World Series 2020: Odds and Prop Bets Info for Rays vs. Dodgers Game 1

Clayton Kershaw and Tyler Glasnow bring plenty of strikeout power to the mound in Game 1 of the World Series, but they will have to earn each of the punchouts recorded at Globe Life Field on Tuesday. 

The over/under for both pitchers' strikeout total is 6.5, and while that may seem like an easily attainable total, it is hard to get seven batters out on strikes in the Fall Classic. 

With two star pitchers on the hill, the game's over/under is set at 7.5. If you are undecided on the overall number of runs, you could turn to the individual team props. 

Tampa Bay is not projected to push many runs across the plate Tuesday, but if you believe the Rays can score three times in nine innings, that prop could be your best bet of the evening.

World Series Game 1 Odds

Money Line: Los Angeles Dodgers (-165; bet $165 to win $100); Tampa Bay (+143; bet $100 to win $143)

Over/Under: 7.5

Run Line: Los Angeles Dodgers (-1.5; +135); Tampa Bay (+1.5; -165)

Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook.

Top Prop Bets

Clayton Kershaw and Tyler Glasnow Under 6.5 Strikeouts

Eric Gay/Associated Press

Upon first glance, the strikeout props for each of the two starters does not seem hard to reach, but with the stakes higher, the difficulty will be raised. 

In the 2019 World Series, each of Houston's first three starters recorded six strikeouts. Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg had seven in their outings for Washington. 

In Game 1, Scherzer struck out the final batter of his five-inning outing to reach seven strikeouts. Strasburg produced the same result in the sixth frame of Game 2 to hit that total. 

Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander struck out six batters opposite Scherzer and Strasburg in those heavyweight matchups. 

Kershaw is the only of the Game 1 starters to have World Series experience. In his five Fall Classic outings, he fanned an average of just over five batters. 

In fact, the southpaw's only World Series performance with more than five K's was his first appearance in Game 1 of the 2017 clash with Houston. 

If you apply the Game 1 strikeout prop to Kershaw's last eight playoff starts, the over would have hit once. He had 13 strikeouts in the Wild Card Round against Milwaukee. 

Glasnow led the Rays in strikeouts and started the postseason strong with 18 whiffs in his first two starts, but since then, he has eight over 7.1 innings. 

Houston struck out on five occasions in Game 4 of the ALCS versus Glasnow. The Astros also fanned eight times versus the right-hander hurler in seven ALDS innings in 2019. 

Although the Dodgers struck out 67 times in the NLCS, only one Atlanta pitcher recorded more than 10 whiffs. 

Tampa Bay was more susceptible to striking out since it fanned 81 times in the ALCS and allowed Lance McCullers Jr. and Framber Valdez to combine for 35. 

Despite those totals, the Rays still found some success against Houston's starters by tagging them for 11 earned runs. 

If they get to Kershaw early, the Rays could force Dave Roberts to call on his bullpen to clean up behind his Game 1 starter. 

Tampa Bay Team Total (Over 2.5)

Jae C. Hong/Associated Press

The ALCS was not a high-scoring series, but the Rays managed to score at least three runs in six of those seven contests. 

Even with Kershaw on the mound, it is worth taking the Tampa Bay team over because the number is so low. The key to that prop going over should be the powerful right-handed bats of Randy Arozarena, Manuel Margot and Mike Zunino.

The three combined for nine of the Rays' 11 ALCS home runs. Arozarena and Margot have decent splits against left-handed pitchers. 

Arozarena had a 1.478 OPS and 1.000 slugging percentage against southpaws in the regular season, while Margot recorded a .633 OPS in those matchups. 

One of Arozarena's four ALCS homers came off the left-handed Valdez in Game 1, and all the Cuban needs is one or two batters to get on base in front of him to provide a multirun boost. 

Since the projected team total is fairly low and the Rays have some power bats in their lineup, it is worth taking a flier on this prop.

Follow Joe on Twitter, @JTansey90.

Statistics obtained from Baseball Reference.