Article courtesy OddsShark (@OddsShark)
The Los Angeles Dodgers (11-2) finished their first homestand of the season at 6-0 and now they head back to the road, where they have suffered their only two losses of the year. The National League West-leading Dodgers will visit the San Diego Padres (9-5) for a three-game set, opening as -152 road favorites at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com against their division rivals for Friday night’s contest.
Some sports betting sites have seen early action come in on the home underdogs, as the Padres ended a two-game skid with an 8-3 rout of the Pittsburgh Pirates as -150 road favorites on Thursday to earn a four-game split. Including a series-opening victory at Pittsburgh, San Diego has won five of their last six.
Dodgers vs. Padres | OddsShark Matchup Report
Of course, these two teams battled for the NL West title a year ago, with Los Angeles eventually parlaying a six-game lead there into the top seed in the league and the team’s first World Series championship since 1988. The Dodgers swept the Padres in their three-game divisional series matchup, and they won nine of the 13 meetings overall a year ago, including the playoffs.
San Diego re-built its starting rotation in the offseason in an effort to dethrone Los Angeles with the additions of Yu Darvish and Blake Snell, and the duo has earned only one victory combined so far in 2021. It is early though, and one surprise has been 28-year-old righty Joe Musgrove, who tossed the franchise’s first career no-hitter in his last start at the Pirates on Wednesday.
However, Musgrove (2-1, 0.47 ERA) is not expected to not pitch again for the Padres until Monday against the Milwaukee Brewers. So it will be Ryan Weathers (1-0, 1.50 ERA) going in the opener, with Darvish (1-0, 3.06 ERA) and Snell (0-0, 4.35 ERA) in line behind him for Saturday and Sunday, respectively. The team is also hoping to have shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. (shoulder) in the lineup for the first time this season on Friday.
Opposing that trio for the Dodgers will be Walker Buehler (1-0, 1.50 ERA), Clayton Kershaw (2-1, 2.89 ERA) and Trevor Bauer (2-0, 2.70 ERA), in that order. Despite the second and third games of this series being more evenly matched in terms of the starting pitchers, bettors should expect Los Angeles to be comparable favorites.
It is worth noting that Snell did pitch well versus the Dodgers in the World Series last year as a member of the Tampa Bay Rays, giving up a total of three runs and four hits in 10 innings over two starts with four walks and 18 strikeouts.
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