Having clinched their third postseason berth in the past five seasons, the San Diego Padres now travel to Phoenix to take on the Arizona Diamondbacks, last year’s National League champs.
This series has all kinds of postseason implications and San Diego’s Yu Darvish (6-3, 3.18 ERA) takes the mound against Arizona’s Merrill Kelly (5-0, 3.71 ERA) in this opening clash.
The Padres are looking to win to set up a first-round matchup against a fellow Wild Card team, while the D-Backs are looking to cement a playoff berth through the Wild Card.
The two teams have battled to a 5-5 draw through their first 10 contests this season.
However, this is the first time the National League West rivals have faced each other since the beginning of July. A lot has changed since then, mainly both teams’ win percentages.
Both starting pitchers come in with solid recent outings under their belts. San Diego’s Darvish allowed three hits and two earned runs in 6.1 innings, striking out nine and walking none in a no-decision versus the Chicago White Sox the last time out. In his previous two starts, he notched wins against both the Houston Astros and the Seattle Mariners.
Arizona’s Kelly struck out five and walked none in five scoreless innings to record the win in a 5-0 decision over the Milwaukee Brewers his last time on the hill.
The trends come into play here. San Diego has won nine out of its 12 games against the D-Backs overall, and they are 9-4 straight up on the road at Arizona in the team’s last 13 contests in Phoenix. The Padres are 48-30 against the spread on the road this season, while the D-Backs are just 35-43 ATS at home.
Look for the Padres to make an opening-game statement and take the series opener against Arizona, despite being road underdogs.
Although both starting pitchers have had solid recent outings, the two teams have played to the Over in each of their last six games.
Both have averaged more than 12 runs a game in their previous 10 outings, surpassing nine runs 8-of-10 games. Again, it’s been nearly three months since they have played each other and a lot has changed, but with Arizona desperate for a win, look for the D-Backs to be aggressive at the plate and on the basepaths, and for the Padres to respond in kind.
Look for the Padres and Diamondbacks to combine for Over 9.0 total runs.
Ketel Marte has been a big reason for the D-Backs’ success the past two seasons. The All-Star second baseman has already established career highs with 35 home runs and 93 RBIs and is currently tied for 11th in the majors with a .373 on-base percentage.
But, as Arizona has cooled off a bit, so has Marte. Over his last 17 games, he is batting .263 with just eight extra-base hits, and only three multi-hit games. Marte went hitless in seven of those 17 games as well.
Look for those numbers to continue in this series opener and for Marte to go Under 1.5 total bases.
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San Diego Padres | +110 ML |
Arizona Diamondbacks | -130 ML |
Run Line | Diamondbacks -1.5 |
Total Runs | O/U 9.0 |
Fernando Tatis Jr. (San Diego Padres) | +350 |
Manny Machado (San Diego Padres) | +425 |
Jackson Merrill (San Diego Padres) | +475 |
Joc Pederson (Arizona Diamondbacks) | +350 |
Ketel Marte (Arizona Diamondbacks) | +375 |
Christian Walker (Arizona Diamondbacks) | +375 |
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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.