The Philadelphia Phillies are rounding into form after taking two of three from the Houston Astros over the weekend, but its tough schedule continues with a road trip to Los Angeles.
Philadelphia and Los Angeles start a three game series to start the week with both teams that had World Series aspirations are starting to round into form. We haven't seen the best from either team so far this season with both just over the .500 mark.
Both teams have won seven of 10 games, trending upwards and now get to test that mometum against one another on Monday night.
The Phils will start Taijuan Walker while Tony Gonsolin will make his second start of the season. How should we bet this one?
Here are the odds:
Phillies vs. Dodgers odds, run line and total
Phillies vs. Dodgers prediction and pick
This is a tough matchup for Walker, who has walked 14 batters in over 25 innings so far this season. Meanwhile, the Dodgers have the highest walk rate in baseball and will constantly put pressure on Walker to throw strikes.
However, I think the Phillies elite offense is up to the task against a poor Dodgers bullpen. Gonsolin is going to be stretched out over the next few starts after making his first start last week off an ankle injury that sidelined him at the start of the year.
He only pitched 3 2/3 innings in his first start, which means this is going to be a pseudo-bullpen game for the Dodgers. The issue is that LA has one of the worst pen's in baseball, fifth worst ERA as a unit in 2023.
The Phillies are top 10 in slugging percentage and third in batting average. With the Dodgers leaky bullpen, it's a matter of time before Philly breaks loose and makes this into a shootout.
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.