Despite another Freddie Freeman home run, the Los Angeles Dodgers couldn’t seal the deal and will again try to clinch the World Series over the New York Yankees on Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium. First pitch for Game 5 is scheduled for 8:08 p.m. ET on FOX and MLB.TV.
Dodgers vs Yankees Game 5 odds (via Caesars Sportsbook) have the Yankees as -155 moneyline favorites and the Dodgers as +125 underdogs. The over/under is 8.5 (-110o / -110u). The Dodgers are -150 to cover the run line (+1.5) and the Yankees are +126 to cover (-1.5).
Find my Dodgers vs Yankees predictions, picks and best bets, plus the latest World Series odds, Game 5 starting lineups, probable pitchers (Jack Flaherty and Gerrit Cole), betting trends, key injuries and weather forecast below.
Dodgers vs Yankees Predictions for Game 5
- Dodgers vs Yankees picks: Yankees Moneyline -144 (play to -155 | FanDuel)
My Yankees vs Dodgers best bet is Yankees Moneyline, where I see value at -144. The best line is available at FanDuel, but make sure to find the best odds by checking our live MLB odds page.
Dodgers vs Yankees Odds, Predictions, Best Bets
| Los Angeles Dodgers Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Moneyline | Over/Under | Run Line |
+130 | 8.5 -110o / -110u | +1.5 -150 |
| New York Yankees Odds | ||
|---|---|---|
| Moneyline | Over/Under | Run Line |
-155 | 8.5 -110o / -110u | -1.5 +126 |
- Dodgers vs Yankees Moneyline: Dodgers +130, Yankees -155
- Dodgers vs Yankees Over/Under: 8.5 total runs (-110o / -110u)
- Dodgers vs Yankees Run Line: Dodgers +1.5 (-150), Yankees -1.5 (+126)
- Dodgers vs Yankees Best Bet: Yankees Moneyline
Dodgers vs Yankees Game 5 Probable Pitchers
| RHP Jack Flaherty (LAD) | Stat | RHP Gerrit Cole (NYY) |
|---|---|---|
| 13-7 | W-L | 8-5 |
| 3.2 | fWAR (FanGraphs) | 1.8 |
| 3.17 / 3.51 | ERA /xERA | 3.17 / 3.51 |
| 3.48 / 3.00 | FIP / xFIP | 3.48 /3.00 |
| 1.07 | WHIP | 1.07 |
| 24% | K-BB% | 24% |
| 39.5% | GB% | 39.5% |
| 94 | Stuff+ | 94 |
| 102 | Location+ | 102 |
Dodgers vs Yankees Game 5 Previews, Lineups, Predictions
Dodgers Game 5 Betting Preview
Dodgers Game 5 Lineup
- Shohei Ohtani (DH)
- Mookie Betts (RF)
- Freddie Freeman (1B)
- Teoscar Hernández (LF)
- Max Muncy (3B)
- Kiké Hernández (CF)
- Tommy Edman (SS)
- Will Smith (C)
- Gavin Lux (2B)
- Starting Pitcher: Jack Flaherty
The Dodgers would have certainly loved to complete the sweep last night, but it can be pieced together that they didn't put together their best effort.
Going with a bullpen game when up 3-0 is a short-term white flag; lose the battle to win the war. The Dodgers were able to get through the game without using any of their main bullpen pieces, while the Yankees needed to use their full cast of arms to avoid defeat.
Now, going forward, L.A. has rested its best bullpen options and is more likely to be able to lock down a small lead to clinch the fourth win of the series and second title in the last five years if/when the opportunity best presents itself.
The question now is: Will that be tonight?
The pitching matchup returns to Game 1's deal between Gerrit Cole and Jack Flaherty.
Flaherty was able to throw 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball with six strikeouts and just one walk in his last start. His success largely calmed the concerns over his velocity, and the Dodgers were able to break through and make history to steal that game on the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history.
But tonight, the concerns for Flaherty should not simply dissipate. Having a brief resurgence of velocity for one start after a chronic dip smells like a spot where Flaherty gave it everything he had and could be in a serious position to struggle.
