We have a rubber match in Los Angeles for Sunday Night Baseball. While the Dodgers have what seems an insurmountable lead in the National League West, these two teams could meet in the playoffs as the Padres currently hold a Wild Card Spot.
Just because San Diego won’t claim the West doesn’t mean they won’t be out to win this series on the road and show that they won’t roll over if these two meet in October.
Dodgers Could Be Trouble In October
The Dodgers have established themselves as the clear favorites to win the World Series as they come in with one of the best rosters on both sides of the ball.
The offense comes into tonight in the top 5 this season in OBP (.336), SLG (.446), OPS (.782), and wRC+ (120). This lineup brings a balance of plate discipline as they have the lowest chase percentage in the league (25.3) and the power with the three-best exit velocity (89.6).
The pitching staff has been just as dominant, and this rotation has starters you can confidently put on the mound in any important game. They currently lead the league in ERA (2.87) and WHIP (1.06) and have a couple of starters you could put in the Cy Young conversation.
They’ll start the rookie Ryan Pepiot who has moved up and down the farm system for spot starts throughout the season. The Dodger’s No.6 prospect likes to keep the hitters off-balance by mixing in an 89 MPH changeup that he keeps down and out of the zone to go with his 94 MPH fastball. So far, he’s been successful as hitters have an expected batting average of .198 with a 26.3% strikeout rate.
wanna see one of the best change-ups in the Minors? meet Ryan Pepiot: pic.twitter.com/imMSsQOiNv
— Céspedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) March 5, 2021
New Padres Have Struggled
The Padres sit in second place, but they and the Dodgers have the biggest separation between any first and second-place team in the league.
San Diego was one of the more active teams during the trade deadline. They won the Juan Soto sweepstakes, but they haven’t gotten the result they were hoping for, as he’s hitting just .250 with three home runs and six RBI in 24 games. All of the Padres acquisitions during the deadline have not performed well, including Josh Bell, who is hitting .175 since joining the team, Brandon Drury is batting .220, and Josh Hader has a 19.06 ERA.
They’ll have Mike Clevinger on the mound, and his second season With San Diego has not gone the way he hoped. Inconsistency has been his problem, especially in the last month, going 3-2 with a 3.94 ERA in August, and he has yet to win back-to-back games this season. His previous start against the Dodgers earlier in August was one of his roughest going 4.2 innings, allowing a season-high five earned.
Padres vs. Dodgers Predictions
The Los Angeles bats were quiet when they hit a recent three-game skid, but they came alive and put up 12 spot yesterday.
This season Clevinger has not been as good as in previous years as he returned from missing 2021 with Tommy John surgery and has been unable to put up quality starts.
I’ll trust the Dodger bats to give the rookie Pepiot enough leg room to win this game and with a plus-money runline, go with it.
Pick: Dodgers -1.5 runline | +112 at FanDuel Sportsbook
