Astros at Rangers: 3 Player Prop Bets to Target for Game 3

Player props can be useful in a variety of ways -- from taking advantage of them straight up to measuring a player's potential to produce in daily fantasy baseball on FanDuel. Here, we're going to focus on the former.

Utilizing numberFire's projections as a guide, here are some MLB player props bets that look appealing via the MLB odds at FanDuel Sportsbook.

Please note that betting lines and numberFire's projections may change throughout the day after this article is published. Also, the weather may be an issue in some locations.

MLB Prop Bets to Target

Leody Taveras To Record 2+ Bases (+185)

The Houston Astros will look to claw their way back into the ALCS tonight with a Game 3 win against the Texas Rangers.

Cristian Javier is on the bump for Houston and is coming off two stellar starts where he tallied a combined stat line of 11 innings, 4 hits, zero earned runs, and 13 Ks.

Though Javier's had his stuff as of late, he did deliver his worst start of the season against Texas earlier this year, giving up 8 earned runs in 4.1 innings.

When analyzing tonight's matchup, I'd place much more weight on Javier's recent play, but there are still some spots where he could struggle, particularly against left-handed hitters.

This season, he allowed lefties a .273 average, .350 wOBA, .470 SLG, 50.6% fly-ball rate, and 1.28 HR/9. Javier's numbers against righties are much better (.189 BA, 28.6% strikeout rate), so I'd steer clear of expecting any right-handed Rangers to make a major splash against him -- and the left-handed Ranger I'm targeting tonight is Leody Taveras.

Taveras has been solid against right-handed pitchers all season, posting a .275 average, .449 SLG, and 106 wRC+ in the split.

He was particularly great against righties in his final 50 at-bats of the regular season, putting up a .347 BA, .510 SLG, 156 wRC+, 40.0% fly-ball rate, and 12.5% HR/FB ratio in that time.

Taveras' hot streak has shown no signs of stopping in the playoffs -- he's recorded 14 bases in only 23 at-bats so far this postseason.

The fact that he is averaging 2.0 total bases through seven playoff games and has the platoon advantage is enough to make me side with this prop at plus-odds.

If you're looking for a tamer option to target, Taveras To Record A Hit at -160 shows great promise as he's recorded a hit in six out of seven playoff games.

If you want to shoot for the moon, you can throw a dart at Taveras To Hit A Home Run at +1060 -- he's not your typical home run hitter, but he has gone yard in these playoffs and against Javier this season. Plus, he hits for power best against the slider (0.98 wSL/C is 31st in MLB), which Javier throws 29.9% of the time (10th in MLB).

Yordan Alvarez To Record A Run (-110)

It's a Captain-Obvious move to side with Yordan Alvarez in a matchup against a right-handed pitcher, but he's given us no reason to fade him.

His splits against righties are as good as they get -- .625 SLG, 1.044 OPS, 184 wRC+, 50.2% fly-ball rate, 48.3% hard-hit rate, and 23.8% HR/FB ratio.

He's been elite in the playoffs (9 for 23 vs. RHP, including two doubles and six home runs) and has a decent history against tonight's opposition, Max Scherzer (4 for 7, including one home run).

But all this is to say that we may have reached the point where teams decide to no longer pitch to Alvarez. If there is ever a case where we can reasonably anticipate a potential intentional walk, it would be here.

So, as much as I like Yordan's chances at clearing batting props tonight, there is a lack of security if he doesn't see decent opportunities.

Either way, there are few worlds in which Alvarez gets to see the base paths tonight, and the -110 odds for him to record a run seem more than fair considering he has reached home plate in seven of his last eight games.

In terms of other Houston batters who could clear their batting props, I'd target Michael Brantley to do some damage.

He's gone 5 for 14 so far in the playoffs and historically hits well against right-handed pitchers -- his most recent full-season stats against righties came in 2021, posting a .363 BA, .507 SLG, 157 wRC+ in the split. Though he's been hurt for a majority of the last couple of seasons, Brantley has seemed to pick up right where he left off as one of the MLB's most reliable hitters.

You can grab Brantley To Record 2+ Bases at +115, To Hit A Home Run at +870 (he's gone yard in this series and against Scherzer this season), or To Record An RBI at +170 -- he follows shortly after Alvarez in the batting order so this could be a nice 1-2 punch to target.

Max Scherzer Under 4.5 Strikeouts (-116)

After suffering a low-grade strain of his teres major muscle and missing over a month of baseball, Max Scherzer will return to the mound for Game 3 of the ALCS.

The ace was previously designated by Rangers GM Chris Young as "unlikely" to make a return for the playoffs, so the breadth of Scherzer's abilities tonight is up in the air.

Scherzer has insisted he is ready to pitch again, but the playoff atmosphere combined with a tough Houston lineup could lead to a shaky start.

In his second most recent outing, Scherzer went up against the Astros while battling his shoulder injury and ended up with a dreary state line -- 3 innings, 7 earned runs, 3 homers, and 4 punchouts on 60 pitches.

Though it would be negligent to assume a similar fate for tonight's game given that Scherzer is now on the other side of his injury, it does show that he can be classified as a loose cannon.

Scherzer threw 69 pitches in his latest bullpen session. According to Texas manager Bruce Bochy, this pitch count will be the starting point for what we could see in Game 3.

This, plus the fact that the Rangers have a 2-0 series lead with high World Series hopes on the horizon, should keep Scherzer on a fairly short leash -- which puts the under for this prop in a solid place.

There have been five starts this season where Scherzer threw fewer than 80 pitches -- he fanned five-plus batters in none of those games.

For clarity purposes, the average pitch count during these five starts was 66.2 pitches (right around where Scherzer is expected to be tonight), and the average amount of strikeouts was 2.8.

Houston is one of the least strikeout-prone teams in the league. This season, they maintained a 19.8% strikeout rate, the third-lowest.

It's a bit unclear what version of Scherzer we will see tonight, but siding with the under here is the way I lean.

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author’s advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.