Dodgers vs. Giants Odds
| Dodgers Odds | -155 |
| Giants Odds | +135 |
| Over/Under | 9 (+100 / -120) |
| Time | 10:15 p.m. ET |
| TV | MLB.TV |
| Odds via Caesars. Get up-to-the-minute MLB odds here. | |
Two teams trying to find their footing will meet in the Bay Area on Friday night to begin a big three-game set when the Dodgers play the Giants.
Walker Buehler will continue his perplexing season in a start opposite the surprising Jakob Junis here. Who has the edge? Let's take a look below.
Dodgers Turn to Walker Buehler
Let's start with Buehler here. In the first half of the season last year, he was absolutely unhittable. Then came the league's crackdown on foreign substances, which brought a dip in spin rate and a less-than-stellar finish to the year.
This season has seen Buehler continue his confusing form. He's registered a 3.84 ERA in 11 starts, pitching to an even-worse 4.12 xERA and a dastardly 40.6% hard-hit rate.
Most concerning of all, his strikeout rate is down from 26% a year ago to 20.2%. For a guy sporting a career mark of 26.9%, that's a drastic difference.
Offensively, it's also been a very weird one for the Dodgers over the last couple of weeks. In the last 14 days, the best lineup in baseball has produced just a 103 wRC+ with an uncharacteristically low 8.5% walk rate.
They're still top-10 in barrel and hard-hit rate over that span but just 18th in contact rate.
Can Jakob Junis Keep Rolling?
Jakob Junis has been a surprise this year for the Giants. After a career of atrocity, he's posted a 2.51 ERA in eight outings, spanning 43 innings.
The right-hander is right around his lowly career averages with a 40.5% hard-hit rate, 21.1% strikeout rate and 5.4% walk rate, so with that, it's probably no surprise his expected ERA at Statcast is 3.98.
Still, the Giants seem to have unlocked something in Junis. Perhaps playing with a stronger defense has helped out the former Kansas City Royals starter, and it's also worth noting he's brought down his walk rate slightly as well. He's allowed more than two earned runs in a start just once and should be brimming with confidence coming into this one.
The Giants haven't been much better in the contact department, getting a bat on the ball on just 75.9% of swings in the last two weeks to rank 23rd in the league. They sit 21st in wRC+ during that time, and as a result, they've have lost five of eight.
Dodgers-Giants Pick
Here we have two offenses that have struggled mightily of late going against two very confusing pitchers.
My read on the situation is that Buehler is probably as weak and vulnerable as he's seemed all year, but Junis may be a different pitcher.
The right-hander has ditched his four-seamer completely and worked on pitching to contact with the sinker, which has really worked wonders. The Dodgers have not been making the quality contact we're used to seeing, and as a team struggling to hit the ball in general, I think this could be a troubling matchup.
I see the Giants as the value here.
Pick: Giants ML +130
