3 MLB Player Props to Bet to Still Make NY Baseball Interesting

Baseball in New York has not lived up to the fans’ expectations in 2023.

Coming off of a playoff appearance from each squad in 2022, the goal for the New York Yankees and the New York Mets was to be in contention for the World Series. Both were among the preseason favorites. Now, the Yankees are below .500, and the Mets traded key players at the trade deadline. Both teams are not expected to be playing baseball in October.

With the season the Yankees and Mets are having, it’s easy for New York baseball fans to stop watching. With a lack of wins, the incentive to root for your favorite team is gone. However, each team carries storylines that fans should be interested in. Here are some of the best MLB player prop bets to follow for the remainder of the 2023 season in New York.

The Yankees are not having a great season, but their ace in Gerrit Cole certainly is. Cole is an elite starter and has had tremendous seasons in the past. The ace, though, has never won the Cy Young Award. 

This is the year where that changes. Cole leads the American League in innings pitched, has the lowest ERA in the AL, and is seventh in Major League Baseball in WHIP. There is no question that Cole is an elite pitcher in the American League, but amongst other tremendous starting pitchers in the AL, Cole has stood above the rest.

In each of the last six seasons, Cole has had his name in Cy Young contention. In those years, the starter has had a 20-win season, has led the American League in wins, and twice led all of Major League Baseball in strikeouts. This year, though, Cole has been producing at an elite level and will continue to do so. He is the easy choice to win the American League Cy Young Award, so take this bet on Caesars Sportsbook.

If this prop, with these odds, was out before the 2023 season started, this would be an easy choice. Aaron Judge, coming off a season where he became the American League home run king with 62 knocks, was bound to continue slugging in New York. With two stints on the injured list, Judge finds himself behind in his home run numbers.

With a little over a month left of the season, Judge sits at 24 home runs. It would take some sort of miraculous run for Judge to get to 40 home runs this season. With that said, if someone were able to go on a run and hit 16 home runs between now and the end of the regular season, it’s Aaron Judge. 

Betting is all about risk-taking, and to make the season more exciting for the Yankees down the stretch, taking these low odds and routine for Judge to be the slugger he was a year ago is not a bad investment. This prop on FanDuel is a fun way to end the season after a bumpy year in New York.

The Mets sold at the deadline, dealing starters Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer to the Houston Astros and the Texas Rangers, respectively. The Mets even almost traded Pete Alonso, but the slugger remains in New York, and he continues to hit home runs at an incredibly high rate.

Alonso sits at third in Major League Baseball in home runs with 39. Mookie Betts is in fourth with 34, so there’s a considerable gap between Alonso and Betts. First place, though, is certainly in reach. Shohei Ohtani and Matt Olson are tied for the league lead with 43 home runs.

With the Mets currently out of a playoff spot, Alonso will continue to carry the offense. It is never bad to bet against Alonso and home runs. The first baseman has only led the entire league in home runs once, and he did that in his rookie season. With that, though, Alonso is a proven slugger, and with just over a month in the regular season left, the five-year veteran can find himself leading the league in home runs. This bet on DraftKings is a sneaky underdog pick based on the odds for Ohtani (+170) and Olson (-135), and it can lead to tremendous earnings.