What happened during the regular season doesn’t mean a thing in the playoffs. At least that’s what the San Diego Padres will tell themselves ahead of their NLDS with the Los Angeles Dodgers. LA had the best record in MLB winning 111 games with 14 of those victories against their NL West rival from the south in 19 encounters.
This is a chance for the Pads to redeem themselves after outscoring the New York Mets 16-8 in their Wild Card series win. They will need at least on win at Dodger Stadium, something they had trouble doing during the regular season with just two victories in 10 games.
Game 2 of the NLDS between the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers takes place on Wednesday, October 12, 2022 at 8:37 p.m. ET from Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The game will air live on FS1 with betting options for every 2022 MLB postseason game available at BookMaker.eu.
Padres vs LA Dodgers Odds
San Diego Padres (Check Back Later)
Los Angeles Dodgers (Check Back Later)
Total (Check Back Later)
Odds Analysis
The Padres should be a confident group entering this matchup after taking two of three against the 101-win Mets in the Wild Card round to advance. They battered Max Scherzer in the opener, got to Chris Bassitt in the clincher and saw Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove turn in steller performances on the bump. While they were able to advance there has to be a creepy feeling among the team due to their inability to beat the Dodgers. Dating back to last season the Padres are 5-23 in last 28 meetings and just 2-14 in the previous 16 regular season games at Dodger Stadium.
With a dialed in pitching staff the Pads are hoping to keep the games close giving them a chance in the series. San Diego was 30-17 in one-run games during the regular season while the Dodgers went 16-15. The teams played four one-run games during the season with the Padres coming out on top in three of them. However, containing LA’s potent offense was a problem with the team posting a 5.55 ERA and allowing 31 homers in the 19 meetings.
The Dodgers cruised through the final week of the season losing three straight to Colorado before closing the year with a win. Following that they had some time off to watch the Wild Card round. And it has me wondering just how ready they’re going to be. Add on the pressure to win a World Series and the Dodgers are set up for failure. All the success they’ve had over the last decade has resulted in one championship while they’ve consistently had the best team in baseball.
In order to win 68.5 percent of your games over the course of an entire season means you have to be good at everything. The Dodgers led MLB averaging 5.23 runs with a .775 OPS. They also finished among the top-5 in average and homers unleashing their full wrath on San Diego by outscoring them 109-47 during the year. Though they lost three of their final four home games, the Dodgers still finished with the best home mark in MLB winning 70.4 percent of their games inside Dodger Stadium.
Probable Pitchers
The Padres are hoping Yu Darvish (16-8, 3.10 ERA) continues his scintillating pitching. Not only did he match his career-best with 16 wins during the season, he was a major reason why the Padres earned the second wild card spot. Over his final six starts he went 5-1 with a 1.85 ERA over 39 innings to earn Pitcher of the Month honors. And he got the club rolling in the postseason shutting the Mets down on six hits while allowing one run over seven innings in Game 1. He pitched well against the Dodgers in four regular season starts going 1-2 with a 2.52 ERA and 0.92 WHIP across 25 innings.
Clayton Kershaw (12-3, 2.28 ERA) takes the bump for the Dodgers in Game 2 looking to continue his success against the Padres. He yielded only one run on eight hits over 12 innings in two starts while going 1-0. In 45 career starts against the Friars he’s 23-9 with a 2.03 ERA and 0.96 WHIP over 292 innings. I’d say that’s a large enough sample size to give him ownage. Since returning from the injured list for a second time at the start of September, Kershaw went 5-0 with a 1.54 ERA and .085 WHIP in 41 innings of his last seven starts.
Padres vs LA Dodgers Predictions
This looks like a marvelous pitching matchup with starters on the top of their game. The layoff for the Dodgers could have an impact while the Padres were dealing the Mets a blow. And the Friars escaped a pressure situation knocking off a Cy Young winner in the process. However, the Mets were reeling while the Dodgers are rolling. And their success against San Diego can’t be overlooked.
Prediction: Los Angeles Dodgers / UNDER
