The Los Angeles Dodgers take on the San Francisco Giants. Check out our MLB odds series for our Dodgers Giants prediction and pick.
Julio Urias goes to the mound for the Dodgers, while the Giants have not yet announced a starter as of 12:30 p.m. Eastern time, 9:30 a.m. Pacific, on Saturday.
Julio Urias will almost certainly start for the Dodgers in Game 1 of the National League Division Series. With Tony Gonsolin hurt and Clayton Kershaw needing to manage his body as he gets older, Urias is the obvious choice for Dave Roberts. Urias has established machine-like consistency as a pitcher, going six or seven innings and allowing one run in a large number of his starts this year. It's very rare that he gives up more than two runs in a start, especially since the All-Star break. Urias has one of the lowest ERAs among all National League starters. He is likely to finish in the top three of the voting for the National League Cy Young Award. Given the additional injuries to the Dodger pitching staff this year — Walker Buehler in the starting rotation, Blake Treinen in the bullpen, among others — it has been so vital that Urias can go to the mound every five days, eat up six or seven innings, and put the Dodgers in a great position to win. He got the last out of the 2020 World Series and has grown in confidence ever since.
Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the Dodgers-Giants MLB odds.
MLB Odds: Dodgers-Giants Odds
Los Angeles Dodgers: -1.5 (-196)
San Francisco Giants: +1.5 (+162)
Over: 8 (-102)
Under: 8 (-120)
Why The Dodgers Could Cover the Spread
They are a great regular-season team. They simply do whatever it takes, mostly on the pitching side. The Dodgers seem to roll out any random combination of pitchers and get a dominant performance from them. They sent Dustin May to the hill on Friday, got five scoreless innings from him, and then got four scoreless innings from their bullpen. It doesn't seem to matter right now who the Dodgers send to the hill. That pitcher produces. The hitting comes and goes for the Dodgers, but the bullpen — except for Craig Kimbrel — has been outstanding this year. The depth in that bullpen is easy to overlook, but it's there, and it has been the true anchor of this team in 2022. In this game, Julio Urias should be able to close the door on a Giant team which has struggled at the plate and is limping to the end of a very disappointing regular season. This group looks nothing like the team which won 107 games and beat the Dodgers in an epic division race in 2021.
Why The Giants Could Cover the Spread
If you have noticed the Dodgers' past week of games, you will see a lot of wins, but you will also see a lot of games which are scoreless or very low-scoring through four or five innings. The Dodgers then break through in the fifth, sixth or seventh inning and pull away late. The Giants don't have to score six runs to win this game. What they need to do is get a few early runs, establish a lead, and make Dodger hitters press as the game goes along. San Francisco beat Urias in this precise fashion early in the season. That's the template they need to follow here.
Final Dodgers-Giants Prediction & Pick
Julio Urias against the Giants' bullpen? It's not a hard call to make.
Final Dodgers-Giants Prediction & Pick: Dodgers -1.5
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