It’s the second full weekend of the 2023 Major League Baseball season and we’re slowly starting to increase our sample size to get a better understanding of what to expect from teams in the new campaign.
As long as we can get the weather to cooperate, we have an exciting slate of MLB odds, with a lot of juicy MLB player props, to feast on today.
Join us as we take a spin around the majors with our best free MLB picks for Saturday, April 8.
MLB props for April 8
Picks made on 4/8/2023 at 9:15 a.m. ET.
Click on each pick to jump to the full analysis.
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Best MLB bets today
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Prop bet #1: Punchout king
Kodai Senga made a big splash in his Major League debut in Miami last Sunday, allowing just a single earned run with three hits, three walks, and eight strikeouts across 5 1/3 innings in a 5-1 victory.
So why not run it back with the New York Mets starter. However, his strikeout line is 5.5 at heavy juice (around -145), but if we take an alternate strikeout total — and require him to get seven punchouts instead of six — we can back Senga at a tantalizing +150.
Senga faces a Marlins lineup that looks like Swiss cheese — it has a lot of holes. The Fish lead the majors with 81 strikeouts through just eight games, and the 10.1 whiffs per game is second only to San Francisco.
Look for Senga to continue Miami's struggles, sending them back to the dugout with heads hung low.
Kodai Senga Prop: Alternate strikeouts: 7+ (+150 at FanDuel)
Prop bet #2: J-Ram the hit man
Cleveland Guardians star Jose Ramirez has hit safely in each of his first eight games this season, and while he has yet to post a home run, he does have four extra-base hits, while registering a .421 on-base percentage.
Ramirez led the league with 44 doubles last season, while collecting 29 home runs, and faces Seattle lefty Marco Gonzales tonight — where he is 4-for-9 (.444) with a 1.056 OPS in his career.
The wind will be blowing in front center field into the face of the batters, so it’s unlikely that we’ll see a long ball for Ramirez, but he is a good bet to extend his hitting streak, and collecting at least two total bases is a fantastic bet at plus money.
He had 141 total bases in 79 games at Progressive Field last season, good for a 1.78 per-game average. He loves a little home cooking, and he is a good bet to continue raking in front of the home fans tonight.
Jose Ramirez Prop: Over 1.5 total bases (+120)
Prop bet #3: Piling up the knocks
Matt Chapman has been red-hot out of the chute for the Toronto Blue Jays, hitting .452 (14 of 31) with six doubles and seven RBI across his eight outings. He has hit safely in seven of eight games this season, while collecting two or more hits on four occasions.
Chapman doesn’t have much of a history against LHP Tyler Anderson, going hitless in three at-bats, but we're looking at him to deliver in a big way today, as he is hitting 6-for-12 southpaws in the early part of the season.
The Jays third baseman hit 20 points higher last season against lefties, and with his torrid start to the year, there is no reason to get away from Chapman until he starts to cool off quite a bit.
I don't see that happening tonight.
Matt Chapman Prop: 2+ hits (+310 at FanDuel)
