The World Series kicked off on Friday night with the Dodgers winning by a score of 6-3. Freddie Freeman was the hero for Los Angeles as he smashed a walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the 10th to send Dodger Stadium into a frenzy.
The Yankees will get a chance to bounce back quickly since Game 2 is on Saturday night, and the probable pitchers are Carlos Rodon for the Yankees and Yoshinobu Yamamoto for the Dodgers. Can the two aces calm the opposing lineups? Let’s preview Game 2 of the World Series and see our expert’s best bets.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto might have been nervous in his first postseason start because he didn’t look like himself. His fastball was flat, his offspeed pitches were staying in the zone, and his control wasn’t great. That caused him to have a short outing against the Padres, but he’s bounced back nicely.
Since that poor outing, Yamamoto has allowed just 2 runs, 6 hits, 2 walks, and 10 strikeouts in 9.1 innings. The Japanese sensation looked back in control in his most recent outing against the Mets as he recorded 8 strikeouts in just 4.1 innings. His next test might be the hardest though: limiting Aaron Judge and the Yankeees.
Fortunately for Yamamoto, that’s something he’s already done this season. The Dodgers and Yankees faced off back in June and Yamamoto’s turn in the rotation came during that series. Yamamoto tossed 7 scoreless innings and surrendered just 2 hits with 7 strikeouts under the bright lights of Yankee Stadium.
Between Judge, Gleyber Torres, Anthony Rizzo, Giancarlo Stanton, Alex Verdugo, and Anthony Volpe, they are a combined 1-for-16 against Yamamoto in their careers.
Carlos Rodon has put together a decent postseason so far with a 4.40 ERA and 1.12 WHIP in three starts. Similar to Yamamoto, his first start was the worst as he got rocked by the Royals for 4 runs, 7 hits, and 1 home run in just 3.2 innings. He settled in after that and made 2 solid starts against the Guardians in the ALCS, but going from the Cleveland to Los Angeles lineup is like night and day.
The Guardians offense was decent against left-handed pitching in the second half of the season with a .243 average, .731 OPS, and 108 wRC+. As for the Dodgers, they posted a .269 average with an .803 OPS and a 122 wRC+ against southpaws in that same span.
All of those marks were top 5 in their respective category, so Rodon likely won’t be getting as many swings and misses. Plus, the Dodgers faced a left-handed starting pitcher in Games 4, 5, and 6 of the NLCS against the Mets and the L.A. lineup totaled 17 hits, 12 runs, and 10 walks in only 9 innings.
Take the Dodgers to continue to smash lefty pitching and earn the win in Game 2.
A Dodgers win correlates well with a higher scoring game. I see this game starting with the Dodgers lineup getting to Rodon in the first few innings as right-handed hitters like Mookie Betts, Teoscar Hernandez, Kiké Hernández, and Tommy Edman make their mark.
The Dodgers do have a decent amount of lefty hitters in the lineup which isn’t too ideal when facing a lefty, but Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, and Max Muncy all found success against southpaws in the NLCS.
I would be surprised if Rodon can finish five innings since the Dodgers have mashed left-handed pitching in October and Aaron Boone won’t keep Rodon in the game if L.A. starts a big rally. After Rodon will be a strong Yankees bullpen, but the Dodgers have proven they can hit some of the best relievers in the game. Los Angeles tagged the Mets bullpen for 26 runs, 32 hits, 7 home runs, and 20 walks in 32 innings in the NLCS. In short, the scoring chances won’t end when Rodon is out of the game.
Yamamoto has proven success against the Yankees which is a reason why I’m backing the Dodgers to win the game, but I’m not expecting another shutout. The trio of Juan Soto, Aaron Judge, and Giancarlo Stanton has been elite in the postseason and terrorized the best bullpen in the league in the ALCS.
Fortunately for the Yankees, the Dodgers don’t have the strongest bullpen. The L.A. relievers allowed a .272 batting average with a 1.53 WHIP in the NLCS. There are a lot of decent arms, but only a few great ones in the Dodgers arm barn. I think we could see an offensive explosion between these two stellar lineups.
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New York Yankees | +120 ML |
Los Angeles Dodgers | -140 ML |
Run Line | LA Dodgers -1.5 |
Total | O/U 8.5 |
Aaron Judge (NY Yankees) | +210 |
Shohei Ohtani (LA Dodgers) | +320 |
Giancarlo Stanton (NY Yankees) | +265 |
Max Muncy (LA Dodgers) | +400 |
Juan Soto (NY Yankees) | +350 |
Mookie Betts (LA Dodgers) | +425 |
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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.