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Opening Day is nearly here and the season gets kicked off with an exciting nighttime matchup between two NL West rivals with the Arizona Diamondbacks hosting the San Diego Padres.
Betting on the first game of any season is always a touch risky. New players coming in and old players leaving a team could have a much bigger impact than Vegas thinks, which is why Thursday night’s matchup could be intriguing, especially with two aces in Madison Bumgarner and Yu Darvish on the rubber.
All odds come courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook.
Padres vs. Diamondbacks, 9:40 p.m. ET
Point spread: Padres -1.5
Total: 9
Moneyline odds: Padres -160, Diamondbacks +140
Look, there are no two ways about it, the Diamondbacks were a really bad team a season ago in a really good division. Arizona finished nearly 30 games behind the Padres, who finished the season in third place. The Diamondbacks were over 50 games out of the division lead, winning just 52 games all season. There haven’t been a ton of major changes in the desert this offseason either, so it’s reasonable to expect they have a similar year. The Padres underwhelmed a season ago, but still won 11 games against Arizona, more than they had against any other team in the league.
ML pick: Padres -160
Player prop: Wil Myers Over 0.5 hits
The Padres open up the season-facing veteran left-hander Madison Bumgarner. He may be the one National League pitcher sad about not getting to hit in NL games this season as on Opening Day in 2017 Bumgarner launched two home runs during his start. He will be solely focused on pitching in this one.
Looking at the Padres lineup, the right-handed hitters will have the matchup advantage. Wil Myers is batting .232 against Bumgarner but has looked solid this spring. With that momentum in a familiar matchup, Myers should be able to hit the over and come away with at least one hit today. Myers has faced Bumgarner more than any other pitcher in his career.
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