Cy Young Candidate Steele Top MLB Today Prop Pick

Blake Snell of the San Diego Padres threw seven no-hit innings as the Padres won their sixth game in a row. Snell When looking at the MLB betting lines, Snell continues to be the man to beat in the National League Cy Young Award race.

Keep in mind that the road favorites went 3-1 on Tuesday. The Cleveland Guardians, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays are road favorites on Wednesday.

According to our MLB odds, the Atlanta Braves (+275) have the best odds to win the World Series. The Los Angeles Dodgers (+450), Houston Astros (+550), Baltimore Orioles (+850) and Tampa Bay Rays (+950) aren’t far behind.

Wednesday’s Best Prop Bets

When looking at the MLB odds on Sept. 20, here are some to consider.

With the way that the Chicago Cubs have been rolling against the Pirates, go with Justin Steele at +220 to have at least seven strikeouts in a win over Pittsburgh as a possible MLB bet of the day.

Austin Riley of the Atlanta Braves is hitting .438 with five home runs in 48 career at-bats against Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola. Take a look at the live betting odds for Riley to go over 1½ total bases. He’s also +520 to hit a home run.

Keep an eye on the +450 odds for Xander Bogaerts to hit a home run for the San Diego Padres against Colorado, considering that he is hitting .453 with four homers and 13 extra-base hits in 16 games in September.

Jake Burger of the Miami Marlins just delivered his second walk-off win since his trade from the Chicago White Sox. He comes in at +125 according to the sportsbook to score a run against the Mets on Wednesday and that’s pretty tempting.

Most HR by batting order position:

1st — Betts/Acuna (39)
2nd — Aaron Judge (32)
3rd — Austin Riley (35)
4th — Pete Alonso (41)
5th — Josh Jung (19)
6th — Jonah Heim (15)
7th — Gary Sanchez (10)
8th — Orlando Arcia (15)
9th — Michael A. Taylor (16) pic.twitter.com/MzUpJc49CB

— StatMuse MLB (@statmusemlb) September 20, 2023

Ready to Join Select Company

Ronald Acuna Jr. is on the verge of becoming the first player since Alfonso Soriano in 2006 to have at least 40 home runs and 40 stolen bases in the same season.

Jose Canseco of the Oakland Athletics was the first player to accomplish that feat back in 1988. Barry Bonds had 42 home runs and 40 stolen bases with the San Francisco Giants in 1996 and, two years later, Alex Rodriguez of the Seattle Mariners had 42 home runs and 46 stolen bases

Acuna hit a pair of home runs in Tuesday’s 9-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies to give him 39 home runs to go with 67 stolen bases. According to the Las Vegas MLB odds, Acuna continues to be the front-runner in the National League Most Valuable Player odds.

Atlanta wraps up the series with the Phillies on Wednesday. While the Braves have already won the National League East Division title, they also have a 3½-game lead on the Los Angeles Dodgers in the race for the top seed in the National League come playoff time.

Flirting With History

It was yet another brilliant start on Tuesday for San Diego’s Blake Snell.

Snell didn’t allow a hit in his seven innings of work. However, he did walk four batters and that pushed his pitch count over 100 so the decision was made to pull Snell out of the game after those seven hitless innings.

Robert Suarez didn’t allow a hit in the eighth inning before he gave way to Josh Hader, who did allow a pair of hits. He also picked up the win as Xander Bogaerts hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to provide all the scoring in San Diego’s 2-0 win over visiting Colorado.

Snell struck out 10 hitters and he now has a career-high 227 strikeouts.

According to the MLB lines, Snell is priced at -1600 in the odds to win the National League Cy Young Award. Justin Steele (+900) of the Chicago Cubs and Atlanta’s Spencer Strider (+3500) are his closest competitors.

Strider struck out 11 in seven innings on Tuesday to pick up his 18th win of the season.

Arizona’s Zac Gallen was among the Cy Young front-runners earlier this season.

Despite allowing four runs in five innings, he earned his 16th win and also recorded his 200th strikeout of the season as Arizona picked up a huge win over the San Francisco Giants.

Is This a Rivalry?

The good news for the Pittsburgh Pirates is that they won’t see the Chicago Cubs again until the 2024 season after the games on Wednesday and Thursday are in the books.

