Underdog Fantasy MLB Picks April 26: Mike Trout Powers Los Angeles Angels Lineup vs Luis Medina
Welcome to another full day of Major League Baseball action! As you enjoy the afternoon MLB games, let's find some MLB Underdog picks and MLB player props to target for Wednesday night's slate. Our top MLB Underdog Fantasy plays today feature Chicago Cubs SP Drew Smyly and Los Angeles Angels OF Mike Trout. Both are in great matchups and come in hot. Check out these free MLB player props and MLB daily picks on Underdog Fantasy for “Pick'Em” contests tonight. Don't forget to check out the latest MLB weather report and the confirmed MLB lineups when placing those MLB betting picks. Plus, the MLB daily projections and MLB Batter vs Pitcher page will help you find the best matchups for MLB player props and MLB DFS lineups. Now, let's dive into the top MLB player picks on Underdog Fantasy for Wednesday, April 26th.
MLB Underdog Fantasy Top Picks April 26
Drew Smyly, Chicago Cubs – OVER 4.5 Strikeouts
Just last week, we saw Drew Smyly flirt with a perfect game as he shut down the Los Angeles Dodgers into the eighth inning. Let’s bank on the Chicago Cubs starter finding success again on the mound tonight against the San Diego Padres. In case you haven’t noticed, the Padres’ offense has been struggling lately with one or zero runs scored in six of the past nine games. Yes, they had a few explosions against the Diamondbacks this past weekend, but the Padres were shut out again last night with the bats looking lost. Since April 10th, San Diego has a league-high 27% strikeout rate with a .195 team batting average and .272 wOBA (both 2nd-worst). Against left-handed pitching over the past week of games, the Pads have a 28% K rate, 3.7% walk rate, and .252 wOBA.
As for Smyly, he’s obviously coming in hot after that near-perfecto last time out. The Chicago lefty has a solid 3.13 ERA and 0.91 WHIP this season and has given up just two runs and seven hits combined over his past three starts. Honestly, besides a blowup at Great American Ballpark in his first outing of the season, Smyly has looked really good. The southpaw has been especially lights-out at home with a 17:1 K:BB ratio in two starts at Wrigley Field so far in 2023. This continues a trend from last year when Smyly posted a 2.42 ERA and 40:11 K:BB ratio across nine home starts in his first season with the Cubs. The guy clearly likes pitching in Wrigley. This 4.5 strikeout line is a touch too low for a guy that’s put up 10 and seven Ks in two home starts already. Furthermore, the weather in Chicago is very much pitcher-friendly with temperatures in the 40s and wind blowing in.
Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels – OVER 10.5 Fantasy Points
It’s never a bad idea to back Mike Trout when it comes to player props, or anything else for that matter, so let’s do it tonight. The Los Angeles Angels will face rookie pitcher Luis Medina, who’s making his MLB debut here for the Oakland Athletics. Medina has some promising talent, but he’s mostly being called up for this start because the A’s rotation is dealing with injuries (Paul Blackburn, Drew Rucinski) and underperforming starters (James Kaprielian, Shintaro Fujinami). In 9.1 innings at Triple-A this season, Medina gave up five runs and eight walks with 11 strikeouts. He also only pitched 3-4 innings in each start, so we may see the terrible Oakland bullpen in action sooner rather than later.
Meanwhile, look for Trout to stay hot at the plate. He’s hitting .406 over the past seven games and boasts a strong .326 BA and .426 OBP this season. With Medina’s control issues, we could see Trout get on base three or four times tonight with his ability to draw walks and hitting right-handed pitching well. He’s on a current seven-game hitting streak with runs scored in four straight. There’s a strong chance he’s putting up double-digit fantasy points in this favorable spot at home tonight.
MLB Best Bets
If you are looking for some MLB Best Bets today, make sure you check out betting picks from Howard Bender for today's slate of games.
For those who play MLB DFS, go All-Pro with Fantasy Alarm and save 50% off the first six months with promo code MLB50. By going All-Pro you get access to ALL DFS content and premium discord access for just $19.98 over the first sixth months!
Related MLB Links:
Join the Discord
Join the Discord and get your MLB DFS and Fantasy Baseball questions answered by our Fantasy Alarm experts!
Player News
Pete Alonso had a walkoff sac fly in the Mets’ 4-3 defeat of the Pirates on Monday.
Francisco Lindor reached on an error in a tie game, advanced to third on a Juan Soto single and then scored on Alonso’s flyball. Alonso also had an RBI single on a grounder in the seventh. He’s alone in second in the majors with 36 RBI, three behind Aaron Judge.
David Peterson gave up two runs in six innings and struck out seven Monday in a no-decision against the Pirates.
Peterson’s 100 pitches produced 17 whiffs and a 37% CSW, allowing him to overcome the Isiah Kiner-Falefa homer and seven other hard-hit balls he surrendered. Peterson still hasn’t allowed more than three earned runs in any of his eight starts this season. He deserves better than a 2-2 record, especially with the Mets being 6-2 in his starts. He’ll face the Yankees in the Bronx this weekend.
Huascar Brazobán took a blown save but recorded a win after allowing an unearned run in the ninth Monday against the Pirates.
The Mets turned to Brazobán with a one-run lead because Edwin Díaz had pitched the previous two days, and Brazobán got the grounders he wanted, but two turned into singles and a misplay from Francisco Lindor hurt the cause. Still, Brazobán was able to preserve the tie after giving up the tying run, and he notched the win in the bottom of the ninth. Brazobán has a 1.08 ERA in 25 innings while doing much of the dirty work in the Mets pen.
Paul Skenes was uninvolved in the decision Monday after limiting the Mets to one run over six innings.
Skenes allowed six hits, walked three and struck out six before departing with a one-run lead that disappeared immediately in the seventh. He has fallen short of dominance in giving up eight runs with a 14/11 K/BB in 17 innings this month, but there still doesn’t seem to be much of anything wrong here. This is just what a Paul Skenes slump looks like, apparently.
David Bednar lost to the Mets after giving up an unearned run in the bottom of the ninth on Monday.
Brought into a tie game, Bednar retired the first batter he faced before the second reached on an Isiah Kiner-Falefa error. A single and a game-ending sac fly followed. Bednar won’t get much blame for this one, but it can’t help matters as he contends with Dennis Santana for late-game opportunities.
Bryan Reynolds went 0-for-5 and grounded into a double play to end a threat in the ninth Monday against the Mets.
What a disaster of a season Reynolds is having. In his last at-bat, he had two on in a 3-3 game in the ninth and hit a weak grounder to Jeff McNeil at second, ending the inning. He had zero hard-hit balls tonight, and while Statcast says he’s been terribly unlucky, he’s hitting just .204/.266/.323 with 52 strikeouts in 184 plate appearances overall. He had his shoulder injury to blame early on, but he’s healthy now and still performing as one of the league’s worst players.