Article courtesy OddsShark (@OddsShark)
While the Los Angeles Dodgers (78-47) are in excellent position to clinch at least a Wild Card berth in this year’s National League playoffs, the rival San Diego Padres (68-58) still have work to do as they are one game out of a postseason spot heading into a big three-game series between the NL West teams starting on Tuesday night at Petco Park.
The Dodgers opened as small -125 road favorites for the first game of the series on the MLB odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com while the Padres will try to beat them for the eighth time in nine meetings overall and fifth straight time at home (how sports betting works).
Dodgers vs. Padres | OddsShark Matchup Report
However, San Diego has dropped five of its last six games and nine of 11 to fall behind the Cincinnati Reds for the second and final Wild Card berth in the NL. The Padres fired pitching coach Larry Rothschild on Monday in an effort to get the staff back on track and make a late run down the final stretch of the season.
That makes this series very important to their playoff hopes, and hosting Los Angeles in this spot should be all the motivation they need to light a fire under them.
The first pitching matchup is still officially to be determined, although Julio Urias (13-3, 3.29 ERA) is expected to toe the rubber for the Dodgers. On Wednesday, Walker Buehler (13-2, 2.11 ERA) will go for the visitors against Blake Snell (6-5, 4.82 ERA), before Max Scherzer (11-4, 2.65 ERA) gets the call versus another TBD Padres starter in Thursday night’s finale.
It is worth noting that Scherzer has gone winless in two starts against San Diego this year, surrendering 11 runs and nine hits in 10.2 innings (9.28 ERA) as a member of the Washington Nationals. But the Nats did manage to split those games in a pair of OVER affairs at sports betting sites.
Bettors could see even more high-scoring games in this series considering recent history between the two teams. The OVER is 5-1 in the past six meetings, following a 3-0 UNDER run. Four of those six saw eight runs or more scored.
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