The MLB season is set to continue when the Los Angeles Dodgers host the Miami Marlins at Dodgers Stadium in the first of a three-game series to close out the month.
The Dodgers have begun their season in decent form but have hit a rocky patch recently, with a regular season record of 18-10 at the time of writing. The Marlins on the other hand have had a difficult season so far, going 12-15 at the time of writing.
We’ll take a look at the match-up and provide you with our best free MLB betting picks as we try to earn you some extra cash while you take in all the action on the field.
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The reigning World Series champions started their season in perfect fashion despite an earlier start than most, as they claimed consecutive wins over the Chicago Cubs during the MLB Tokyo Series.
They returned to Dodger Stadium a little over a week later to take on the Detroit Tigers on opening weekend and claimed a 5-4 win, before two more wins against Detroit in the following days 8-5 (10 innings) and 7-3 to move to 5-0 for the season.
Next up was a three-game series against the Atlanta Braves where 6-1, 3-1 and 6-5 wins saw them move on to 8-0 with very little going against them, proving their status as favorites to go on and win the World Series once again.
However, LA suffered their first defeat of the season in their next game against the Philadelphia Phillies on the road as they lost 2-3, before then losing three of their next four against the Phillies and Washington Nationals.
The Dodgers then won six of their next eight games, but then fell to four defeats in their next five against the Texas Rangers, Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates. But they come into this game on the back of two consecutive wins over the Pirates and full of confidence.
Miami started their season in positive fashion as they took on the Pirates in their opening four games, going 3-1 as all four games were settled with just a single run separating the teams.
Next came a mini-series against the New York Mets where they were thrashed 4-10 in the first meeting, before they claimed victory in game 2 with a 4-2 win. But their next two games would produce heavy defeats once again, with the Mets claiming a 6-5 win over 11 innings, before the Atlanta Braves earned a stunning 10-0 win.
The team bounced back from that with a 4-0 win against Atlanta, but they then went 3-3 in their next six as they were defeated twice by the Mets on the road before going 2-1 at home against the Washington Nationals.
The Marlins then hit their toughest run of form so far this season as they lost five games on the spin, dropping all three games against the Arizona Diamondbacks 4-10, 2-6 and 4-6, before also losing two thrilling games against the Phillies 2-7 and 10-11.
However, Miami then won four of their next five games thanks to victories against the Cincinnati Reds, the Phillies and the Seattle Mariners. But consecutive defeats to the Mariners in their most recent games mean they come into this game low on confidence with a 12-15 record.
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The Dodgers are going through their first rocky patch of the season with four defeats in their last seven at the time of writing, but they should still have more than enough to get the job done here.
Teoscar Hernandez has started the season in great fashion with 15 runs while hitting a .277 average and eight home runs, while he has been supported well with Tommy Edman hitting 18 runs and eight home runs himself, alongside a .243 batting average.
Then you remember they also have the great Shohei Ohtani on their roster, and he is batting a .286, having hit 26 runs and six home runs this season to show they have got more than enough firepower.
The rosters are different this year, but when they met last season the Dodgers won two out of the three games in their mini-series – including a stunning 20-4 win in their last encounter, while they even scored nine in the game they lost.
Their roster is stacked, and they have far too much firepower against a weak opponent to not score big and come away with a relatively comfortable victory. This Marlins team isn’t strong enough to goe run-for-run with them, so expect the home team to get a big win.
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