The Dodgers Will Surprise Against Skubal
Dodgers vs Tigers MLB Betting: Los Angeles Doesn't Miss Against Lefties
Although the Los Angeles Dodgers have lost four consecutive games, they’re still at 55-39 on the season. Los Angeles is also still seven MLB games ahead of the San Diego Padres for the NL West heading into the weekend series against the Detroit Tigers.
The All-Star Break on the Dodgers baseball schedule should help them get back on track because they’ve ultimately been hit with the injury bug. However, they’ll have to play three games against the Detroit Tigers first, which won’t be easy.
In the first game of the series, the Tigers will throw out their ace pitcher, Tarik Skubal, who is competing for an AL Cy Young Award right now.
Skubal has been so good that the Tigers are favorites against the 55-win Dodgers in the series’ first game. The Tigers are currently -132 on the moneyline. Meanwhile, the total is currently at 8, with the Over at -122.
Read our Dodgers vs Tigers MLB betting preview for Game 1 of this series below.
Dodgers vs Tigers 
Day/Time:
Location: Comerica Park, Detroit, MI
Streaming: Bally Sports Detroit, SportsNet LA
From Depth To No Depth In Starting Rotation
The Los Angeles Dodgers came into the season excited about their starting pitching depth. They had just signed Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow and knew they’d eventually get back injured pitchers Walker Buehler, Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin, and Clayton Kershaw at some point.
Yet, those four pitchers are all still on the injured list. Bobby Miller was on the MLB injured list and struggled in his return. Therefore, he was sent down.
Meanwhile, Yamamoto is also on the shelf for the time being. Wildly, Gavin Stone has been Los Angeles’ best pitcher in the first half of the season. Nobody could have expected that.
Still, the Dodgers are in the middle of the MLB Playoff picture.
Kenta Maeda Heads To Bullpen
The Detroit Tigers have decided to move veteran starter Kenta Maeda into the bullpen. After 16 starts for the Tigers, he has a 7.26 ERA.
The Tigers have a deep rotation and several excellent starters. Maeda was ultimately the weakest link, so they’ll try adding him to their bullpen to see if he can improve his numbers.
Consider that Maeda could ruin Detroit’s MLB scores today if he’s called from the bullpen.
Dodgers vs Tigers MLB Betting Odds For Game 1:
RL: Tigers -1.5 (+164) ML: Tigers -132, O/U: 8 -122/+100
Dodgers vs Tigers MLB Betting Game 1 Preview
âš¾ Game 1 âš¾
- Friday, 6:40 pm ET
- James Paxton vs Tarik Skubal
The Dodgers will roll out James Paxton, hoping to end a four-game losing streak. Paxton has a good track record this season. He’s currently 7-2 with a 4.24 ERA this baseball season. However, the left-hander has struggled against righties over the last month.
He’s allowed a .180 ISO and wOBA of .313 to his last 102 righties. He’s also given up 36.2% of fly balls to just 26.1% of ground balls to righties over the previous month.
On the other hand, he’s barely faced lefties. But lefties have hit a .000 ISO and wOBA of .228 with 55.8% of ground balls this season.
Paxton is in line to face a Tigers lineup that hasn’t done much damage to lefties. Justyn-Henry Malloy and Andy Ibanez are the only two righties that have hit for a high ISO and wOBA. While the rest of the lineup doesn’t have high strikeouts, the lineup has struggled to hit for power against lefties.
Meanwhile, Riley Greene has hit lefties well as a left-handed hitter. But he doesn’t match up well against Paxton, who has been lights out against lefties this season.
The Dodgers Destroy Lefties
The Dodgers have destroyed lefties, the projected lineup has hit over a .200 ISO and wOBA of nearly .400 against lefties in the last 30 days. Shohei Ohtani has led the charge, but Andy Pages, Miguel Rojas, Miguel Vargas, and Chris Taylor have all dominated lefties just as much.
Even Freddie Freeman has put up above-average numbers against lefties as a left-handed hitter.
Additionally, the Dodgers’ lineup has struck out below 11% of the time and has added more than 8% walks against lefties.
They’re one of the few Major League Baseball teams that is a legitimate threat to Tarik Skubal of the Tigers.
Skubal is an AL Cy Young candidate with a 10-3 record with a 2.37 ERA. The left-hander has struck out more than 30% of batters this season. He’s also walked just 4.6%, which has helped his wOBA drop to .249 this year.
Skubal has also allowed just a .123 ISO and has given up 24.4% of fly balls with 21.8% line drives. These are all above-average numbers. However, he’s also allowed a .204 ISO to his last 106 righties. He will occasionally allow extra base hits to righties.
With the Dodgers hitting extra-base hits at a ridiculous rate against lefties, Los Angeles has enough potential to get the job done and earn the win on the road.
Let’s take the Dodgers at +112 to close out this Dodgers vs Tigers MLB betting preview for Game 1.
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