The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants open a four-game series at Dodger Stadium on Monday night. The two NL West rivals played just over a week ago in San Francisco, with the Dodgers taking two of three.
Dodgers Rolling
The Los Angeles Dodgers just won three out of their last four games against the Chicago Cubs at home. Los Angeles has been hot all season, and a series win over the 38-31 Cubs should build up their confidence for their upcoming series against the Giants.
The Dodgers will be starting Kenta Maeda (7-3, 3.89 ERA). Maeda dropped his last game against the Angels on Tuesday, pitching 4 1/3 innings, giving up five runs on three hits. The loss put an end to Maeda’s four-game win streak.
The Dodgers’ offense has been led NL MVP candidate Cody Bellinger, as the 24-year-old has a season batting average of .355 and has belted 22 home runs already this season. Bellinger’s offense has allowed the Dodgers to stay on top all season long, and they should be a heavy favorite for most of the year.
Rough Run
The Giants come off a tough series against the Milwaukee Brewers (39-30) where they were able to take two out of the three games in the series. The Giants will make the small flight to LA to start their seven-game road trip.
San Francisco will start pitcher Tyler Beede (0-2). Beede will be looking for his first decision win of the season. In his last start, the rookie pitched 4 2/3 innings and gave up four runs on five hits while striking out seven batters. His night began with a leadoff home run and ended with a bases-loading walk to Manny Machado. Beede will carry an 8.06 ERA into his game against the Dodgers and will look for solid defense behind him and run support if he wants to claim a win.
In their last series against the Dodgers in San Francisco, the Dodgers took two of the three games in the series. Two games were decided by just one run, while Los Angeles was able to take the over game convincingly by a score of 7-2. While the Dodgers will be the heavy favorite, these rivalry matches always bring something a little different to the table.
What to expect
While these games can be a little tricky because of how familiar the teams are with each other, the Dodgers at home seems like the obvious take here. The Giants will be starting a rookie pitcher without a win under his belt, and he will have to face one of the best teams in baseball coming off a good series against another top team.
The Giants’ best chance is to keep the game close as they have done in head-to-head matchups earlier this year. Look for the Giants to be aggressive any time they get runners on to try to gain the edge early.
For me, I am taking the Dodgers and the over in this one. I am a big fan of the over in baseball in general with all the scores trending higher and higher. Add that to the pitching in this game, and I would expect a high-scoring LA win.
