{"id":644890,"date":"2026-03-26T16:57:54","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T16:57:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/644890\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T16:57:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T16:57:54","slug":"mlb-opening-day-2026-pick-odds-props-thursday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/644890\/","title":{"rendered":"MLB Opening Day 2026 pick, odds, props Thursday"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\tGambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our links. Read our editorial standards<\/a> for more information.<\/p>\n

Boston and Cincinnati\u2019s baseball teams have more in common than just the color red \u2014 they\u2019re both expecting to take a step forward in 2026 after Wild Card exits last fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Reds \u2014\u00a0thanks to a Mets meltdown \u2014\u00a0made an improbable, last-minute run to squeak into the postseason by winning eight of their last 11 games.<\/p>\n

They were squashed by the Dodgers in a two-game sweep where they relinquished 18 runs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Red Sox finished third in the AL East on the back of a masterful season from ace Garret Crochet<\/a>, who gets the ball to kick off 2026 in Cincinnati on Thursday.<\/p>\n

He was brilliant in the Red Sox\u2019s Game 1 victory over the Yankees, striking out 11 and giving only one earned run, but Boston collapsed in the following two games.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Crochet opened as the second favorite to win the AL Cy Young at 4\/1 odds after delivering a career-high 205 \u2153 innings and 255 strikeouts, which led all of MLB<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Speaking of red, if you navigate to Crochet\u2019s Statcast page, you\u2019ll find lots of it \u2014\u00a0from chase rate to strikeout percentage and xERA, he ranked within the 90th percentile.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In pitching run value, he lived within the very top percentile of major league pitchers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Thursday, he\u2019ll draw a Reds lineup that hasn\u2019t changed much since finishing as a top-10 club in strikeouts. The Reds were plagued with some serious issues with posting consistent runs and excelling in situational hitting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"BaseballElly de la Cruz #44 of the Cincinnati Reds. Getty Images<\/p>\n

This is a top-heavy Cincinnati lineup. It\u2019s dependent on Elly De La Cruz\u2019s performance at the plate. He started last season off on fire before injuries and fatigue caused him regression. <\/p>\n

They reunited with Eugenio Su\u00e1rez to take some of that pressure off of De La Cruz with power, and rookie Sal Stewart will draw a fair share of eyes as the club\u2019s top prospect.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Learn all you need to know about MLB Betting<\/p>\n

This is Crochet\u2019s third career start against Cincinnati in as many seasons. He hit 10 strikeouts in 2024 as a member of the woeful White Sox. Last year, Crochet had a rocky ride against the Reds, letting up five runs in six innings of work, but he still managed to fan nine hitters and earn the win.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He hurled seven strikeouts in 19 of his 32 starts and pitched less than five innings only once. That\u2019s plenty of runway for one of the game\u2019s best flamethrowers to hit this number with the zeal of Opening Day behind him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

THE PLAY: Garrett Crochet Over 7.5 Strikeouts (-108, FanDuel<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Why Trust New York Post Betting<\/p>\n

Sean Treppedi handicaps the NFL, NHL, MLB and college football for the New York Post. He primarily focuses on picks that reflect market value while tracking trends to mitigate risk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":644891,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5,684,48,50,4,722,18513,185,1272,723],"class_list":{"0":"post-644890","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-betting","10":"tag-boston-red-sox","11":"tag-cincinnati-reds","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-mlb-betting","14":"tag-mlb-opening-day","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-sports-betting","17":"tag-sports-picks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116296541440449931","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}