On Saturday evening, the Los Angeles Dodgers once again square off against the New York Mets in a battle between star-studded lineups. While New York took the first game of this series 7-1 last night, L.A. certainly looks to bounce back behind plenty of pop in their bats.
Here’s a Mets vs. Dodgers prediction and pick for the second game of this series ahead of the 7:15 p.m. EST first pitch.
Mets vs. Dodgers prediction, preview
The Mets sit 30-21 on the season, good for second place in the NL East behind only the Philadelphia Phillies. It’s still early in the year, but the Mets’ campaign has actually felt slightly disappointing relative to the expectations of a wild offseason which brought superstar slugger Juan Soto to the Big Apple.
The offense sits 16th in batting average, ninth in OPS, and 13th in runs scored, and 11th in home runs thus far. The numbers are respectable, but not quite up to par with the powerhouse title contenders which fans expected to arrive with the Soto acquisition. The 26-year-old hasn’t come around yet with the worst slash line of his eight-year career and an OBP below .400 for the first time ever. Thankfully for the team, Francisco Lindor paces the team in hits with a .277 AVG and 10 home runs, while Pete Alsonso is showing he’s not just a power bat with a team-high .287 AVG and nine more homers, as well as a .918 OPS.
The Dodgers head coast-to-coast with a 32-19 record, placing them first in a competitive NL West. They boast the MLB’s best batting average and OBP, and OPS, plus the second-most total runs and home runs of any lineup.
Of course, multi-time MVP Shohei Ohtani leads the way in hits with a .302 average and a league-best 17 home runs. Freddie Freeman actually paces the roster in batting average at a staggering .361 mark, followed by Will Smith’s .336 and Teoscar Hernandez’s .310. It’s easy to see why the Dodgers are so good, and that’s with Mookie Betts putting up a poor season by his own standards with a .259 average and .771 OPS. In short, Los Angeles remains lethal.
Mets vs. Dodgers pick, best bet
The Mets are listed at -120 Moneyline favorites on DraftKings Sportsbook, while the visiting Dodgers come in at +100 odds to win outright. The run total sits at 8.5 between these two teams.
Tony Gonsolin steps up to the bump for the Dodgers today with just 20.0 innings of work this season. In that four-start sample, he’s struck out 24 batters to the tune of a 4.05 ERA and 1.30 WHIP, the latter of which remains a good deal greater than his career mark of 1.06. He duels against David Peterson, who takes the mound for the Metropolitans with a nice 2.86 ERA, plus a 1.33 WHIP and 47 punchouts across 50.1 innings this season. The basic numbers look pretty similar between these two, but it should be noted Gonsolin is a righty while Peterson is a southpaw hurler.
Selecting my top pick for today was easy. The Dodgers probably shouldn’t be underdogs in this contest, at least in my opinion, so I love taking them to win outright at +100 odds on the Moneyline here. Their bats are swinging better than the Mets and I think they come out and get back in the win column after last night’s loss.
