MLB Opening Day!

Happy MLB Opening Day! Thirteen games are on the schedule (with two postponements) as the 2024 season gets underway. We’ve also got the Sweet 16 tipping off, 2 games in the NBA, and 14 games on the NHL schedule.

So, let’s get it into.

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MLB Trends For Day One

Opening day always brings the fireworks, and we’re here with day one trends, mainly focusing on batter/pitcher matchups.

Freddie Freeman Over 1.5 Total Bases vs Miles Mikolas

Fourteen plate appearances is a small sample size, but Freeman has been a force in his fourteen plate appearances against Miles Mikolas.

He’s batting .385 and slugging .923 with two home runs and three RBIs against Mikolas, and even though Mikolas is the Cardinals opening-day starter it’s more of a testament to how bad the St. Louis Cardinals rotation is. Sonny Gray would be starting if he was healthy, but he’s not so it’s Mikolas’s start and Freeman could eat.

Batters mashed Mikolas from both sides of the plate last season, with lefties and righties hitting above .280.

Corey Seager over 1.5 Total Bases vs Justin Steele

This is an even smaller sample size than Freeman and Mikolas, but we're still highlighting it after the season Corey Seager had last year. In three plate appearances versus Justin Steele, Seager is 2 for 3 with a single and a double.

And Steele wasn’t anything special last year against left-handed batters, getting hit for a .270 batting average while facing 141 lefties.

Home Run Spray Charts Are Here

The main new feature on props.cash for this MLB season is our home run spray charts, and it wouldn’t be opening day without some opening day dingers.

Shohei Ohtani Home Run

MLB’s 600 million dollar man gets a good matchup against Miles Mikolas, who gave up 15 home runs to lefties last year and Ohtani has 2 hits against in 3 plate appearances. Plus, the spray chart shows us that Ohtani hits most of his bombs to right field, and Dodger Stadium plays to his advantage today.

Gleyber Torres Home Run

Gleyber Torres had home runs in 15% of his games last year, including one off of Astros starter Framber Valdez. And Torres can hit homers to both sides of the park, so Minutes Maid is a park that usually plays to his advantage. The winds are pushing out mildly to the right for today’s opener.

Sweet 16

The Sweet 16 gets going today and continues tomorrow, so here are two plays from each day:

(1) North Carolina - RJ Davis Over 2.5 3PTM

Alabama hasn’t played a player of RJ Davis caliber yet in the tournament, and we think Davis should be too much for them to handle. Davis has hit this line in four straight games and the Crimson Tide allowed Grand Canyon’s top guard, Tyon Gran-Foster, to get 2 threes on 7 attempts. Davis should get the looks to score just one more.

(3) Illinois - Quincy Guerrier Over 9.5 Points + Rebounds

Quincy Guerrier has either cooked this line or come nowhere near it in his last 10, and this game should be the closest game of the first day of the Sweet Sixteen. Guerrier has been a huge part of Illinois' early success in the tournament, and Iowa State has given up this line to forwards on both teams they’ve faced so far in the tournament.

(11) North Carolina State - DJ Burns Over 14.5 Points

The lowest remaining ranked team in the tournament is going to need a big game from big man D.J. Burns if they’re going to upset Marquette. Burns has gone over this line in four straight games, and it’s going to be a lot for Oso Ighodaro and David Joplin to shut down the big man.

(5) Gonzaga - Graham Ike Over 16.5 Points

Alright, we know that Ike has missed this line in four games. But he’s come close in the two tournament games, and wouldn’t it be fun if Gonzaga knocked off a number one seed in the one year everyone counted them out? If they do knock off Purdue, they aren’t going to do it in the paint. Zach Edey is too good, so they’ll need solid play from their guards, specifically Graham Ike.