they don&#39;t scare me. At the end of the day, I believe the pressure of being a number one seed, and expectations will ultimately prove to be too much for the birds.

The 49ers have been doubted a lot this weekened. I understand why, but I have to roll with the team and coach I have more faith in.&nbsp;

Prediction: 49ers win (+132) and cover 3&nbsp;(-120)

&nbsp;

Teaser:

I had a great regular season on the teaser wave at 13-5 in the regular season. However, I&#39;m 0-2 in the playoffs, but looking to turn this around. This week, the teaser is actually my best play on the board.

49ers +9 (originally +3)

Getting this team through the key numbers of a one posession finish is huge. This has the makings of a tight slugfest that will come down to the wire like last week. My opinion leads me to believe San Fran actually wins outright, so getting them with this many points is definitely the right side.

Bengals +7.5 (originally +1.5)

I actually like the Chiefs to win this game outright. Cincy has won three straight against KC - all in the 2022 calendar year- all by exactly three points. It has the makings of another field goal at the buzzer type of finish. The Bengals top to bottom are easily the better team, so when getting them past a touchdown and the extra point against a team they have controlled is the better side. Like the NFC Championship game, this will come down to the wire.

Summary:

49ers win (+132) 

49ers +3&nbsp;(-120)

Teaser: 49ers +9/Bengals +7.5 -120

Get the latest updates by following me:&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/_JohnnyVTV">@_JohnnyVTV</a>

 I would have bet my life on Cincinnati to win last weekend. It was one of those kinds of plays that happens maybe once or twice in any given NFL season. That kind of play is of course referring to a &quot;Bet the House, and if you don&#39;t have a h

Championship Sunday: Johnny V's Best Bets

The dawn of a new day. Not only because this is my first piece for Bet Karma, but also since we are in the creme de la creme of NFL matchups with the remaining six teams left being the best in the league. If you followed me at NBC Sports, you know it&#39;s been a solid football season, but not up to my usual standards. Nevertheless we will witness two monumental spots on the Sunday slate, both of which cant aggressively determine my futures plays. So without further ado, let&#39;s get to business.

Cincinnati Bengals @ Buffalo Bills (-5.5) | Over/Under 48.5

Do I have a treat for you. Before we get into that, let&#39;s remember something. The Week 17 game between the Bills and Bengals closed as a 1/1.5 point line with Cincy as the home dog. Of course that game was cancelled after Damar Hamlin suffered a scary collapse on the field, to which now he is thankfully okay. Now, in the playoffs, the Bengals are 5.5, even 6 point dogs in Buffalo. In an era where home field advantage is worth the lowest it has ever been in recent memory (about 1.5 points), why are the Bills laying a touchdown in some spots?

It&#39;s called The Royal Mint. I did not create this play, but I certainly coined its name, and have been popularizing it in the modern bet game. The Royal Mint is when a ROAD DOG CLOSES at exactly 5 or 5.5 points. It doesn&#39;t always hit, but it has come home a lot more times than not throughout the years. Look at this season, the last two, last five, last 10, last 15, and you&#39;ll see the results over 65% ATS. Anyway, the Bengals were the best team in the NFL this regular season ATS&nbsp;(with the Giants), at 13-3. Regardless, they pose a serious threat to the team so many people believed to be the second coming, despite never actually accomplishing anything. The primary area to attack for Cincy is through the air with the devasting receiver room featuring Ja&#39;Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and Tyler Boyd. While the Bills defense, on paper, seems like they are an elite unit, they are definitely beatable. Buffalo had a lot of struggles against the high-end/top wide outs this year like Cooper Kupp, Justin Jefferson, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jaylen Waddle, Tyreek Hill, Garrett Wilson etc.&nbsp;Chase and Higgins should be no different.&nbsp;

The losses of two key offensive linemen, OT Jonah Williams and OG Alex Cappa is cause for concern, but Joe Burrow has been sacked 92 times since 2021 (and missed two games) and it has not slowed him down. Without Von Miller, Buffalo has a solid pass rush (40 sacks T-14th), but it can be navigated by the Bengals with traps, chips, and RB protection. Cincy has won all nine games this year in which they scored at least 27 points. Don&#39;t be fooled by the Buffalo defense with the second best scoring unit (17.9 PPG) in the NFL.

I don&#39;t believe in the Bills. I think Josh allen is a phenomenal athlete with the ability to really wow you at times. I just can&#39;t buy into this team though. There is something missing. They have a good roster with a few great players that tip the scales. My belief in the summer was this team would be fine in the regular season, but once the playoffs came, there would be a time that they need Brian Daboll to make the correct play call in the key situation, and they would lose because he was not there - even aside from that fact that you have Allen throwing into triple coverage in the red zone. Not only does Cincy cover, but they win outright to face KC in another sensational AFCCG.

Prediction: Bengals win (+215) and cover 5.5 (-110)

 The dawn of a new day. Not only because this is my first piece for Bet Karma, but also since we are in the creme de la creme of NFL matchups with the remaining six teams left being the best in the league. If you followed me at NBC Sports, you know i

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