The Cubs are 10-1 against the Pirates this season. Since Pittsburgh’s lone win versus Chicago in 2023, the Cubs have outscored the Pirates 34-8 in the last three games.

Rookie Alexander Canario’s grand slam during an eight-run eighth inning was his first career MLB home run in Tuesday’s 14-1 win. Cody Bellinger, Seiya Suzuki and Dansby Swanson also homered as the Cubs have outscored the Pirates 88-28 this season.

The Cubs lead the Pirates by nine games in the National League Central Division standings and are also +9 against the Pirates in 2023.

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Alexander Canario is the only Cubs player to hit a grand slam in his first MLB start since 1901. pic.twitter.com/QHvW3syqGC

— Cubs Zone (@CubsZone) September 20, 2023

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Playoff Update

Add the St. Louis Cardinals and Washington Nationals to the teams eliminated from playoff contention as some teams have just 10 games remaining in the regular season.

The next order of business will be for the Minnesota Twins to become the first American League team this season to clinch a division title. The Twins lead Cleveland by eight games and each team has 10 games left to play. The next win by Minnesota or loss by Detroit will eliminate the Tigers in the AL Central race.

The AL West race might come down to the bitter end with the Houston Astros dropping their last two games to see their lead cut to a half-game over both the Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers.

Texas and Seattle are currently tied for the final wild-card spot in the American League. Tampa Bay has already secured a postseason spot and if the Rays don’t catch the Baltimore Orioles in the AL East, the Rays will almost certainly be the No. 1 wild-card team.

Toronto is a game ahead of Texas and Seattle. The next closest team is the New York Yankees and they are seven games out of the playoffs with 11 games left to play. The Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Guardians and Detroit Tigers could all be eliminated by the end of the week.

In the National League, Philadelphia is holding down the top wild-card spot. There are four teams within 1½ games in the fight for the final two spots. Arizona leads the Chicago Cubs by one-half game, and Miami is a game back with the Cincinnati Reds 1½ games behind Arizona and one game out of a playoff spot.

The San Francisco Giants are three games out and, with six straight wins, the San Diego Padres are threatening to move by the Giants.

Injury Update

Here’s a look at some of the injuries that could impact Wednesday’s games.

Miami Marlins infielder Luis Arraez, who leads the majors with s .354 batting average, is questionable for Wednesday’s game with the New York Mets due to a sprained ankle that forced him to miss the last contest.

⭐️ First career 200-hit season
⭐️ Leading the NL in batting average (.354)
⭐️ The @Marlins are 0.5 games out of an NL Wild Card spot

Have a year, Luis Arraez 🔥 pic.twitter.com/lxAbiLDjfN

— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) September 19, 2023

San Diego infielders Ha-Seong Kim (abdominal) and Manny Machado (elbow) are questionable to face Colorado on Wednesday.

Milwaukee outfielder Christian Yelich has missed the last four games with back stiffness and his status for the game with St. Louis is up in the air.

Boston Red Sox closer Kenley Jensen is expected to be available to pitch against Texas after a recent stint on the COVID-19 list.

Pitcher Reid Detmers is expected to make his scheduled start on Wednesday after dealing with a recent illness.

Cleveland rookie pitcher Tanner Bibee will miss the rest of the season with a hip injury.

Houston relief pitcher Bryan Abreu is questionable with a forearm injury while Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Yusei Kikuchi left his last appearance with a back issue.

Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez landed on the 7-day injured list with a head injury.

Minnesota Twins shortstop Carlos Correa is questionable with a foot injury. Also, infielder Royce Lewis left Minnesota’s last game with a hamstring issue

Detroit infielder Javier Baez missed the last game with back tightness and his status is uncertain for the series finale with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Pitcher Alex Faedo (finger) won’t pitch again this season.

For St. Louis, relief pitcher Giovanny Gallegos will miss the rest of the season after landing on the injured list.

Infielder Jeimer Candelario of the Chicago Cubs is on the injured list with a back issue while infielder Nick Madrigal is also sidelined.

Not only did the San Francisco Giants lose to fall further behind in the National League wild-card standings, but pitcher Alex Cobb left Tuesday’s start with a hip injury.

Arizona pitcher Scott McGough is on the injured list with a shoulder issue.