Friday offers your usual smorgasbord of quality and quantity, with elite matchups like Atlanta taking on the Dodgers highlighting the evening but also intriguing offerings like Mets-Mariners, Orioles-Diamondbacks and Yankees-Astros.
Here are tonight’s Underdog and Prizepicks plays for Friday’s MLB slate.
Justin Verlander: 6.5 strikeouts -Higher (Underdog)
Houston's Verlander will be facing a Yankees’ lineup that has struggled throughout the year, and now will have a handful of rookies lined up Friday. In his last two starts, the future Hall of Famer has struck out 16 while not allowing a run. So, while this is a higher number for a hurler who no longer has elite swing-and-miss stuff, the opportunity is readily apparent here for Verlander to pile up the strikeouts in the worst New York lineup in a long time.
Corey Seager: 1.5 Total Bases - Higher (Prizepicks)
Seager was excellent in August with a slash of .337/.417/.704 with 10 homers in what has quietly been one of his best offensive seasons even with injuries that have limited the left-handed hitting shortstop to 90 games as of Friday. He’ll go up against Joe Ryan, a talented hurler but who has allowed 26 homers in 131 innings with left-handed hitters posting an .818 OPS against him. As long as Seager is healthy, he’s a great bet in daily games to hit the over in on-base totals.
Cole Irvin: 2.5 runs - Over (Underdog)
Irvin has pitched well for most of August with a 2.25 ERA, but he’s been inconsistent, allowing four runs against the Rockies on Friday over six innings. The Diamondbacks offense has scored just one run over the last two games, but it’s a solid lineup with talented hitters who are due for some positive regression in the coming games. It just doesn’t seem like there’s enough upside to bet on a pitcher like Irvin in a game like this to hold a lineup to under three runs.
Bryce Harper + Christian Yelich: 3.5 Hits + Runs + RBI combo - Over (Prizepicks)
This is a fun one. Both Yelich and Harper have been swinging the bat well, but the challenge here is the pitchers they’ll be facing. Harper will go up against Freddy Peralta, while Yelich will swing the bat against Zack Wheeler. Those are two of the better pitchers in the National League --if not all of baseball -- but because of the way both Harper and Yelich are playing, it seems reasonable to expect at least one of those former MVPs to have a big game Friday.
Pete Alonso: 8.0 fantasy points - Lower(Underdog)
The man they call Polar Bear is always a threat to hit a round tripper or two, but Alonso will be facing off against Logan Gilbert, a pitcher who has been excellent in the second half of the season. And while the first baseman does have 39 homers in 2023, he’s also had significant contact issues. He’s struck out multiple times in five of his last seven games and 119 times in 459 at-bats. Add in the fact that Alonso doesn’t have many quality options to drive in and it’s hard to see him reaching that point total unless he goes deep.
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