Yankees vs. Angels: The best player prop bets for Sept. 1

The New York Yankees (76-56) were the hottest team in baseball in August, winning 13 in a row at one point. But now they’ve lost four straight games, and are in danger of getting swept out of Los Angeles by the Angels (66-67) on Wednesday evening.

Gerrit Cole will take the hill for the Bombers at 7:07 p.m. ET, while the little-known Packy Naughton responds for the Angels in what will be only his third career major-league appearance.

Join us as we highlight our three favorite player prop bets for this matchup.

Gerrit Cole: Over/Under 8.5 Strikeouts

This is a high strikeout total to clear, but Cole has done it in six of his last eight starts, amassing 65 total Ks in 43 innings of work. Over bettors shouldn’t hesitate to back him again.

Cole will take on an Angels lineup that tallied the fifth-most strikeouts in the month of August (262). His home and road strikeout splits have been fairly consistent this season, as he’s fanned 99 batters over 71 2/3 innings at home, and 101 batters over 76 1/3 innings on the road.

Shohei Ohtani, Justin Upton, and David Fletcher have combined for 19 strikeouts in 45 career at-bats against the Yankees ace.

MLB pick: Over (-106)

Aaron Judge Over/Under 0.5 RBI

The right-handed power bat of Aaron Judge could feast on the southpaw Naughton on Wednesday night.

The hits have been coming in bunches for Judge of late; he has seven multi-hit games in his last eight starts. He also has nine RBI in that span.

Judge has been very efficient against lefties in 2021, amassing 24 RBI in 126 at-bats. By contrast, he’s gathered 50 RBI over 313 at-bats against righties. He’s also struck out just 32 times against southpaws, compared to his 97 Ks against orthodox pitchers, so that could increase his chances of picking up an RBI through a groundout.

Of course, Judge could just plate his RBI through hitting a home run; he's available at +310 to do that on Wednesday night.

MLB pick: Over (+145)

Jared Walsh Over/Under 0.5 Hits

Oddsmakers appear to have set a generous line for Over bettors concerning 2021 All-Star Jared Walsh’s hit total in this game.

Walsh has a hit in each of the first two games of this series, including a crucial three-run homer than put his team up for good in a 6-4 victory on Wednesday night. He’s hitless in two lifetime at-bats against Cole, but is batting .315 against righties this season.

MLB pick: Over (-148)