The first two teams to play a second game in this coronavirus-shortened season are the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers as they meet Friday night. L.A. will be a sizable MLB betting favorite again but not nearly as big as it was Thursday.
How to Bet Giants at Dodgers MLB Odds & TV Info
- When: Friday, 9:40 PM ET
- Where: Dodger Stadium
- Probable pitchers (away/home): Jeff Samardzija/Ross Stripling
- TV: MLB Extra Innings
- Stream/gameday audio: https://www.mlb.com/live-stream-games/
- Opening MLB Lines: TBA
The Giants are going to be mega-shorthanded. Third baseman is on the injured list to open the season. Longoria suffered a moderate oblique strain last week, and those injuries usually require around a month of rest and recovery time. First baseman Brandon Belt is also on the injured list. Belt has been bothered by heel soreness for most of summer camp and is still limited. Those two were lined up as the likely No. 2 and No. 3 hitters for new Giants manager Gabe Kapler. The status of second baseman Yolmer Sanchez is up in the air due to back tightness.
Meanwhile, the Giants may not have a true closer this year. Tony Watson should operate in a high-leverage role in 2020, but it’s unlikely Kapler utilizes traditional late-inning roles. Watson should serve as a stabilizing force for a bullpen that is short on MLB experience, and he said the club’s entire relief corps is staying open-minded and is prepared to buy into whatever unconventional pitching strategies the Giants’ coaching staff chooses to adopt this year.
“There’s a lot of arms, and we’re going to use a lot of arms, especially in a 60-game season,” Watson said. “It’s going to be different. It’s a sprint now. There’s probably not established roles. We’re going to be mixing and matching and trying to figure out how to win a game every night. Whatever it takes. I think guys have been mostly open to it.”
It’s Jeff Samardzija on the mound. With the Giants not expected to contend this season, Samardzija could find himself on the trade block in 2020. The 35-year-old right-hander is entering the final season of the five-year, $90 million deal he signed with the Giants in December 2015, and is coming off an impressive bounce-back season in which he recorded an 11-12 record and 3.52 ERA over 181 1/3 innings.
“Shark” said he’s eager to carry a heavy load this year, no matter how many safety measures he has to jump through every day just to get on the mound.
“We need to make sacrifices this year,” he said. “It’s going to be a big word this year. We have a job to do. They’re paying us to do our job, that we fought for to be fully paid, and to go out there and do our job.”
Why Bet on Los Angeles?
The Dodgers signed former AL MVP Mookie Betts to a 12-year, $365 million extension before Thursday’s series opener. Betts was set to hit free agency next winter. Combined with the one-year, $27 million contract he’s currently playing out, Betts’ total comes to 13 years and $392 million. The deal tops the previous extension record of $360 million signed by Mike Trout and includes a record $65 million signing bonus.
Betts has posted four straight seasons with at least 100 runs, 40 doubles and 20 home runs, which ties him with Robinson Cano and Albert Pujols for the longest such streak in the expansion era, which began in 1961. Betts is also an elite defender, having won the AL Gold Glove for right field each of the past four seasons.
The Dodgers and Betts’ reps began broaching the subject of an extension around the middle of March, before the shutdown, and picked those talks back up five or six days ago.
Betts used “rings” — plural — when talking about his hopes for his Dodgers career. He called them a “well-oiled machine” and said the talent throughout the organization convinced him to forgo his free agency. Asked if the uncertain market also played a role, Betts said: “The market wasn’t what I was worried about. Just fair value. That’s been my No. 1 thing for my whole career is the value and that’s it. Once I got to that point, and being somewhere I love being, the match was perfect.”
Normally, it would be Walker Buehler’s turn on the mound Friday as he’s the co-ace with Clayton Kershaw, who started Thursday. But Buehler will start the Dodgers’ fifth regular season game next Tuesday against the Astros.
So, it’s Ross Stripling here, and he is taking the rotation spot of David Price, who opted out of the season. Stripling said that he’ll be ready to go six innings. Stripling, 30, is entering his fifth season with the Dodgers and has made 52 starts and 84 relief appearances.
During his tenure with L.A., he is 20-24 with a 3.51 ERA and 377 strikeouts in 387.0 innings. The former All-Star went 4-4 with a 3.47 ERA (35 ER/90.2 IP) in 32 games (15 starts) last season.
Game Trends
- Giants are 0-4 in the last 4 meetings.
- Under is 17-7-1 in the last 25 meetings in Los Angeles.
Expert Prediction
Dodgers 5, Giants 3
