Best MLB Home Runs Matchups — Wednesday, September 2, 2026
Top home runs spot: Rafael Devers
Rafael Devers (SF) tops the board at 100, facing RHP Bubba Chandler. The lefty is going deep on .065 HR/PA against righties this year — and .125 over the last two weeks, big-time bat that turns into a home run in about 6% of his trips. And Bubba Chandler has been homer-prone to righties lately — .045 home runs per batter faced. One catch: the bullpen behind him has been stingy to that side late. He's hitting in a spot worth about 4.5 trips, so the volume's there. He's just .000 in 2 career PA against Bubba Chandler, but that's a tiny sample and the matchup says regression. It all sets up in a neutral park, weather helping.
The rest of the top of the board
- Shohei Ohtani (LAD) (100) vs LHP Brycen Mautz: big-time bat at .055 into an arm with little track record against the same side.
- Munetaka Murakami (CWS) (100) vs RHP Hayden Wesneski: big-time bat at .065 into an arm keeping the ball in the park against the same side (.000), due to bounce back.
- Pete Alonso (BAL) (100) vs RHP Tomoyuki Sugano: big-time bat at .057 into an arm keeping the ball in the park against the same side (.000).
- Yordan Alvarez (HOU) (99) vs RHP Davis Martin: big-time bat at .052 into an arm keeping the ball in the park against the same side (.000).
- Kyle Schwarber (PHI) (99) vs RHP Taylor Clarke: elite bat at .070 into an arm getting taken deep by the same side (.059), due to bounce back.
- Juan Soto (NYM) (99) vs RHP Griffin Jax: big-time bat at .063 into an arm with little track record against the same side, due to bounce back.
- Pete Crow-Armstrong (CHC) (94) vs RHP Jacob Misiorowski: big-time bat at .060 into an arm keeping the ball in the park against the same side (.000).
Platoon edges to target
- Rafael Devers (SF) — lefty bat vs RHP, .065 against righties this year.
- Munetaka Murakami (CWS) — lefty bat vs RHP, .075 against righties this year.
- Yordan Alvarez (HOU) — lefty bat vs RHP, .064 against righties this year.
- Kyle Schwarber (PHI) — lefty bat vs RHP, .074 against righties this year.
- Juan Soto (NYM) — lefty bat vs RHP, .073 against righties this year.
How it played out
2 of the top 10 home runs matchups landed at least one home run. Top play Rafael Devers finished with 1 home run. We post the result next to every projection so you can grade the board yourself — and so the model gets re-tuned against what actually happened.
How to read these home runs matchups
Each score (0–100) starts with the hitter's home runs per plate appearance against the hand he's facing — weighted toward the last two weeks, then the season, then a two-year baseline. Then it layers in the bullpen, his spot in the order, and park and weather. Higher means more of it points his way. It's context, not a lock — a great spot still goes 0-for-4 sometimes, and a tough one runs into one. The edge is in stacking the odds, and since we grade every board, you can see how often the top of the list delivers.
What the home runs board is
The Home Runs board projects the chance a hitter goes deep, park and matchup baked in. One statistical model scores every matchup on the slate the same way — a star and a backup judged on the matchup in front of them, not their name — and every number is graded against the real box score once the games go final.
How the model gets its number
It isn't a gut call or a name game. The projection is built from a few things:
- The hitter's power vs the pitcher's hand.
- The park's home-run environment and the wind.
- How hard and how often he hits it in the air.
Those pieces combine into one number, and the model re-tunes itself weekly against how its past calls actually landed.
Is there a betting edge here?
Home runs is one of the most efficiently priced props in the sport — every config we've backtested loses to the line, and our disagreements point away from the book's mistakes, not toward them. So HR is a transparency board: our projection, graded, no play attached. The honest read is the book is simply sharper here.
How to use it
Read it for who's in a live spot to run into one — but don't bet our number against the line; there's no edge to press.
Everything here is a research signal from the model, graded in public — not betting advice, and no outcome is guaranteed.
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