MLB best bets: We love this one for a strikeout SGP

As we head into a new week, there's one game on the diamond in particular that feels primed for plenty of Ks. Numbers and hit rates all support the play, and just five days ago, these two pitchers found themselves dueling it out to the tune of 20 total strikeouts.

Strikeout SGP to start the week

We turn to this Seattle-Minnesota game as an opportune time to load up some K props. On one end, we've got the Mariners, who strike out at the second-highest rate against RHP this season. The Twins are opposite them and one-up Seattle ever-so-slightly, owning the highest K rate against lefties on the year.

In comes two of the league's best strikeout pitchers in Kenta Maeda for Minnesota and Luis Castillo for Seattle. Both rank in the 70th percentile or above in Ks/inning and the 85th percentile or better in swinging strike rate.

Maeda is averaging 7.2 strikeouts per game over his last five, thrice going for 8+ Ks. Castillo has 6+ strikeouts in 14 of his 20 starts this season.

As alluded to above, these two faced off against each other last Wednesday. Maeda finished with nine Ks and Castillo piled up 11.

We're keeping it simple in the rematch, asking for just six strikeouts from each. Together, we've got it locked in at plus-money over on FanDuel.

Betting: Kenta Maeda & Luis Castillo 6+ Ks each (+108 FD)

In the news ...

Brian Harman cruises to Open Championship — American Brian Harman finished his week at Royal Liverpool with a 13-under, the third-lowest winning score in the history of the course. (And Yardbarker's Jack Dougherty was all over it, picking Harman as a "juicy longshot" to target.) This was Harman's first major championship and marks the fifth consecutive PGA Tour season that a different golfer won all four majors. The 3M Open is next, followed by a pair of $20M purse tournaments in the FedEx St. Jude and BMW Championships.

MLB trade deadline inches closer, expect a few of these NL teams to make a move — As we near August for the MLB season, the NL wild card race figures to be a doozy for the rest of the summer. Five teams all sit within one game of the three spots: the Reds, Diamondbacks, Giants, Phillies and Marlins. Despite being one of the hottest teams in baseball and sitting ahead of the other four teams, Cincinnati is currently +145 to make the playoffs this season. We'll jump on the Reds train here.

Jimmy Garoppolo passes physical — We clearly missed that there was speculation that new Raiders QB Jimmy Garoppolo may not be ready to start the season for Las Vegas. Well, put that to bed, with Jimmy G passing his physical. This is being billed as great news for the Raiders, but um, consider this writer not in that camp. It's not bad news, per se, it's just that Las Vegas is surely in for a rough season and Garoppolo is not the guy to help them navigate this grueling AFC. We like them to go under 6.5 wins in 2023.

Today's Bark Bets is written by Griffin Carroll