Dramatically, the Los Angeles Dodgers took care of business in the first game of the World Series yesterday. Freddie Freeman was the late-game hero for LA, as he did his best Kirk Gibson impression by playing on one leg and blasting a walk-off grand slam in the 10th inning.
It was a gut-wrenching loss for the Yankees, who wasted a brilliant effort from Gerrit Cole in the defeat. Now they are tasked with a quick turnaround with Game 2 set for Saturday night.
Read along for my World Series parlay for Yankees vs Dodgers Game 2 and my MLB picks for Saturday, October 26.
World Series Parlay Game 2 SGP
- Aaron Judge Over 1.5 Total Bases (-110)
- Kiké Hernández to Record a Hit (-170)
- Yankees First Five Innings Alternate Run Line -0.5 (+158)
Parlay Odds: +622 (FanDuel)
Remember to bet responsibly — this is a long shot for a reason.
Aaron Judge, it’s time to wake up, pal. Judge went 1-5 last night with three strikeouts and has looked completely lost at the plate for most of the postseason. He’s batting below .160 for the playoffs and needs to start turning things around.
The Yankees have been fortunate to get insane production from Giancarlo Stanton, but it’s only a matter of time before he cools off. Tonight, Judge will face Yamamoto, a pitcher he’s only seen in one game. He went 1-2 against him in that matchup, so there isn't a huge sample size to base our bet on.
But Judge smashed righties in 2024 for a .326 BA and 42 HRs. He’s bound to get cooking sooner or later, and last night’s base hit late in the game was an encouraging sign that he is still seeing the ball well.
If the Yankees are going to tie up the series tonight, Judge needs to be involved offensively. I think we’ve got a good shot for that to happen tonight.
Carlos Rodon has dominated against the Dodgers lineup throughout his career, but the one guy who seems to have the upper hand against him is Hernandez. Kiké is 3-6 with 3 HRs against Rodon in his career, which I’d say is pretty astonishing.
Hernandez has been impactful at the bottom of the order for the Dodgers lineup, and I think the price for him to record a hit is far too low, given his track record against Rodon. It may even be possible for him to have multiple base knocks while Rodon is on the mound.
Hernandez only batted .226 during the regular season, but hit .236 against lefties. Six at-bats is not a large sample size, but the fact that he’s clubbed the three long balls is more than convincing enough to make me believe he sees the ball well against Rodon.
It’s wild, I know. But I think there is legitimate value in the alternate first five innings run line here.
The Yankees cannot have imagined that they’d kick off the World Series more devastatingly than last night. But, they showed in the ALCS they can overcome adversity quickly and bounce back early in the next ballgame.
Many expect the Yanks to roll over and crawl back to New York down 2-0 in the series, but I do not think that happens tonight, at least in the early portion of the game.
Rodon has outstanding numbers against the Dodgers in his career, and he’s seen most of these hitters numerous times. He pitched a season in the same division, and they are only batting .198 against him over 81 at-bats.
The Yankees will need Rodon to eat some innings tonight after deploying some of their higher-leverage arms last night. Not only do I think he can do that, but I’m also feeling a dominant outing.
The Dodgers mashed left-handers during the regular season, sporting a robust .293 batting average against them. But I think Rodon is an outlier in these statistics, given his struggles with most of the lineup.
Expect the Yankees offense to jump on Yamamoto early, as I’m sure they learned from last night that the Dodgers' bullpen is not a fun group of arms to face late in the game.
I think we'll see Judge and Soto kickstart the offense tonight, and I’m comfortable taking a shot with this alternate run line, with many deeming the Yankees dead after last night.
