On a jam-packed Saturday filled with action across the country, all eyes will turn to the diamond sin Philadelphia and New York tonight.
The Yankees return home and must climb out of an 0-2 hole while the Phillies took a crucial Game 3 and are now in a position to extend their series lead.
Below, I detail which two men are expected to make an impact tonight and how you should bet them.
Our Action Labs Props Tool grades each prop on a scale from 1-10, and I'll be sure to include the grade for each of my betting recommendations in my discussions below.
Gerrit Cole Over 6.5 Strikeouts (+100)
| Astros vs. Yankees | |
| First Pitch | 5:07 pm ET |
| Best Line | BetRivers |
Gerrit Cole has been worth every penny thus far in the postseason. He was dominant in his two starts against Cleveland in the ALDS, as he allowed just three runs over 13 1/3 innings and struck out 16. Mind you, Cleveland had the lowest team strikeout rate in the majors this season. Tonight, he'll face a fearsome lineup that he has bested before.
Cole has built up a reasonably large sample size against the Houston Astros throughout his career. In 102 at-bats, Houston is hitting just .206 with a 26.1 percent strikeout rate. His lone start against them this year only added to those numbers, as in June he went seven strong innings allowing just one run on four hits while striking out eight.
Taking a step back, this total is one that Cole has gone over quite a bit this season. In 35 starts, we've seen him eclipse it 65.7 percent of the time. That gives us -191 implied odds that he will do so again.
Lastly, it always helps to have projections on our side, and our Action Labs projections have this as one of the day's top plays, as he pegged for 7.5 strikeouts this evening.
Pick: Over 6.5 Strikeouts (+100)
Action Labs Grade: 8
Kyle Schwarber Over 1.5 Total Bases (+138)
| Padres vs. Phillies | |
| First Pitch | 7:45 pm ET |
| Best Line | BetRivers |
Kyle Schwarber made his presence felt immediately Friday night as he led off Game 3 with a homer. Although, he was not done after that, as he picked up another base hit. Things finally seemed to click for the NL regular season home-run leader, and now he gets an even better matchup today.
Mike Clevinger and Schwarber have only faced off three times, and the one ball Schwarber put in play was at 96.8 mph. However, more data suggests he will get on the board against sunshine.
Lefties hit Clevinger very hard this season, as they accounted for 13 of the 20 homers he allowed. And what's great for us is that they are due for even more positive regression.
Clevinger has a 5.29 FIP against lefties and a hard-hit rate of over 35 percent. Those are not the numbers with which you want to go up against a hot Schwarber.
This line is a tick higher than the rest of the market as it offers much more value than Schwarber, going over 0.5 total bases. Of course, we all know about Schwarber's power, so if he makes contact, extra bases are likely, but it also wouldn't surprise me one bit if he goes yard for the second straight day.
Pick: Over 1.5 total bases (+138)
Action Labs Grade: 9