Flaherty is the type of pitcher who dots the corners to get called strikes with a fastball that is largely slower than the MLB average. If it becomes slower than his average, however, it starts to get to the point where hitters can catch up to it.
It's not like Flaherty's been the bastion of consistency either — after both his shutout starts in the second half of the season, he allowed four runs to a mediocre offense the next time out. He only allowed three or less fewer in three of his last nine regular season starts and I'm far from convinced that he's going to find the same success as he did in Game 1.
The Dodgers offense has essentially been just Freddie Freeman, who has driven in 10 of the 18 runs that L.A. has scored in the series and has hit a home run in six straight World Series games.
I tend to think that comes to an end tonight, as Gerrit Cole handled him well in Game 1 and the Yankees would be foolish to pitch to him again in a late-game scenario — but they might be fools, and have done it before, so who knows?
Nonetheless, I think it's hard for a team that has relied on one player and is benefiting from the opposing team's generational hitter — Aaron Judge — turning into a pumpkin well before the clock strikes midnight.
The Dodgers were lucky to win Game 1 in this exact pitching matchup, and I think they will have to get lucky again to steal Game 5. There's a good chance Flaherty stumbles tonight and the rest of the L.A. offense simply isn't reliable enough to pick up the slack if it finds themselves in an early deficit.
Shohei Ohtani isn't right after that shoulder injury, Max Muncy doesn't even have a hit yet in the series and the slugging of Teoscar Hernandez has been all but muted.
This entire World Series could come down to how the Yankees pitch to Freeman, and I'm OK with that. It should be a great game regardless of who turns out to be tonight's X-factor.
Yankees Game 5 Betting Preview
Yankees Game 5 Lineup
- Gleyber Torres (2B)
- Juan Soto (RF)
- Aaron Judge (CF)
- Jazz Chisholm Jr. (3B)
- Giancarlo Stanton (DH)
- Anthony Rizzo (1B)
- Anthony Volpe (SS)
- Austin Wells (C)
- Alex Verdugo (LF)
- Starting Pitcher: Gerrit Cole
Backs against the wall with nowhere to turn, facing all but certain doom, the Yankees pulled it together and finally had the offensive explosion in Game 4 that fans had been waiting weeks for.
The proper response to said offensive explosion should be, and is, "But it was against the worst arms the Dodgers could find in the back of their bullpen!"
However, there could be a bit of a mental unlock for this offense — sports, as much as we might try to make it so, is not a science. Seeing one ball go through the hoop, proverbially, can help an athlete regain confidence and that can be the difference between the fraction of a second or inch that separates a home run from a routine fly ball.
New York had only scored seven runs in three games, so to tack double digits on to the scoreboard is exactly the refreshing reminder of who it can be. I tend to think that continues a bit tonight.
Jack Flaherty has struggled to string together back-to-back quality starts for the majority of the second half and the Yankees have seen his best stuff, so there's a good chance he shows up with less today.
As for the Yankees' starting pitching, there's nobody you'd rather have on the mound than Gerrit Cole. He has shown time and time again that he is a player at the highest level in this sport, and the gamesmanship he brings when he is at his best makes him unhittable.
He introduces new pitches, or removes auxiliary pitches from his attack at will, leaving hitters wondering if the tape they studied so diligently even matters. He is the reason PitcherList.com invented the Called Strikes Plus Whiffs Metric that he dominates when he is healthy — so that becomes the main question for tonight: How is Gerrit Cole feeling?
If I knew for sure, I would probably bet more on this game, but I don't. What we can deduce is that the fastball was at 96.7 mph in Game 1, and his spin rates as well as his induced and horizontal break numbers matched his season average.
He's about as healthy as he has been this season based on that, and if he's able to perform and potentially pitch into the seventh inning, the Yankees should have a great chance to force a Game 6.
Of course, they'll need to get contributions from more than just Giancarlo Stanton and Juan Soto. As we saw with Game 4, when the bottom of the order is producing for New York, its quite formidable. That's a pretty obvious statement, when your weaker players start playing at a higher level you see serious leaps in team performance. Duh.
