Heated rivals collide once again on Thursday night, as the Los Angeles Dodgers kick off a four-game series with the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium.
The reigning champions (56–31, 1st NL West) have taken four of six games from the Padres (43–42, 2nd NL West) in San Diego this season, now facing their division foe in their backyard. And before he takes the mound in Friday’s contest, two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani will be looking to set the tone for the series with his MVP swing.
First pitch is at 10:10 p.m. ET. The Dodgers enter as 1.5-run home favorites with -198 moneyline odds on DraftKings Sportsbook. The Padres are +162 underdogs, with the game total set at O/U nine runs.
Let’s dive into the top Shohei Ohtani prop bet for Thursday’s series opener.
Best Shohei Ohtani Prop Bet for Padres vs. Dodgers
Best Bet: Shohei Ohtani 3+ Total Bases (+132)
Shohei Ohtani entered the night of May 12 — a home game against the Giants — mired in an 11-game home run drought, tied for his longest since joining the Dodgers. In the bottom of the third inning, with Ice Cube calling the action in the broadcast booth, he parked Adrian Houser’s 2–1 sinker in the left-center-field seats — and he hasn’t looked back since.
After showing early signs of a two-time championship hangover, Ohtani, 31, has issued a swift reminder of why he’s a four-time MVP. Since that night against the Giants, the Japanese phenom ranks third in batting average (.346) and leads MLB in wOBA (.461), OPS (1.101), and wRC+ (197). That last figure is especially fitting: the two-way superstar has been nearly twice as productive as the league-average hitter.
Ohtani heads into Thursday’s series opener with a colossal .939 OPS and 18 home runs in 2026, drawing a favorable matchup with San Diego’s Randy Vasquez. The right-hander has been hammered this season to the tune of a 4.44 ERA and diabolical 7.04 xERA — the second-highest among MLB starters (min. 50 IP).
While Ohtani has gone just 2-for-10 in past meetings with Vasquez, he’s certainly made those hits count. On May 20, he took Vasquez deep on the first pitch of the game. As a bonus, Ohtani went on to shove five scoreless innings in a 4–0 win.
