NBA Postseason Best Bets (5/17)
Alex Christenson
We have a whopping 16 MLB games Wednesday, thanks to the first scheduled doubleheader in baseball since 2017. The Rangers and A’s play a twin bill in Oakland, the first of two scheduled doubleheaders around the league in 2024. Our first game of the day starts at 12:35 p.m. ET, and we’ll have games until nearly midnight, with the Giants and Rockies capping the day with a game that starts at 8:40 p.m.
That gives us a wealth of games to choose bets from Wednesday. Below are my favorite picks of the day. The odds change pretty quickly in the MLB, so take advantage of our Prop Shop for the best possible odds and check out our Pick Tracker for the key picks from around FTN.
MLB Best Bets for Wednesday
JP Sears Over 18.5 Outs Recorded
+130, BetMGM
The A’s and Rangers desperately needed innings out of Ross Stripling and José Ureña Tuesday, knowing Wednesday’s doubleheader was looming. After some early hiccups, Ureña more or less delivered, going 5 and giving up 2 runs (1 earned). Stripling … did not, allowing the first seven hitters in the second inning to reach and ultimately getting pulled after 1.2 innings and allowing 11 runs. The A’s managed to get through the rest of the game with only two more pitchers thanks to 5.1 innings out of Hogan Harris, but we can scratch Harris and Tyler Ferguson from the ranks for Wednesday. With a second game to prepare for, and that more or less a bullpen game with Osvaldo Bido making his 2024 debut, Mark Kotsay is going to want to get as much work out of JP Sears as possible.
Sears has had an up-and-down year, with three starts of 6-plus innings and zero runs but three with 4-plus earned runs allowed. One of his shutout appearances, though, was a 6.1-inning, 1-hit outing against the Rangers back on April 11. As our Jake Kucheck noted in his MLB DFS First Look Wednesday, this Rangers team is ninth in ISO against right-handers but only 25th against lefties. I invite you to guess which side Sears throws from. Even with a bad outing, the A’s are going to keep Sears out there as long as they can justify. But there’s also plenty of chance he offers up a good start.
Jung Hoo Lee Over 2.5 Hits+Runs+RBIs
+105, DraftKings Sportsbook
On the surface, Jung Hoo Lee has had a rough introduction to MLB, with only a .642 OPS on a .264/.314/.329 slash line through 35 games. He’s not striking out much (8.5%), but he’s also not walking that much (6.5%), and his ISO is at a low .064. But things have been on the rise lately, with 5 hits in his last two games, including a 3-for-5 game in Colorado Tuesday. And while a .276 BABIP doesn’t necessarily scream positive regression, he regularly maintained one in the .330 range or higher in his KBO days, and he has enough speed that you’d expect it to be higher than it has been.
Wednesday, Lee and the Giants get Peter Lambert, a 27-year-old with a 6.38 career ERA who hasn’t gone more than 3.1 innings in a game this season. When he gives way, a Rockies bullpen with a 5.01 ERA this season (third worst in the league) takes over. As the leadoff hitter, Lee probably won’t get this done in the first inning (though … I mean, a leadoff homer would be nice!), but the situation is stacked for him to get it done fairly early in the game.
