MLB Regular Season: Los Angeles Dodgers vs Toronto Blue Jays Series Preview
Dodgers May Finally Be Hitting Their Stride
Shohei Ohtani is finally headed to Toronto this weekend but as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who travel north of the border to take on the Toronto Blue Jays in a three-game series. Ohtani and the Dodgers are red hot right now, having won four-straight games by a combined margin of 27-4.
The Blue Jays are headed in the other direction as losers of three games in a row following a rough week in Kansas City against the Royals. The Dodgers at Blue Jays MLB odds have Los Angeles as slight -116 moneyline favorites in Friday night’s series opener. They are -145 to win the series.
The Blue Jays pursued Ohtani very hard in the offseason, and a later-corrected news report infamously proclaimed that the Japanese slugger was on a private plane from Orange County, California — home of the Angels, Ohtani’s old team — to Toronto to sign a contract.
However, it turned out to be bad info, and he wound up signing with the Dodgers, where he has a 1.089 OPS and .358 batting average (and a MLB-leading 14 doubles) in 27 games. Things are working out well for him and Los Angeles, which is near the top of most MLB rankings for offensive categories.
The same cannot be said for Toronto. The Blue Jays have been a mediocre offensive team all season and scored just five runs in the final three games of their series against the Royals, albeit with Thursday’s game being called after five innings due to rain.
Toronto just hasn’t gotten much production from stars Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette and George Springer and the Blue Jays are 23rd in baseball in runs scored. Considering how much talent this team has, that’s a major disappointment.
Los Angeles Dodgers vs Toronto Blue Jays 
Day/Time:
Location: Rogers Centre; Toronto, Ontario, California
LA Is Fully-Operational
Sometimes the best thing for a scuffling team is to go on a road trip and, for the Dodgers, that’s just what the doctor ordered. Los Angeles went 3-6 on a recent homestand that wrapped last Sunday, losing all three series to the Padres, Nationals and Mets.
Then, they got another chance at the Nationals in Washington and swept the three-game set. While the offense exploded in an 11-2 win on Wednesday—including a 118.7 mph home run from Ohtani—it was actually the pitching that carried the Dodgers all week.
While the Dodgers at Blue Jays MLB odds mostly rely on Los Angeles’ terrifying offensive ability, what can separate the Dodgers from the rest of the pack in the NL West and the NL at large is the pitching staff.
Los Angeles has a ton of starters on the injured list — Walker Buehler, Tony Gonsolin, Clayton Kershaw, Dustin May, Bobby Miller, etc — and, outside of Tyler Glasnow, the Dodgers hadn’t been getting good starting pitching this season from the guys who are healthy.
That changed in the Washington series as James Paxton, Landon Knack and Yoshinobu Yamamoto all pitched very well and a bullpen that has been up-and-down was essentially lights out. It’s a scary thought to consider the Dodgers with either the best or second-best offense in baseball also having a top-ten pitching staff.
If you’re making MLB picks in this series, young arms Gavin Stone and Michael Grove will go on Friday and Sunday sandwiching staff ace Glasnow, who gets the nod on Saturday. Glasnow is coming off an eight-inning masterpiece against the Mets last Sunday in which he struck out 10 and didn’t allow a run. Stone and Grove have been shaky, to be fair, but they have big arms and a lot of swing-and-miss in their stuff.
Toronto’s Bats Need To Wake Up
The Blue Jays have three of their best starters lined up for this series, with Chris Bassitt, Yusei Kikuchi, and Kevin Gausman scheduled to pitch. The peripheral numbers for the Toronto rotation haven’t been pretty, but it has done a good job of run prevention, boasting the 6th-best ERA in baseball.
It’s clear that the lineup—supposed to be a strength—has kept the Blue Jays hovering around .500 all year.
The Dodgers at Blue Jays MLB odds recognize that while Toronto’s offensive numbers are ugly — the Blue Jays being 22nd in home runs is rather shocking — this is still a team with a lot of scoring potential that just needs to break out. Justin Turner and Daulton Varsho have been awesome as has Davis Schneider in a part-time role.
But, Alejandro Kirk has a 36 OPS+, Guerrero Jr. has a .214 batting average, Bichette has one home run and Springer has a meager .347 slugging percentage. Those numbers aren’t going to cut it.
Toronto has a chance to take advantage of Stone’s and Grove’s youth and inconsistency as the Blue Jays try to turn around their MLB regular season.
It feels like only a matter of time before John Schneider’s team lives up to its ability and really gets going but, in a tough division led by the Yankees and Orioles with the Rays and Red Sox hanging around, Toronto needs that spark to happen sooner rather than later.
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