by Chuck Sommers
Thursday, Jul 29, 2021
Game time: 9:40 p.m. ET
Venue: Chase Field
Where to watch: SportsNet LA, SNLA Deportes, Bally Sports Arizona
Season-to-date
Dodgers: 62-41 (2nd place, National League West)
Diamondbacks: 32-71 (Last place, National League West)
Projected lineup
Dodgers:
Chris Taylor (R) SS
Max Muncy (L) 2B
Justin Turner (R) 3B
Cody Bellinger (L) CF
AJ Pollock (R) LF
Albert Pujols (R) 1B
Billy McKinney (L) RF
Austin Barnes (R) C
Tony Gonsolin (R) P
Diamondbacks:
Kole Calhoun (L) RF
Asdrubal Cabrera (S) 3B
Christian Walker (R) 1B
David Peralta (L) LF
Andrew Young (R) 2B
Nick Ahmed (R) SS
Daulton Varsho (L) CF
Bryan Holaday (R) C
Zac Gallen (R) P
Odds at USA Sportsbooks
DraftKings: Dodgers -190, Diamondbacks +160; Over and Under 9 -110
BetMGM: Dodgers -185, Diamondbacks +150
Bet365: Dodgers -185, Diamondbacks +165
Dodgers - Diamondbacks Preview
Max Scherzer, come on down.
Imagine the scene in Southern California Thursday afternoon. The San Diego Padres were closing in on the Washington Nationals' ace at 1:10 p.m. PT. San Diego was reportedly going all-in to get Scherzer. Then the Los Angeles Dodgers, who already have an abundance of pitchers at their disposal, said, "Yes, please."
Instead, it is the reigning World Series champions making the move of the summer to grab Scherzer (along with Trea Turner) from Washington for four prospects.
The Dodgers added Scherzer to a rotation with Clayton Kershaw, Walker Buehler, Julio Urias and as of Wednesday afternoon, Danny Duffy after acquiring him from the Kansas City Royals.
After all of that, the Dodgers are ready for their post-deadline run at back-to-back titles. That begins Friday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The reinforcements are coming at the right time for L.A.
The Dodgers just lost two of three to the first-place San Francisco Giants, losing 5-0 on Thursday. The Dodgers have lost five of the last seven meetings against their division rivals. The NL West, and arguably the National League as a whole, is a three-team race and all of them were in on the former three-time Cy Young winner and World Series champion.
“Seven games, we didn’t do enough things to win,” said Dodgers pitcher David Price. “They played really good baseball, got a lot of big hits, made the plays defensively, their starters and bullpen guys threw the ball really well. They played better baseball than we did.”
Washington going full sell mode was an interesting decision, seeing how the Nats are seven games back of the first-place New York Mets and aren't out of the playoff race yet. Instead, they're giving him to the team they beat two years ago that kickstarted their improbable title run.
Safe to say Dodger Stadium will be rocking once again in October.
Scherzer threw six innings of three-hit ball while with five strikeouts in his final start for the Nationals. The ace is in the final year of a seven-year, $210 million contract he signed with Washington in 2015. He'll be an unrestricted free agent this winter. Scherzer is 7-4 this season with a 2.83 ERA and was named an All-Star for the eighth time this season.
Tony Gonsolin is L.A.'s projected starter for Friday.
“That's the thing about baseball: You can never script it out," Scherzer said Thursday. "You can think you have everything about baseball figured out, and then it just throws all these curveballs at you -- figuratively and literally. You've just got to deal with it.”
As of Thursday, the Dodgers odds to repeat as world champions are tops at 4-1. That's likely to lower before Monday.
When the calendar turns to August, all eyes will be on the Dodgers. The Diamondbacks, meanwhile, have sleepy closed eyes on them.
If you're a fan of the letter 'L,' Arizona is the team for you. At 32-71, the D-Backs are the worst team in the league. Some would think the Texas Rangers would be worse given how Arizona won 3-2 on Wednesday. Neither team is the better team. It was a collection of bad. May that be the last time we ever see a game with that much yuck.
"We had a lot of faith in this group and thought that they could win," said D-Backs president Derrick Hall. "We really put it to the test the last three seasons. we believe we have some really talented players. That's the confusing part. But just collectively, they haven't gotten it done."
Trends
- The Dodgers have taken care of business. They're 47-23 (+2.5 units) when a favorite of -150 or more.
- The Dodgers are 6-0 when Gonsolin starts with L.A. being a favorite of -150 or higher.
- L.A. is 9-1 against Arizona this season with the average total being 8.4. Five have gone over, five have gone under.
LAD - ARI Prediction
When Gonsolin starts, good things tend to happen. I'd be willing to wager the Dodgers are amped to be adding two key rotation pieces and make a deep run. If Gonsolin can get to at least five scoreless innings, this game should be over. Dodgers 6, Diamondbacks 1, with the under.
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Chuck Sommers
About the Author:
Chuck Sommers has camped outside of sportsbooks since he can remember, learning the tricks and nuances of the trade. He still has nightmares of betting $5,000 on the Raiders in the Tuck Rule game but has since turned that to 25 years of veteran handicapping greatness. You can find him mostly in the shadows at the Red Rock or Aliante casinos wondering if the over is cashing on any given Sunday.
