Griffin Wong details his best props bets on DraftKings Sportsbook for Game 2 of the Dodgers-Reds Wild Card series.

If the Los Angeles Dodgers want to defend their 2024 World Series title, it’s one win down, 12 wins to go. They took Game 1 of the three-game Wild Card series last night against the Cincinnati Reds, 10-5, after surviving an inevitable late bullpen collapse.

Los Angeles should be able to finish the job tonight behind ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who won NL Pitcher of the Month in September and whose 12-year, $325 million contract already looks like a bargain. The Reds, meanwhile, will start trade deadline acquisition Zack Littell.

The Dodgers are -287 favorites for tonight’s contest on the Moneyline at DraftKings Sportsbook, with the over-under set for eight runs. Cincinnati is +227 to extend its season. Below, I’ll take you through my three favorite player props from tonight’s clash, starting — of course — with Yamamoto.

Dodgers vs. Reds Prop Bets for Game 2

Yoshinobu Yamamoto U3.5 Hits Allowed (+108)

During his tremendous September, Yamamoto pitched to just a 0.67 ERA and allowed a total of seven hits in four starts, including three consecutive one-hit outings. The most notorious of those, of course, was a defeat against the Baltimore Orioles in which he was two strikes away from throwing a no-hitter, gave up a weakly-hit solo homer to Jackson Holliday, and exited the game in time to watch Blake Treinen and Tanner Scott blow the lead. Opposing hitters hit a league-low .183 against him, and he allowed three or fewer hits 12 different times in his 30 starts. In his only start against the Reds, he did allow four hits, but it came in seven innings of work, which he only reached nine times this season.

In general, it’s just hard to imagine Cincinnati getting to Yamamoto more than it got to Snell last night, and Snell gave up just one hit in the first six innings before the Reds finally produced three hits in the seventh. If Yamamoto lasts that deep into the game, I trust him to keep the damage to a minimum: the 10 times that he pitched into the seventh inning this season, he conceded just eight total hits. Roberts will only keep Yamamoto in through the seventh inning if he’s absolutely cruising, and by his standards, four hits isn’t cruising. For its part, Cincinnati recorded the league’s 10th-lowest batting average in away games this season.

Zack Littell O10.5 Outs Recorded (-107)

Terry Francona is expected to have a quick hook on Littell, who threw more than 90 pitches just three times in 10 starts since joining the team at the trade deadline. Still, 10.5 outs is a low bar that Littell has cleared in all but one of his 34 starts, and whatever plans Francona might have had to carefully manage his innings took a hit last night when Hunter Greene lasted just three innings, requiring Francona to utilize four different relievers for at least an inning each.

Assuming none of those four relievers take the mound on back-to-back nights, he’ll have five relievers to work with tonight, including converted starters Nick Lodolo and Nick Martinez, who could each take multiple innings. The Reds will be in huge trouble if Littell can’t complete the fourth inning and they win to force a Game 3, with a taxed bullpen, a starter in Andrew Abbott who’s only completed the sixth inning once in his last seven starts, and Game 1 of a possible Divisional Round series looming against the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday.

Los Angeles also isn’t a guarantee to knock Littell out of the game with a flurry of early runs like it did Greene. The Dodgers’ offense, for all of its firepower, is notoriously inconsistent and has struggled to give Yamamoto run support all season, giving him just 2.7 runs per nine innings when he was in the game, the seventh-lowest mark among 117 starters with at least 20 starts. In 14 career appearances against Los Angeles (all in relief), Littell has a solid 3.86 ERA and has held the Dodgers to just a .176 batting average.

Shohei Ohtani 3+ Hits + Runs + RBI’s (-113)

Ohtani required exactly four pitches and one swing to cash this prop last night, taking Greene’s fourth offering (and second strike) 375 feet into the right field bleachers, his 13th leadoff home run of the season. Because a homer results in a hit, run, and RBI, it would be the easiest way for him to hit the prop, and with Littell allowing the second-most homers in baseball, it’s relatively likely (+158) that Ohtani goes deep again tonight. But there are lots of other pathways to him recording three or more H/R/RBI’s: he led all of the major leagues in runs and finished 10th in hits. He had 22 games this season in which he reached three or more H/R/RBI’s without hitting a home run.

Plus, Littell is basically a perfect matchup for him. Ohtani has one real weakness as a hitter: whiffing at a fourth-percentile clip, which leads to him striking out at a 22nd-percentile clip. Thankfully for him, Littell struggles to induce whiffs or strikeouts, so more of Ohtani’s swings should result in balls in play, and this season, Cincinnati was the sixth-worst fielding unit among the 12 playoff teams, though it allowed the fourth-lowest batting average on balls in play. Ohtani also had a 1.076 OPS against righties and had more hits, runs, and RBI’s at home than on the road, and Littell had a higher ERA and WHIP on the road despite playing in a pair of very hitter-friendly parks.