After a convincing win in Tuesday's opener, the Los Angeles Dodgers will look to take it to the Chicago Cubs once again in the second game of the Tokyo Series on Wednesday, March 19, at the Tokyo Dome. The first pitch is scheduled for 6:10 a.m. ET; the game will be broadcast on FS1, SportsNet LA and Marquee Sports Network.
The Dodgers are set to debut their prized offseason acquisition, Roki Sasaki, in his home nation of Japan against the always-tough Justin Steele. L.A. has expectations set high here and can't overlook an ever-improving Cubs core, which has hit the ball well in recent years and could be on the precipice of a breakout.
Find my Dodgers vs Cubs parlay picks for Wednesday below.
MLB Parlay Picks Wednesday — Cubs vs Dodgers
- Miguel Amaya To Record A Hit (-140)
- Tommy Edman 2+ Total Bases (+115)
- Roki Sasaki Under 4.5 Strikeouts (-158)
Parlay Odds: +490 (FanDuel)
Remember to bet responsibly — this is a long shot for a reason.
Miguel Amaya To Record A Hit (-140)
The first order of business here will be taking advantage of this criminal line on Miguel Amaya.
Does he hit lower in the order, thus giving him a longer shot of stepping to the plate four times? Sure, he does. That doesn't excuse the implied probability here, given what we've witnessed over the last eight months.
Amaya closed the second half of last season on a tear, hitting .271 to put up a 113 wRC+ to rank third on the Cubs. He also had an extraordinary spring to follow that up, hitting .524 across 21 at-bats with five of his 11 hits going for extra bases.
The Cubs' young catcher put up a .292 Expected Batting Average (xBA) against fastballs from righties last season to boot, a pitch he'll see frequently against Roki Sasaki. Amaya registered a hit in Tuesday morning's opening game of the Tokyo Series.
Tommy Edman 2+ Total Bases (+115)
Tommy Edman, like Amaya, had plenty to write home about this spring. He tied for the team lead in home runs, hitting .273 in 33 at-bats.
He was the leading lefty masher on this team in his short time with the Dodgers last season, hitting over .400, which is why they acquired him from the Cardinals at last year's deadline.
With all of that said, this one should set up quite nicely for Edman against left-hander Justin Steele. The veteran is a firm ground-ball pitcher, and Edman hit over 20 points better against these types than he did against fly-ballers at .276 in 2024.
The do-it-all switch-hitter prefers contact-oriented lefties, and after a strong spring and a hit in Tuesday's opener, he should be a strong consideration for two total bases.
Roki Sasaki Under 4.5 Strikeouts (-158)
We saw how difficult it was for Yoshinobu Yamamoto to debut in the major leagues in last year's Tokyo Series. Therefore, I'm not entirely confident this outing for Sasaki will go off without a hitch.
When it comes to strikeouts, specifically, I don't think we can expect a memorable performance on Wednesday morning.
The Cubs have been an excellent team when it comes to limiting strikeouts over the last two seasons, and that should ring even more true with a skilled bat-to-ball hitter in Matt Shaw joining the lineup and Cody Bellinger gone to the Yankees.
The Cubs had the fewest strikeouts of any team in spring training, something I think is indicative of this team's construction. For years, We've seen how difficult it is to replicate high strikeout numbers right away when jumping to the big-league level.
I wouldn't be surprised if the Cubs — a team that hit fastballs well a season ago — jump on Sasaki and break out at the plate. Even if that doesn't happen, this story will likely be one of the Japanese righty finding plenty of outs on contact.
The juice on this under is there for a reason.
