Thursday, July 27 MLB odds, props, trends: Mets' Kodai Senga taking big money to strike out at least six vs. Nationals

Shohei Ohtani pitched Thursday afternoon in Detroit, and three of the most-wagered MLB player props on the entire DraftKings baseball board Thursday were on him. The fourth was on Tigers starting pitcher Michael Lorenzen. It's a light slate Thursday night, and the player taking the most action among those four games is New York Mets pitcher Kodai Senga vs. the visiting Washington Nationals.

It's that time of year where you might want to be careful betting an MLB game too early, because there's always a chance a starting pitcher or key hitter is traded ahead of next Tuesday's deadline. Definitely wait for lineups to be posted, although we've seen players pulled from a starting lineup or even mid-game due to a pending deal.

While the Mets likely will be sellers, Senga isn't going anywhere. Owner Steve Cohen spent hundreds of millions of dollars on contracts this offseason and many of them blew up in his face for one reason or another. However, luring Senga from Japan for five years and $75 million has worked out great, as Senga was the fifth Mets rookie ever to be selected to an All-Star Game, joining Tom Seaver (1967), Jerry Koosman (1968), Dwight Gooden (1984) and Pete Alonso (2019).

The 30-year-old right-hander is 7-5 with a 3.27 ERA and 125 strikeouts in 18 starts, or essentially seven Ks per game. Walks can be a problem at times as Senga has handed out 50 free passes. His lone career start vs. Washington came at Citi Field on April 26, and he allowed two runs over five innings with seven Ks in a loss.

Senga Over 5.5 strikeouts (-155) is the big-money action for Thursday night. Senga only had three last time out but was pulled after 3.1 innings in Boston. He has whiffed at least six in 14 starts, with a high of 12. The Nationals don't strike out much overall -- they've got 716 in total, the second-fewest in the majors.

Today's other popular MLB player props at DraftKings (all from LAA-DET matinee):

Angels' Shohei Ohtani Over 0.5 walks at -105: TBD

Ohtani Over 7.5 strikeouts at -135: TBD

Ohtani Over 0.5 home runs at +330: TBD

Tigers' Michael Lorenzen Over 17.5 outs: A win for the book, as the All-Star was pulled after 15 outs. 

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