Anthony Rizzo has done well against Jack Flaherty in his career (10-for-23, 3 HRs), if you care for that sort of thing, and Anthony Volpe is seeing the ball as well as he has all series. If those two can bring a little extra help tonight, it should help New York seal the deal.
However, without bottom, or even the middle of the batting order support, this might be the last night of the 2024 baseball season.
Dodgers vs Yankees Lines & Betting Analysis
With an open of around -145, there hasn't been all that much of movement in lines for Game 5. The models, sharps and bookmakers alike seem to all agree with the consensus that the Yankees should be favored to win tonight by a serious margin, more than the Dodgers were favored by in L.A., for the record.
There's also agreement on the total being a bit lower tonight with Cole and Flaherty on the mound, we've seen O8.0 -120 and O8.5 +100 available this morning.
My pick is on my home town Yankees. I'll keep it real with you: I was to afraid to put money down last night and I hadn't made a bet on the series since the first game. Once they lost Game 1, it stopped being about betting and more about fandom, to me.
However, they've since all but lost the series while also avoiding the shame of a sweep, so I feel like I'm levelheaded to trust what I know about this series: The Yankees are the better team.
You might be wondering how the better team be down 3-1. Well, it's quite easy.
Baseball is known to be a sport where the unlikely reigns supreme. It was calculated that a series would need to go over 70 games to determine the best team with the same accuracy as the NBA gets in a best-of-seven series. Four games in baseball is nothing.
There's many instances where the Yankees secure the lead in Game 1, or are able to emerge victorious in Game 2 or 3. They have every reason to be confident behind Gerrit Cole, and so do we. Even with a rested Dodgers bullpen, this game should be another prime spot for New York's offense to lead the way without any doubt.
Pick: Yankees Moneyline -144 (Play to -155 | FanDuel)
Moneyline
The Yankees have more fight left in them, and after putting up double-digit runs thanks to an Anthony Volpe grand slam, there's a bit of charge back in the clubhouse.
They clearly responded well to their season being on the line, they've never faced that level of adversity, as in neither of their two other series this season did they experience a win-or-go-home scenario.
There's going to be energy in New York tonight with the Bronx faithful now equipped with the same knowledge as every New York Yankee: they can beat this team.
Sure, they'll have to face the ace of the Dodgers staff and a fully rested bullpen, but if L.A. goes all out and expends those resources tonight and New York is still able to come away victorious, Game 6 immediately becomes a liability as the Dodgers do not want to have to see Daniel Hudson pitch again if possible.
Run Line (Spread)
I love the Yankees -1.5 for the +150 price today, but I still think it is a worse gamble than the moneyline.
There's simply too much on the line with the game result to play around with a team winning by multiple runs. The spread is likely more useful if trying to string together a Same Game Parlay in which New York dominates, but the vast liklihood is that this game will be played to win by any means and that could easily lead to a single run separating the sides by the final out.
Lean: Yankees -1.5 (+150)
Over/Under
The over/under can be found at 8 or 8.5 depending on the sportsbook. No game in this series had gone over the total until Game 4, when the Yankees' offensive explosion carried the teams way over.
Pick: Pass
Dodgers vs Yankees Game 5 Viewing Info: Channel, Start Time, Streaming
| Location: | Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, N.Y. |
| Date: | Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024 |
| Time: | 8:08 p.m. ET |
| TV / Streaming Options: | FOX / MLB.TV, Fubo, YouTube TV |
Yankees vs Dodgers Key Injuries
Yankees Injuries & News
| Player | Status |
|---|---|
| LHP Carlos Rodon | Blister (reportedly will be ready for potential Game 6) |
| 1B Anthony Rizzo | Fractured fingers in right hand (in Game 5 starting lineup) |
Dodgers Injuries & News
| Player | Status |
|---|---|
| DH Shohei Ohtani | Left shoulder subluxation (in Game 5 starting lineup) |
| RHP Shohei Ohtani | Right elbow surgery (not pitching in World Series) |
| RHP Evan Phillips | Right shoulder (left off World Series roster) |
