Will Ohtani’s Drama Interpreter Impact Dodgers Opening Day?

It’s Opening Day, and the Los Angeles Dodgers are at 1-1. Make that make sense!

The Dodgers played the San Diego Padres in Korea for a two-game series a week before the actual MLB Opening Day on Thursday.

The Dodgers went 1-1 in those games and didn’t get the best starting pitching in those matchups against the Padres. Tyler Glasnow went five innings and only struck out three batters in his Dodgers debut. His WHIP was 1.20, and his ERA was 3.60. But despite his underwhelming start, the Dodgers still won that game. It was the matchup with Yoshinobu Yamamoto that went south for the Dodgers.

Los Angeles still has one of the most exciting teams in the MLB this season. They’re expected to win about 100 games this year and still have reinforcement that will come along in the future from the injured list.

That said, the Dodgers will begin a four-game home series against the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals added Sonny Gray, Lance Lynn, and Kyle Gibson to the starting rotation. However, Gray is already on the MLB injured list.

The lineup is similar except for Brandon Crawford at shortstop and Victor Scott II at center field. He’ll replace Dylan Carlson, who is also on the injured list.

In the first game on Thursday, March 28, Mike Mikolas of the Cardinals will face Tyler Glasnow of the Dodgers. The MLB betting odds for Game 1 of the series are set at -1.5 (-115) for the Dodgers, with the total at 8.5. Except the Over is juiced to -120 in that game.

Let’s talk about these Cardinals vs Dodgers lines and the entire four-game series below.

Distractions In Los Angeles

The Los Angeles Dodgers have been dealing with some distractions before Opening Day. The Dodgers fired Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for Shohei Ohtani, after a gambling investigation took place.

Now, Ohtani is involved in a sports betting scandal, and the whole world is discussing it. He has already added a statement saying Mizuhara lied about the entire situation, so he was fired. But that doesn’t stop people from believing that Ohtani had more involvement than he’s letting on.

Mizuhara had $4.5 million in gambling debt and never made that much money as Ohtani’s interpreter, which is why some believe Ohtani was involved in this. However, he denies it. We’ll see if the Dodgers can escape all that Ohtani talk and worry only about baseball.

Victor Scott II Will Start In Center

In Monday’s spring training game, Dylan Carlson sprained his AC joint after a collision with Jordan Walker. Therefore, he’ll start the season on the injured list, allowing Victor Scott II to showcase his talents in center field to begin the season.

Carlson isn’t the only outfielder injured. Tommy Edman is still recovering from a wrist operation in October, and Lars Nootbaar was injured when he made a catch earlier this spring against the wall.

The Cardinals have an exciting team this year. They’ll have to get healthy first.

Cardinals vs Dodgers Lines Game 1: RL Los Angeles (-115), ML Los Angeles -223, O/U 8.5 -120/+100

Tyler Glasnow already made a start this season. In a game against the Padres in Korea, he went five innings and allowed two hits and two runs while walking four and striking out three. He’ll have to limit the walks against the Cubs.

Last year, there were times when he had high strikeouts and high walks. After trading for him, the Dodgers agreed to a long-term extension with Glasnow before the season began. They’ve got a history of getting the best out of their starters. If the Dodgers can find ways for Glasnow to keep his walks down, he’ll be a Cy Young candidate.

On the other hand, Miles Mikolas had an up-and-down season last year. The 35-year-old veteran had a 4.78 ERA with a 1.32 WHIP. However, he finished the season with seven innings against the Reds, where he struck out ten and walked none.

St. Louis’ Zach Thompson finished with a 4.48 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP last season, which wasn’t very impressive. Thompson began the year out of the bullpen and then started when the Cardinals needed more depth in that area. He only had one game where he pitched more than six innings.

Conversely, Los Angeles saw some big things out of Bobby Miller in his rookie season. In 22 starts, he won 11 MLB games and had an ERA of 3.76 with 119 strikeouts to accompany a 1.10 WHIP. Miller has high expectations this season as a 24-year-old in his second season. He’ll likely deliver.

The Cardinals reunited with Lance Lynn after he had a 5.73 ERA last season. Lynn was traded to the Dodgers at the MLB Trade Deadline the previous year and improved drastically. Now, the Cardinals are hoping that continues with them this year.

He’ll face Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who signed a record-breaking deal with the Dodgers out of Japan for a starting pitching. In his debut, he threw one inning and allowed five runs on four hits and one walk. He also struck out two batters after facing the entire Padres order in the first inning.

Yamamoto will eventually figure things out. But he’s having trouble adjusting to the MLB, and the MLB stats don’t look pretty.

The Cardinals wanted to sure up their starting pitching this off-season. However, some of their guys are injured at the start of the year, so Steven Matz will get to shine on the mound for St. Louis. He had a 3.86 ERA last season and almost resurrected his career. Last year, he finished the MLB season with four consecutive six-inning performances.

He’ll finish off the series against Gavin Stone of the Dodgers. Stone had a 9.00 ERA after 31 innings pitched last year. However, he’s still only 25 and improved in the offseason and Spring Training. With that, he won the No. 5 job in the rotation. He won’t be a starter all season when other guys return from the injured list, but now is his time to shine. Consider backing Stone for your MLB prop bets today.

Cardinals vs Dodgers Game Odds

For MLB news, Cardinals vs Dodgers lines, analysis, and more, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.

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