San Diego Padres vs Los Angeles Dodgers Pick & Preview – 9/26/2024

The San Diego Padres will visit the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday night at Dodger Stadium in an important NL West matchup for both sides. The Dodgers have yet to lock up the NL West title and can do that with a win, while the Padres may have to resign themselves to winning a Wild Card spot. Going into this Padres vs Dodgers matchup, Los Angeles is a slight favorite to come away with a win to seal their division title up at home.

Padres Look to Recover From Missed Opportunity

San Diego had a golden opportunity in front of them on Wednesday night against the LA Dodgers. The Padres could have won on Wednesday and moved to within one game of the Dodgers for the NL West lead. Instead, they fell 4-3, failing to score in the final few innings of action and allowing the Dodgers to increase their lead in this division to three games with just four games left to go.

Joe Musgrove will get the start for the visitors in this Padres vs Dodgers matchup, as he looks to delay the Dodgers’ division title celebration for another day. Musgrove is 6-5 for the season with a 3.95 ERA and has thrown 12 straight shutout innings in his last two starts. But he was roughed up by the Dodgers in his lone appearance against them this season, giving up five runs in 2.2 innings of work, which could be a problem going into tonight’s game against them.

Dodgers Closing In On NL West Title

The Los Angeles Dodgers got a huge win last night, beating the San Diego Padres and moving to within a combination of two wins or Padres losses of clinching the NL West championship. Of course, the Dodgers could get that win tonight and Padres loss to clinch the division against the Padres themselves. But Los Angeles finishes their regular season with three games against the Colorado Rockies, so it would take a miracle for them to fail to win the division at this point in the season.

Walker Buehler gets the start on the mound for the Dodgers in tonight’s clash between these NL West rivals. Buehler has struggled this season, posting a record of 1-6 and an ERA of 5.63. He has allowed four or more earned runs in two of his last three starts going into this game and will need to pitch better both for this crucial contest and for the postseason if the Dodgers want to win a championship.

Padres vs Dodgers Best Bet

The Dodgers are incredibly likely to win the NL West at this point in time. But we will bank on their coronation at the top of their division to be delayed by at least a day. Expect the struggles of Walker Buehler to continue and for the Padres to take advantage, winning this Padres vs Dodgers series finale and going into the final weekend of the regular season down two games to Los Angeles in the standings.