MLB Prop Bets (short for proposition bets) is a type of bet that is not necessarily related to the final outcome of a game.

Instead of betting on one particular team to win or lose a game, a bettor now has a range of options and types of bets to choose from, most of which are not tied to the final result.

An MLB Prop Bet Could Be:

• Will there be a run scored in the first inning?
• Will both teams combine to hit more than 3.5 home runs?
• Will both teams combine to strike out more than 18.5 times?
• Which team will score first?

Check out today’s picks for MLB Player Props or read on to learn more about prop betting in baseball.

What Is MLB Player Prop Betting?

An MLB Player Prop bet is a type of wager that revolves around the specific performance of an individual player and is most likely not related to the game’s final outcome.

Player prop bets have become increasingly popular in MLB baseball and all sports because they provide enhanced entertainment options for the game.

Sometimes as bettors, we don’t have a lot of interest in the two teams playing a game or in the final outcome of a game.

We might be watching the Toronto Blue Jays play not because we want the Blue Jays to beat their rival New York Yankees but because we are big fans of Vladimir Guerrero Jr or Bo Bichette.

In this situation, we may not have the interest or the knowledge to bet on Toronto to win or lose the game.

However, we may want to bet on Vladdy to hit Over 0.5 home runs or Bo Bichette to have Over 1.5 total bases in a game.

Prop bets originally started with the Super Bowl.

Sportsbooks started to create different types of betting options because so many Super Bowl viewers didn’t have a rooting interest in the teams involved or the game’s final score.

Prop bets simply provide even more entertainment options for bettors.

Some of them can be fun and outside-the-box betting options, like how long the National Anthem will be or whether the opening coin toss for the Super Bowl will land on Heads or Tails.

However, as bettors start to become familiar with prop betting, more and more of them are related to the actual game itself.

With the increased popularity of fantasy sports and daily fantasy sports betting (DFS), bettors now know more about the many players around the league than ever before.

Player prop betting allows us to use our knowledge of individual players in a betting form now, as opposed to only being able to apply our knowledge to fantasy games.

Popular MLB Player Prop Bets

• Player X – Total Hits, Runs, and RBIs Over 2.5 (over/under)
• Pitcher X – To have Over 6.5 Total Strikeouts (over/under)
• Will Player X hit a Home Run? (Player X over/under 0.5 HRs)
• Will Player X or Player Y have the most total Hits, Runs, and RBIs (Head to Head)
• Will Pitcher X or Pitcher Y have the most total strikeouts (Head to Head)

Currently, there are a large amount of prop betting options for MLB, and player prop bets only continue to gain in popularity.

No longer are a prop and player prop bets saved for special events and big games.

With each team playing 162 regular-season games, sportsbooks will offer thousands and thousands of different MLB player prop bets this season.

Why MLB Player Prop Betting

As we mentioned above, the world of fantasy sports and DFS betting has never been more popular.

With fans having access to so much information and their individual player knowledge at an all-time high, MLB player prop betting is just another form of entertainment that allows us to put our knowledge to use.

Sometimes when we are watching a baseball game, we don’t always have a rooting interest in the final outcome.

Or maybe we believe the teams are not evenly matched and the game might be lopsided.

MLB Player Prop betting can bring increased excitement for us in these situations because it allows us to focus on so many other scenarios and events other than the final score.

A Red Sox fan might not have a rooting interest when the Dodgers play the Padres.

However, they might still be a big Mookie Betts fans and want to bet Over his total hits for that game.

MLB Player Prop betting increases the excitement levels of any baseball game because it allows us to focus on many other events besides the final score.

Even when a game is lopsided, a Player Prop bettor might still have many rooting interests to follow along with because they have made several bets on individual players and their performance in that game.

Why Odds Matter

When it comes to successfully betting on MLB Player Props, we first want to understand correlated odds and not bet against ourselves.

For the average MLB game, there are normally a lot of different players’ prop bet options for us.

If we are interested in Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees going Over 0.5 home runs in a game, we might not be as interested in betting the Yankees team total to go Under 4.5 runs as well.

The strategy belief is that if you are betting on Judge to hit a home run, you don’t also want to be betting on the Yankees not to score runs.

