Game Time: 10:10 pm ET, Tuesday, August 10th, 2022 

Venue: Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, California

Where to Watch:  MLBN ALT, MLB.TV

DraftKings: 

Caesars:  

PointsBet: 

 

Twins: 57-51, 1st place AL Central

Dodgers: 75-33, 1st place NL West

Game 2 of a series that the Dodgers fully expect to win over the Twins.  The Twins are not a bad ballclub and will be angling to take a game or two… What will break?... Is it all about the pitching matchups… Yes!

An non-conference matchup between two teams that sit atop their respective divisions… but that doesn’t mean it is close.  The Minnesota Twins are in 1st place in the AL Central with only 57 wins.  In fact they are only 6 games above .500.  The Al Central feels like a dumping ground for bad teams… and bad feelings.  You can’t crow about being in first place when you are only 1 game ahead of the Cleveland Guardians. The Twins hold the distinction of being a division leader with the worst division leader record in all of baseball.  The Dodgers on the other hand, have the best record in baseball by 5 games… They have used recent SWEEPS of the San Diego Padres and the San Francisco Giants to catch and surpass both the Mets in their own conference…. And the Yankees and Astros in the American League.  A recitation of the Dodgers batting line-up sounds very much like you are introducing an All-Star team.  A review of the Dodgers pitching staff finds no less than 3 ACES… with reinforcements on the way (3 quality pitchers will be back from the IR by August’s end).  The Dodgers have a growing list of riches so big and deep that the front office debated where exactly they would have room for Juan Soto in the line-up if they went forward with a trade offer.  They pulled back and the San Diego Padres landed Soto… Then the Dodgers swept the Padres in Soto’s first complete series.  The only player on the Dodgers radar at the moment is Los Angeles Angel, modern day Babe Ruth, P Shohei Ohtani… and that may have to wait for the offseason when the Angels can really get the bidding war up.  Let’s look at the pitching matchup before we lay the bet.

The Minnesota Twins have won 5 of their last 10 games.  Going 2-2 against the Toronto Blue Jays, 2-1 against the Detroit Tigers, and 1-2 against the San Diego Padres.  The key matchup to look at here is the dominance of the Padres over the Twins.  The Dodgers just SWEPT the Padres, rather easily actually.  Apple to Oranges when predicting baseball, but it still carries weight with me.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have won 9 of their last 10 games with back to back SWEEPS against NL West opponents and rivals.  The Dodgers are firing on all cylinders.  They went 3-0 against the San Diego Padres, 4-0 against the San Francisco Giants, and 2-1 against the Colorado Rockies.  The stretch has firmly decided that the Dodgers will remain in front of the National League West all season.  They overpower opponents from both sides of the ball.  The only real challenge will come from the Mets and ultimately the Yankees.  They have set the table for an amazing postseason run.

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MN: 57-51, 131 ML, 52-48-8 O/U, 26-26 on the road.

LA: 75-33, 853 ML, 41-55-12 O/U, 38-15 at home.

The Twins are 10th in scoring with 4.52 runs per game, 9th in batting average with .251, and 8th in OBP with .321.  The Twins have solid bats.  They are an above average offensive team… they also primarily play against AL Central clubs… which would raise anybody’s numbers.

The Dodgers are 2nd in scoring with 5.29 runs per game, 3rd in batting average with .260, 1st in OBP .336.  The top three batters in the Dodgers line-up are Mookie Betts, Trea Turner, and Freddie Freeman.  This is why they had no open spot for Juan Soto.  Even though Juan Soto is an amazing batter with the best batting average… he would have had to displace one of three amazing batters with fantastic batting averages.  It would have been a bad $500 million dollar fit. Sure you could have put Juan fourth… but then the best batting average would have averaged ⅕ less at bats per calendar year… No, they need a Japanese power hitter at 4th in the line-up.

The Twins pitching is 19th in ERA with 4.02, 13th in WHIP with 1.24, and the team is solid at 10th in errors with only 53 on the season.

The Dodgers pitching is 1st in team ERA with 2.87, 1st in WHIP with 1.07, and 9th in errors with 52 on the season so far.

 

Our prediction for Wednesday, August 10th is…  Dodgers 9 - Twins 1

 

The Dodgers will route the Twins in Game 2.  It is not even close to a good matchup.  The pitching and batting favor the Dodgers.  The Dodgers will win Game 1 tonight and will roll into winning game 2 Wednesday night.  The only bet worth making on this one is for the Dodgers on the Moneyline

 

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The Dodgers are 31-9 after a game where the bullpen gave up no earned runs this season.

The Dodgers are 251-75 as a home favorite of -200 or more since 1997.

The Dodgers are 123-49 in home games the last 3 seasons.

Twins: RF T. Larnach OUT , CF K. Garlick OUT , 3B M. Sano OUT, C R. Jeffries OUT, SS R Lewis Out, plus lots and lots of pitchers.

Dodgers: LF Chris Taylor (Foot) Out ** 3B Edwin Rios (hamstring) Out

Twins: RHP Sonny Gray, 6-3, 3.19 ERA, 74 strikeouts in 79 innings pitched.  1.11 WHIP.  

Dodgers:  LHP Julio Urias, 11-6, 2.57 ERA, 109 strikeouts in 115 innings pitched.  0.99 WHIP.  The 25 year old former teenage phenom is on a mission to prove he is worth all the hype.  His WHIP is smoking!  His arm is strong.  He is young and ready for his roses.  

Dodgers:  The Dodgers are TBD at press time… which means I will have to update the prediction later.  However when perusing the available Dodgers pitchers to start… They all have a better or equal ERA plus… They will get actual run support.  I feel you can go forward with the prediction as laid out.

Twins: DH Luis Arraez, 2B Jorge Polanco, RF Max Kepler, 1B Jose Miranda, SS Nick Gordon, 3B Gio Urshela, LF Jake Cave, CF Gilberto Celestino, C Gary Sanchez

Dodgers: RF Mookie Betts, SS Trea Turner, 1B Freddie Freeman, DH Will Smith, 2B Max Muncy, 3B Justin Turner,. C Austin Barnes, LF Gavin Lux, CF Cody Bellinger

 

Twins: Rocco “watch the sauce” Baldelli

Dodgers: Dave “get me more rings, Mookie” Roberts

Sunny.  Humidity 44%, wind 74 mph, 91*.  Hot summer day in Los Angeles… the night air will cool a bit as the sun sets… but that humidity isn’t going anywhere.