We started the season with a pair of lesser-known names, and we’re keeping that rolling today. For our first play, we’ve gone to the Pacific Northwest where we’ll find Brendan Rodgers of the Houston Astros in a game against the Seattle Mariners. For our second play, we’re staying out west but heading south where we’ll find Hunter Greene and the Cincinnati Reds taking on the San Francisco Giants.
Well, we had a couple of good looks to start the MLB season, but we came up short in both areas. Alec Bohm went 1-for-4 on the day, but his one hit came when he was leading off an inning. His best opportunities for an RBI came up later in the game, but the team scored four runs on the two hitters right in front of him, including a 2-run homer for Kyle Schwarber. For our second play, Bowden Francis pitched six innings, but he got just four strikeouts. In that game, he got 10 different batters into two-strike counts that ended up getting on base or out in some way other than a strikeout.
Best Bets Record to Date
- 2025 year record: 13-21-2 (-4.02 units)
Find Gage Bridgford's Best Bets betting record here.
MLB Best Bets Today
- Brendan Rodgers 2+ Total Bases (+240) - 0.50 Units Bet365
- Hunter Greene 8+ Strikeouts (+140) - 0.50 Units FanDuel
Brendan Rodgers 2+ Total Bases (+240) Bet365
Until the weather warms up a bit, hitting props are going to be a bit questionable at times. Despite that, the odds on this play are rather enticing. Over the last week, Rodgers has been one of the best hitters in baseball. He’s one of only three hitters over that stretch with fewer than 20 at-bats with eight hits. Houston has used Rodgers almost exclusively against RHP this year, and it’s been to a good amount of success. In 22 at-bats, he has a .364 batting average. He also has a .500 batting average on the road this year compared to a .167 mark at home. Rodgers has also cleared this line in three straight games.
Logan Gilbert is the expected starter for the Mariners tonight. Gilbert has been dicing up hitters with 18 strikeouts through his first two starts. For his career, he’s been about even against RHB and LHB, but righties have had a bit more success against him with a .229 average and .677 OPS compared to the .221 and .637 marks for lefties. One of the final pieces working in our favor is the pitch mix for Gilbert. He throws four pitches with his four-seam fastball, split-finger fastball and slider being his most prominent. Against four-seamers and sliders, Rodgers is 4-for-6 so far this year. He hasn’t faced a split-finger yet this season, but, last season, he was 5-for-15 against them. The matchup isn’t the best with Gilbert starting the year hot, but this is a great price for a guy on a recent hot streak.
Hunter Greene 8+ Strikeouts (+140) FanDuel
I’ll be the first to admit that this play is probably a risk with us just riding some recent hot play, but it’s one that still has some good logic to it. Greene has eight strikeouts in each of his first two starts. The first came against the Giants when he had eight Ks in five innings of work on only 84 pitches. In his second start, he had eight against the Texas Rangers. The Giants have struggled with strikeouts this year with an average of 10 per game, ranking them 28th in the league, but the Rangers have been on the opposite end of the spectrum. They’re averaging seven per game, which is tied for the league’s third-best mark.
Greene has loved facing off against this Giants’ roster in the past. In 69 plate appearances against them, he has a strikeout rate of 42 percent. The team as a whole has struggled, and there are six players with at least four plate appearances that have a strikeout rate of 35 percent or higher. Greene’s leash was a little shorter in his first start of the season while he ramped up, but this is a great spot for him to put up some strong numbers once again.
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.