If Aaron Judge has a good game, there is a better-than-average chance so does the Yankees’ offense.

When it comes to finding an edge against the sportsbooks the single greatest advantage a gambler has is to shop around for their best odds.

The overall difference in odds may not be significant for any one specific game.

However, as we continue to make bets over time, even a slight difference in odds on a regular basis can have a huge impact on our overall betting ROI and performance.

The competition amongst legal sportsbooks has never been greater.

Operators are trying every way possible to earn our business, offering some of the best bonuses and promotions the industry has ever witnessed.

Only by taking advantage of the numerous promotions being offered and by shopping between different sportsbooks to find the best odds possible can a sports bettor gain an advantage over the house.

How BestOdds NRFI PRO and Strikeout PRO Can Help

NRFI PRO is your go-to tool for in-depth analysis of No Run First Inning (NRFI) bets.

It provides comprehensive pitching stats, including first-inning ERA, WHIP, and total home runs allowed, ensuring you have all the critical data at your fingertips.

Additionally, it offers complete NRFI offense data, detailing a team’s first-inning batting average (BA), on-base percentage (OBP), and overall scoring ability early in the game.

With Head-to-Head Pitcher vs. Batter stats and much more, NRFI Pro equips you with everything needed to make informed decisions.

Best of all, you can try it for free here, with no credit card required.

Strikeout PRO is designed to give you an edge in MLB strikeout betting by providing extremely detailed stats on both pitching and offense.

It covers all the essential pitching data needed to make informed strikeout bets, along with team offense stats, such as average strikeouts per game and overall strikeout percentage (K%).

Whether you’re looking at the pitching or batting side of the equation, Strikeout Pro offers Head-to-Head Pitcher vs. Batter stats and more to ensure you’re making the best possible choices.

Enjoy a free trial with no credit card required to experience the full depth of this powerful tool.

MLB Player Prop Parlays

Sports betting has been around for hundreds of years in some form or another, but MLB player prop betting can be considered a relatively new product.

When player prop betting was first introduced, bettors had no options to create parlay tickets using multiple-player prop and traditional prop bets.

Correlated odds is the increased likelihood of one event happening because of the result of another related event. It sounds confusing, but it’s not.

An example of correlated odds in sports betting could be:

Clayton Kershaw to strike out more than 6.5 San Diego Padres AND the San Diego Padres to go Under 3.0 runs in the first 5 innings.

Looking at our example above, if Kershaw has a great performance against San Diego and has a lot of strikeouts, then the chance the Padres don’t score a lot of runs is increased.

If you are going to bet on Kershaw to do well, then you might also want to bet against the Padres’ offense.

Until recently, the chance to parlay those two bets on the same ticket didn’t exist.

However, FanDuel was the market leader in developing the algorithms and odds to allow bettors to start placing Same Game Parlay bets. (SGPs)

Once FanDuel launched its SGP product into the market, it didn’t take long for the majority of other sportsbooks to follow suit.

Now, almost all the sportsbooks have SGP options available, but it is still believed that FanDuel and DraftKings are the industry leaders for these types of bets.

How To Bet MLB Player Props

Before we actually get around to placing our bets, we must first take care of a little business.

It is common knowledge amongst bettors that the juice or vig the house assigns to the odds on a given bet gives the sportsbook a very small advantage against the general public.

However, never before has the competition between sportsbooks been so fierce, and for those who are willing to shop around between sportsbooks to take advantage of bonuses, promotions, and the best odds available, we can now swing that advantage to our favor.

After we have selected the sportsbooks that work best for our needs, finding and placing MLB player prop bets is easy.

Navigate to the MLB Betting section of your sportsbook. At the top of that section, there will be a Prop Bets and Player Prop bets tab.

Simply click on this tab, and you will be given all the different Player Prop betting options for each individual game that day.

Once you have done all your research, make the bets that align with your strategy.

We always recommend a bettor tracks their wagers on a spreadsheet or use some of the software available today to help with bet tracking.

Only by tracking all of our wagers can we truly ensure we are gambling responsibly and staying within our predetermined budget.

Tracking all of our wagers also allows us to analyze our historical results and learn from both our gambling wins and losses.