It's baseball time! MLB's season kicks off with a Dodgers vs Cubs contest in Tokyo today and I'm cooking up some props.
I've compiled Cubs vs Dodgers player and team trends with help from Outlier, as well as two MLB prop picks below for March 18th's Tokyo Series Game 1:
March 18th MLB Player Trends
- Dansby Swanson hasn't hit a double in 15 of his last 19 games (U0.5 Doubles, -700 at Sportsbook)
- Freddie Freeman has gone OVER 1.5 total bases in four of his last five games (O1.5 TB, +105 at Sportsbook)
- Shota Imanaga has gone UNDER 1.5 walks in 15 of his last 19 starts (U1.5 BB, -245 at Sportsbook)
- Michael Conforto has gone OVER 0.5 total bases in 12 of his last 13 road games (O0.5 TB, -160 at Sportsbook)
- Shohei Ohtani has gone UNDER 1.5 total bases in four of his last five games (U1.5 TB, -115 at Sportsbook)
March 18th MLB Team Trends
- The OVER has hit inn 18 of the Dodgers' last 25 games as favorites (OVER 7.5 Runs, -118 Sportsbook)
- The Dodgers are 10-3 on the runline in their last 13 road games (LAD -1.5, +120 at Sportsbook)
Find more MLB betting trends and tips at Outlier Trends:
March 18th MLB Picks
Taking the above trends alongside some more in-depth handicapping, here is a pick I'm focused on for today's Tokyo Series game:
CHC's Dansby Swanson UNDER 0.5 Total Bases (+120 at Sportsbook)
The trend above showed that Swanson hasn't hit a double in 15 of his last 19 games, but I'm going even further with this U0.5 total base bet.
In four career at-bats against LAD starter Yamamoto, Swanson hasn't reached base and has three strikeouts. He's also hitting just .222 in spring, entering this contest cold.
CHC's Shota Imanaga UNDER 1.5 Walks (-245 at Sportsbook)
Imanaga is one of the best control pitchers in baseball. He averaged just 1.5 walks per nine innings last year and had O1.5 BB in just 15 of his last 19 outings. In spring this year, he's walked just three batters in 11 innings. But, most importantly, I don't think he's going to pitch long enough in this game to rack up walks.
Imanaga hasn't pitched more than 4.1 innings yet this spring and in last year's Korea Series, we didn't see a single pitcher last longer than five innings. Expect similarly short starts in Tokyo.
