The San Diego Padres take on the Los Angeles Dodgers. Check out our MLB odds series for our Padres Dodgers prediction and pick.

Yu Darvish gets the assignment for the Padres, while Tyler Anderson takes the ball for the Dodgers.

Yu Darvish has a 3.30 ERA. He has been very strong for the Padres this season, especially over the last two months. Since June 2, Darvish has allowed more than three earned runs in only one of 10 starts. He has allowed no more than one run in five of his last 10 starts. Usually solid, sometimes great, Darvish is giving the Padres the consistency they need from one of their frontline starters. If you take away a disastrous outing against the Giants back on April 12, when he allowed nine earned runs in 1 2/3 innings, Darvish's ERA for the year would be under three runs. He has been steady and reliable for San Diego. Given the boost to the team's batting order, due to the acquisitions of Juan Soto, Josh Bell, and Brandon Drury, Darvish's current standard of performance should be more than enough to win games in the next few months.

Tyler Anderson has been one of the pleasant surprises of the Dodger rotation this year, as everyone knows by now. Anderson's 2.89 ERA is a tremendous achievement for a man who was supposed to be a back-end rotation starter. In truth, he has pitched more like a frontline starter in 2022. He ran into a pothole last week in San Francisco, enduring a five-run fourth inning against the Giants, but other than that one inning, he has been superb since the start of July. He posted a 1.11 ERA for July, regularly smothering opponents. The Dodgers have total trust in Anderson when he takes the bump.

Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the Padres-Dodgers MLB odds.

MLB Odds: Padres-Dodgers Odds

San Diego Padres: +1.5 (-164)

Los Angeles Dodgers: -1.5 (+136)

Over: 9 (-105)

Under: 9 (-115)

Why The Padres Could Cover the Spread

The Padres have to bust out at some point, right? They can't continue to get dominated by the Dodgers, right? Juan Soto, Josh Bell, and Brandon Drury aren't going to leave Dodger Stadium without at least one big game this weekend, right? Surely the Padres — 2-7 against the Dodgers so far this season — are going to begin to turn things around in the head-to-head matchup between these teams.

Right?

Why The Dodgers Could Cover the Spread

It's not what most people expected, but the Dodgers have convincingly beaten the Padres twice. What seemed like a season-changing trade between the Padres and the Washington Nationals has not translated into results for San Diego in this series, against the team the Padres know they will have to beat at some point if they want to make the World Series. The Dodgers have lost only five games since July 1. They are unconscious right now, and they clearly aren't worried about the Padres' new superstar, Juan Soto. Tyler Anderson has been a machine. He can beat Yu Darvish. Why would anyone bet against the Dodgers right now?

Final Padres-Dodgers Prediction & Pick

The Dodgers are the better team, but the Padres are loaded and will be hard for Los Angeles to sweep. The Dodgers are bound to lose sometime, but they own the Padres. This feels like a stay-away situation. If you insist on a pick, lean Padres.

Final Padres-Dodgers Prediction & Pick: Padres +1.5