Tuesday’s 15-game MLB slate gives home run bettors plenty to chew on, and a few bats stand out as especially live long-shot targets.
Junior Caminero is the first name that jumps off the page. The Tampa Bay Rays third baseman has piled up 40 home runs in 2026 and is part of a club that sits atop the AL and has already locked up a playoff berth.
He’ll get a look at Athletics right-hander Jack Perkins, and the matchup is hard to ignore. Perkins is carrying a 6.53 ERA and has given up 20 homers in 34 appearances, including 14 starts, this season.
Caminero has handled Perkins well in a tiny sample, going 2-for-3 with a 1.333 OPS against him in his career. He’s also swinging it well overall, batting .306 with five home runs over his last 25 games.
Against right-handed pitching in 2026, he’s up to 32 homers with an .879 OPS. Add in the fact that the Athletics bullpen owns a 5.42 ERA and has surrendered 86 home runs this season, and the price north of 3/1 looks appealing.
Another spot worth targeting is Padres slugger Ty France, who has been locked in lately. Over his last 21 games, he’s hitting .324 with three home runs, and over the last week he’s gone 5-for-9 in three games.
For the season, France has 20 homers, a .298 average and an .879 OPS. He’s especially dangerous against lefties, with five home runs in 115 at-bats and a .296 average versus southpaws.
That sets him up nicely Tuesday night at Coors Field against Rockies left-hander Kyle Freeland. Freeland is returning from a short injured list stint and comes in with a 6.37 ERA and 24 home runs allowed in as many starts.
France has also produced against him before, going 4-for-11 with a .955 OPS in their head-to-head matchup. At nearly 5/1, he looks like a solid value play.
Kyle Tucker is the other bat to keep an eye on after going deep Monday in Cincinnati. The Dodgers outfielder is heating up, batting .368 with three homers over his last six games, five of them starts. Tuesday brings another matchup with Reds right-hander Rhett Lowder, and the setting is favorable.
Great American Ball Park has played as one of the best home run environments in the league over the last three years, according to Statcast, with the fourth-most home runs above average among MLB parks. Lowder was hit hard by these teams earlier in the month, when he allowed seven runs in 3.1 innings, and he’s sitting on a 5.81 ERA with 17 homers allowed this season. Tucker has also seen him well, going 2-for-2 against him in 2026.
The road splits only add to the case. Tucker is hitting just .187 at Dodger Stadium this season, but away from home he’s batting .266 with an .827 OPS and 11 homers. With the Dodgers chasing the top spot in the National League, he looks like another strong candidate to stay hot.
In Other News...
Dodgers Just Made A Bullpen Move That Could Sting Fans Too
The Dodgers got another piece back in the bullpen mix by activating left-hander Kris Bubic off the 60-day injured list and adding him to both the 28- and 40-man rosters. Bubic, who came over from the Royals at the trade deadline, is expected to give Los Angeles a left-handed relief option as it continues sorting through the back end of its staff.
To clear space, right-hander Paul Gervase was optioned to Triple-A Oklahoma City and outfielder Ryan Ward was designated for assignment. The roster shuffle fits the kind of August management the Dodgers have leaned on all year, but the move also comes with the usual cost of squeezing out a depth piece to make room for a pitcher the club clearly wants available now. [Read more 🡒]
Shohei Ohtani Return Buzz Just Got Very Real For Dodgers Fans
The Dodgers kept rolling against the Reds by winning the first two games of the four-game set, and they did it with the kind of balance that can travel deep into October. Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tarik Skubal each turned in strong pitching performances, while Teoscar Hernndez supplied the thunder with a pair of two-run homers that helped keep Los Angeles in control.
Amid the current momentum, the bigger buzz for Dodgers fans is Shohei Ohtani, who is still working back from injuries but has recently taken batting practice. The team remains optimistic he could return before the end of the regular season, which would add another layer to a lineup already getting key production at the right time, even as everyone waits to see just how soon that final piece can fall into place. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers Suddenly Have A Real Josue De Paula Dilemma
Josue De Paula keeps giving the Dodgers another reason to think hard about the future. The top prospect homered against the Miami Marlins, a reminder that the 19-year-old has the kind of power and plate discipline that has drawn comparisons inside the organization to past Dodgers rookie-of-the-year types, including Mike Piazza. For a club that always seems to be balancing present contention with the next wave, De Paulas rise is becoming harder to ignore.
The timing, though, is what makes this interesting. Los Angeles also has to figure out where he fits once Shohei Ohtani comes off the injured list, and that sort of roster puzzle tends to say as much about a prospect as any scouting report does. De Paula is forcing the issue now, and the Dodgers may soon have to decide whether his bat is ready for a bigger stage or whether his path has to wait behind an even larger return. [Read more 🡒]