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The San Francisco Giants will take on the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night. It’s time to continue our MLB odds series and make a Giants-Dodgers prediction and pick.
Another season, another crucial matchup between the Giants and the Dodgers. This age-old rivalry has produced some fantastic baseball recently, most notably in last year’s NLDS. This is the first time these teams have faced each other since Los Angeles sent the Giants on vacation, so this is sure to be a heated matchup. The stakes behind this game are also incredibly high despite it being so early in the season. The Dodgers are currently tied for first in the NL West, but San Francisco is right behind them. The Giants only trail first place by half a game, so there’s obviously a lot on the line here.
Here are the Giants-Dodgers odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
MLB odds: Giants-Dodgers Odds
San Francisco Giants ML: (+126)
Los Angeles Dodgers ML: (-148)
Over: 7 (+100)
Under: 7 (-122)
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Why the Giants Could Cover the Spread
The Giants will place one of their best pitchers on the mound in this one. Carlos Rodon has been completely dominant in his four starts this season, earning a 1.17 ERA and a 0.83 WHIP over those appearances. Opposing hitters are only batting .141 on the season against him, making him one of the hottest pitchers in the entire MLB. It helps that the Dodgers have struggled to hit left-handed pitching on the season, as they’ve only hit .223 against southpaws so far. Rodon should have a strong outing in this game.
Los Angeles will deploy starting pitcher Julio Urias. Urias has pitched incredibly well this season, but there’s reason to believe he will perform somewhat poorly here. There are six hitters in the San Francisco lineup that own a batting average above .250 against Urias, showing that the Giants are comfortable hitting against him. Most of those hitters have plenty of at-bats against Urias, so their numbers aren’t an anomaly. It’s not unlikely that the Giants have success hitting against Urias once again in this game.
Why the Dodgers Could Cover the Spread
While some of San Francisco’s hitters clearly see Urias well, there are a couple of areas in which the Los Angeles starter clearly has the advantage. The Giants have been downright terrible against left-handed pitching this season, earning a .196 batting average and a .301 OBP on the year. In his last three career starts against San Francisco, Urias has pitched very nicely. The southpaw went five innings in each start, while allowing one earned run in every single game. Those are great numbers, and they inspire confidence in Urias’ ability to pitch well here.
The Dodgers will enjoy the advantage of playing on their home field here. Los Angeles has been elite inside Dodger Stadium, as they’ve earned an 8-2 record there on the season. The Giants have had plenty of success on the road this year, but most of it has come against teams like the Cleveland Guardians and the Washington Nationals. This is the first time this season that San Francisco will have to play a legitimately good team on the road, and it should show in this contest.
Final Giants-Dodgers Prediction & Pick
Getting the Giants as underdogs is too good to pass up, especially with Rodon on the mound. The under is a decent pick, but San Francisco should cash here pretty easily.
Final Giants-Dodgers Pick: Giants ML: (+126)