An NL West showdown comes to Sunday Night Baseball when the Los Angeles Dodgers (86-50, 40-27 away) visit the San Francisco Giants (86-50, 44-23). This was the most anticipated series of the season, so far, and it has fully lived up to the hype. This game will air live on ESPN at 7:00 p.m. EST.
These two teams will be playing postseason baseball, but there is a fierce battle to see who will be in the Wild Card game and who is going to win the National League West. Right now, both teams are tied atop the standings, so with a few weeks left in the season there is everything still to play for.
Below is my pick for the National League West action between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants. All odds are from Caesars Sportsbook.
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Los Angeles Dodgers (-188) at San Francisco Giants (+158)
Pitching Matchup: Walker Buehler (13-2, 2.05 ERA, 0.91 WHIP) vs TBD
Walker Buehler, the current NL Cy Young favorite, is set to make his first start of September after a dominant August. Buehler made six starts in August and allowed 26 hits and seven earned runs in 40.1 innings pitched, good for a 1.56 ERA. The 27-year-old lower his ERA from 2.19, at the end of July, to 2.05, at the end of August.
The Giants are dealing with some COVID issues in the pitching staff and are expected to call someone up from the minors for Sunday’s game.
Series Recap:
The teams split the first two games of this series, so the series win is a stake Sunday night. San Francisco won game one, 3-2 in 11 innings, after a Trae Turner error allowed Brandon Belt to score the game winning run. Saturday night saw Los Angeles just to a 3-0 lead in the first inning and never look back. Two late runs in the ninth inning meant the Dodgers took game two 6-1.
Prediction: I like Los Angeles -188 to get the win and claim first place in the NL West.