Sunday’s NLDS slate gives bettors two appealing home run angles, even with only three starters officially announced. The San Diego Padres face the Milwaukee Brewers at 4 p.m.
EST, and the Los Angeles Dodgers meet the Atlanta Braves at 8 p.m. EST.
Atlanta still hasn’t named its starter, though Chris Sale could get the nod, which leaves a little more uncertainty than usual when it comes to projecting power.
The clearest swing I’m looking at is Shohei Ohtani. The Dodgers star missed time in September with a bicep injury, but he’s back and starting to find his timing again, with a hit in five of his last six games.
He also looks well-positioned to attack an Atlanta bullpen that has already been leaned on heavily this postseason. That unit has a 5.51 ERA in the playoffs and gave up multiple home runs in the wild card round against Philadelphia.
Ohtani has the kind of profile that plays in almost any matchup. Even if Sale gets the start, the lefty-lefty setup doesn’t scare him off much; he’s 3-for-15 against Sale with a double. With the Braves still sorting out the pitching plan, Ohtani feels like a live shot to homer for the first time since returning from the injured list.
The other name worth circling is Jackson Chourio. He went deep in Game 1 of this series and finished the regular season on a tear, batting .450 over the final week and .330 with five homers across his last 26 games, 24 of them starts. The Brewers outfielder hit 25 home runs in 127 games during the regular season, including 16 against right-handed pitching.
Sunday’s matchup could also line up well for Chourio because of the arm on the other side. Of all the starters expected to pitch, King may be the most homer-prone, giving up 20 long balls during the regular season while sitting in the 33rd percentile in expected ERA and the 50th percentile in expected BAA. Chourio hasn’t solved King yet, going 0-for-5 in his career against him, but the price on the Brewers slugger still looks attractive at +540 in Game 2.
Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
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Dodgers Double Down On A Risky NLDS Plan Against Atlanta
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Snells return has given the Dodgers another left-handed option with real October importance, and the club appears willing to keep pressing that advantage as the series develops. Yoshinobu Yamamoto is also part of the conversation for later games, which leaves Los Angeles with some intriguing rotation flexibility, but it also hints at a plan that carries risk if the Braves force the Dodgers to keep adjusting on the fly. [Read more 🡒]
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For the Dodgers, that matters because Scott is not just another arm in the mix. He finished the regular season with a 2.69 ERA and 25 saves, and he is one of three left-handed relievers on the NLDS roster, a group Roberts figures to lean on as the postseason gets tighter. The message from the manager was clear: one bad moment in October has not shaken the teams confidence in Scotts role. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers Clearly Have An Andy Pages Problem They Couldn't Ignore
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It also wasnt the first time Los Angeles had to rein him in. The Dodgers had already limited Pages from challenging pitches in the second half of the regular season because of similar problems, and his early challenge in Game 1 left the team with only one challenge for the rest of the night. For a club trying to manage every edge it can in the postseason, that kind of self-inflicted drain is hard to overlook. [Read more 🡒]