After a loaded MLB weekend, Monday presents bettors with a 9-game slate in Major League Baseball. Let’s dive into our best MLB player prop bets for Monday, August 5, but don’t forget you can also find out our experts’ MLB picks for today’s matchups. I’m 39-18 on my MLB player prop picks this season, so let’s add to that tally here!
Houston Astros Over 3.5 runs (-135)
Line available at Caesars Sportsbook at time of publishing.
I have a checklist to decide whether or not I’m backing a certain play regarding MLB prop bets, and the Houston Astros team total runs of 3.5 at -135 ultimately checks all those boxes. Let’s dive into my thinking.
Sharper books like FanDuel and DraftKings have this same line set at -150 and -158. Getting -135 on this line is already great value. To dive into the matchup, the Astros will be opposed by LHP Andrew Heaney, their third time facing the southpaw this season alone. In the first 2 matchups, Heaney allowed 2 earned runs each, but 6 walks combined. He escaped trouble in those two games, but I don’t see him getting lucky this time. Heaney will have to pitch deep into this game due to the Texas Rangers getting fewer than 12 innings combined from their starters in their last series against the Boston Red Sox. If the Rangers push Heaney, especially a third time around to the core of the Astros who have his number, we could be looking at an early cash.