4 Best MLB Strikeout Prop Bets for Friday, May 2

With Tarik Skubal, Max Fried, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Hunter Greene on the hill, is there value to be found on a star pitcher's strikeout prop tonight?

Andrew Brennan

Last Updated: May 2, 2025 1:21 PM EDT • 5 minute read

Today's Best MLB Strikeout Prop Bets & Odds 5-2 — Pictured: Tampa Bay Rays starting pitcher Ryan Pepiot throws a pitch against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Photo by Nathan Ray Seebeck via Imagn Images.

Sure, our best strikeout prop bets today don't feature the most household names on a day when Cy Young odds contenders Tarik Skubal, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Hunter Greene, and Max Fried will pitch. A win is a win, though, so leave the big names to everyone else and dig a little deeper into the options at our best sports betting sites.

We start with an AL East showdown in The Bronx, as Ryan Pepiot and the Rays visit the Yankees, and he could be in for a rough game when the action gets underway at 7:05 p.m. ET.

Then we have a pair of starters going roughly an hour later, starting with rookie Jack Leiter, who takes on the Mariners. Seattle is known to swing and miss, but will Leiter last long enough in that game to go Over his strikeout total?

Also, Quinn Priester takes on the big, bad Cubs. And he's not very good, so you know how that story goes.

Finally, we target the lowest listed total of the day on a pitcher who's pretty terrible. But is he so bad that he can't get three punchouts?

💰 Best MLB strikeout props today: May 2

Here are the four best MLB strikeout prop bets and odds today; pick confidence based on a 1-to-5-star scale. You can also check out our MLB player prop odds tool for the latest MLB odds at the best legal sportsbooks in your region.

⚾ Ryan Pepiot Under 5.5 strikeouts vs. Yankees (7:05 p.m. ET) ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Best odds: -115 via bet365 (bet $10 to win $8.70)

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Many expected Pepiot to follow-up last year's strong campaign with another leap in his second season with the Rays. Unfortunately, he's taken a step back.

Pepiot's strikeout numbers are down, and he's giving up home runs for fun. In general, he's been far more hittable, giving up more hard contact than ever before. That's truly a recipe for disaster against Aaron Judge and the Yankees.

I both faded Pepiot and backed Judge as part of my own MLB bets this morning, and this is still a good enough price on the former that you can feel comfortable betting it as we head into the afternoon. I'd play Pepiot Under 5.5 strikeouts to as short as -135.

⚾ Jack Leiter 4.5 Under strikeouts vs. Mariners (8:05 p.m. ET) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Best odds: -103 via Caesars (bet $10 to win $9.71)

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Leiter has actually been quite solid in his rookie season. He ranks fifth among first-year pitchers by fWAR, and he owns a very impressive 2.03 ERA. However, he doesn't rack up a ton of strikeouts, so he'll need to pitch relatively deep into this game to go Over 4.5.

The right-hander has cleared this number just once in his three starts, and he survived only 3 1/3 innings in his last time out against the Giants. He's projected to have a very similar start tonight.

Leiter is projected to go just a hair more than four innings, giving up a combined six hits plus walks in the process. Meanwhile, he's projected to record only 3.47 punchouts. What does that mean for this bet?

Well, this profiles as the highest EV play of the bunch. Based on this projection, the break-even price on Under 4.5 is -262. That tells us the issue isn't just the odds, but the line itself. If this was set at 3.5, we'd probably leave it alone. Instead, you can comfortably bet Under 4.5 at essentially any price.

⚾ Quinn Priester Under 3.5 strikeouts vs. Cubs (8:10 p.m. ET) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Best odds: +120 via DraftKings (bet $10 to win $12)

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I'm sorry, Brewers fans, but the Priester ride is about to come to a very abrupt start.

Simply put, he's just not good. Priester is managing only 6.16 strikeouts per nine innings but despite walking 5.68 per nine. Sure, he gets a ton of ground balls, which is great. But you can't survive in today's game by walking that many opposing hitters. Sooner or later, those mistakes will come back to haunt you.

The National League's best offense will surely make Priester pay tonight, one day after getting after Paul Skenes.

The Cubs rank third in the majors in home runs, and their 19.8% strikeout rate is the fifth-lowest mark in baseball. Following a rough outing for Priester against the Cardinals, I think his stats continue to normalize with another shellacking, this time via the Cubs.

⚾ Antonio Senzatela Over 2.5 strikeouts vs. Giants (10:15 p.m. ET) ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Best odds: -132 via FanDuel (bet $10 to win $7.58)

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I'm not going to sit here and pretend that Senzatela is good, or try to convince you this won't be a sweat despite him mathematically being able to go Over this number in one inning. He is very bad, and this will be brutal to follow.

But this number is just so low, and the Rockies have been leaning on their starters to eat up innings even when they're getting hit around. Additionally, the Giants strike out at the seventh-highest rate in baseball, so that's working in our favor.

Senzatela is projected to allow the most earned runs of any starter today, but he's also expected to log close to five innings and four strikeouts. Now, I think the latter is a bit high, but even if we knock that strikeout projection to 3.5, we're getting nearly 15% +EV on this bet.

I feel comfortable enough with the wiggle room we're getting on this projection to bet this Over ... even if it feels awful to do so.

💰Best MLB strikeout parlay today

Here is our best MLB strikeout parlay for Friday's baseball action; use our parlay calculator to get the best odds for any parlay:

💵 Best MLB betting sites

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Written by:
Andrew Brennan

Andrew Brennan is a publishing editor for Sportsbook Review. He also heads the website’s MLB coverage, from the various futures markets to daily picks. Andrew believes a math-based approach is the best way to enjoy long-term success in sports betting, and he’s spent the better part of the last year fine-tuning his own process for MLB, NBA, and NFL picks. Andrew uses eight different sportsbooks to find the best odds available and various projection models to gather as much information as he can. His most used sportsbooks are bet365, FanDuel, and theScore Bet. When it comes to daily projection models, he regularly references NumberFire across all sports, as it’s one of the best free tools available. In terms of which daily markets Andrew attacks, he almost exclusively bets on pitcher strikeouts for baseball. When the winter rolls around, you’ll see him providing more variety when it comes to the NBA (points, assists, rebounds) and NFL (almost any offensive-based player prop). He used these tools to go +150 units in 2023. Andrew is also a passionate fantasy sports player. He’s played fantasy football, fantasy Premier League, and fantasy baseball for the last decade. He graduated from Durham College with his diploma in journalism after earning his degree in law from Carleton University. He’s worked in sports media since early 2017, first contributing at FanSided before moving to theScore. He joined SBR in 2022.