In the late window of today’s MLB slate, a cross-town rivalry matchup will be taking place between the Los Angeles Angels and the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers opened up the series with a 1-0 win last night in which a solo home run from Freddie Freeman was the only scoring. Jack Kochanowicz and Yoshinobu Yamamoto are the scheduled starters for tonight’s matchup.
The Dodgers enter tonight’s matchup with -166 odds on the 1.5-run line and -377 odds of winning outright on DraftKings Sportsbook. The Angels sit as +292 underdogs, with the total set at O/U 8.5 runs.
Angels vs. Dodgers prediction, preview
The Los Angeles Angels showed a spark to start the season, but have slipped to 24-40 on the year. Los Angeles is tied with the Colorado Rockies for the worst record in baseball. The Halos enter today’s matchup having lost four of their past five. On the season, the Angels have gone 31-33 to the run line, and the game total is 31-33 to the over/under.
Jack Kochanowicz will get the start for the Angels tonight. The 25-year-old enters with a 2-4 record, a 5.23 ERA, and 1.476 WHIP on the season. He has tallied 46 strikeouts while allowing 59 hits and six home runs in 63.2 innings pitched this season. Kochanowicz has faced the Dodgers once already this year and went six innings while allowing seven hits, three home runs, and six earned runs.
Looking at the offensive production, the Angels rank 15th in runs, 24th in hits, 11th in home runs, and lead the MLB in strikeouts. Jo Adell leads the team with 58 hits on the season, along with nine home runs and 35 RBIs. Mike Trout has tallied a team-best 14 home runs and 31 RBIs while leading all of baseball with 60 walks. Zach Neto, Oswald Peraza, Jorge Soler, Vaughn Grissom, and Logan O’Hoppe also have had some encouraging flashes and play key roles on the team.
Looking to defend their back-to-back World Series titles, the Los Angeles Dodgers are off to a 41-23 start to the season, which trails only the Braves for the best record in baseball. They enter this matchup having won 10 of their last 13 games played. The Dodgers have gone 33-31 to the run line, and the run total has remained under in 38 of their 64 games played.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto will get the start for the Dodgers today. The reigning World Series MVP has made 11 starts this season, and enters with a 5-4 record, a 2.86 ERA, an 0.995 WHIP, 69 strikeouts, and 54 hits allowed across his first 69.1 innings pitched. This is his first start of the season against the Angels, and he has only faced the expected lineup in 13 at-bats in his career to this point. Zach Neto has a home run in two at-bats against him.
The Dodgers rank third in the MLB in runs, fourth in hits, fourth in home runs, and 26th in strikeouts this year. Andy Pages leads the team with 69 hits, along with 13 home runs and an MLB-best 51 RBIs. Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, and Max Muncy have each also tallied 10+ home runs on the season. Will Smith, Mookie Betts, and Kyle Tucker also play notable roles in the lineup with significant production.
Angels vs. Dodgers pick, best bet
The Dodgers squeezed by with a 1-0 win in last night’s game, in which each pitching staff had plenty of success. But this is a matchup between a pair of Los Angeles teams with very different outlooks on the year, so expect this to be put on full display tonight.
The Dodgers have only been held to one or fewer runs in seven other games this season. In the previous series between these two teams, the Dodgers swept the three matchups by a combined 31-3 score. This includes winning the matchup in which Jack Kochanowicz got the start by a 6-0 margin. Kochanowicz has his flashes, but he has only escaped a start without allowing a run once this season. He enters this matchup having allowed three or more earned runs in five straight starts. Expect the Dodgers to find more offensive success tonight and put runs on the board at a high rate.
On the other side of the pitching matchup, Yoshinobu Yamamoto had some early struggles but has settled back into being the elite pitcher he has proven to be. He is coming off his first start of the season in which he escaped without allowing a run while striking out 10, and has limited opponents to one or fewer earned runs in three straight. The Angels have some offensive production to be concerned by, but this is a lineup that he should have no trouble building off the recent success and continue improving his overall numbers.
The Dodgers are heavy favorites for a reason, and expect this game to show the sizable gap between these two Los Angeles teams. Count on the Dodgers to have success getting to Kochanowicz early and pave the way for a comfortable victory similar to what was seen in the previous series between these two sides. Before last night’s one-run outing, the Dodgers had put up 10+ runs in back-to-back games against the Angels. Expect tonight to get ugly and for the back-to-back World Series champions to put forth a statement win.
Best bet: Los Angeles Dodgers -2.5 (-113)
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