Yamamoto Will Lead Dodgers To Half-Game Win

Dodgers vs. Diamondbacks, 9:40 ET

Getting too jazzed up about baseball at this particular moment in the year can be a bit difficult. The NHL playoffs are going on, which are some of my favorite because the games are so much better. The NBA playoffs are in full swing, and it is like night and day in comparison to the regular season (although teams consistently lose 20 point leads in the regular season, too). But, some days, we get lucky and find that there is at least one matchup that is worth tuning into, and I've found it here as the Dodgers take on the Diamondbacks. 

If there is an Achilles heel on the Dodgers, it is their medical staff. Okay, maybe that's an unnecessary shot at them. Every team runs into some bad luck but they seem like whoever is their doctor cannot keep their pitching staff even remotely healthy. That wasn't even what I originally was thinking about though. Originally, I was thinking that their biggest weakness that they should be able to control better is their performance on the road. 75% of their losses this season have been as a visiting team. They are 25-12 overall, and just 10-9 away from Dodger Stadium. To hopefully combat their bad performances on the road is Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who might have the most fun name to say in all of baseball. Yamamoto has been spectacular this season with a 0.90 ERA and a 0.93 WHIP. He also has 49 strikeouts in 40 innings. Diamondbacks hitters haven't faced Yamamoto much, but he did hold them to just three hits and five strikeouts in 24 at-bats. 

The Diamondbacks have quite a few more holes in their armor than the Dodgers do. Let's be real, aside from the Mets, pretty much every team has some holes in the team. Those two, and I guess the Yankees, are the few that can just continuously throw money at problems and make it work. The Diamondbacks have really had to grow their team internally and develop players. There is nothing wrong with that, and the team is very good, as proven by their World Series appearance two years ago. This season just hasn't gone great for them yet. They are just 19-18 and 9-10 at home. The hitting and pitching numbers both show signs that they could improve, but overall, it hasn't been bad. Today they send out one starter who has had a pretty good year to this point, Brandon Pfaadt. Pfaadt does not have a fun name to say and has a stupid way to spell a last name. However, he is 5-2 with a 3.79 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP. Spell or say your name however you want. With those numbers you can take the ball every five days in any rotation. He has posted a quality start in all four of his home starts this season. The bad news is that Dodgers hitters have done very well against Pfaadt, and are hitting .329 in 79 at-bats with almost half of their hits going for extra bases. 

There are a few player props that stand out in this one - Freddie Freeman should get over 1.5 total bases. He has only four hits against Pfaadt, but three of them went for extra bases. Shohei Ohtani hasn't homered off of him and it seems like Ohtani homers off of everyone, so he's probably due. The real play here for me is that the Dodgers are going to be winning after five innings. Pfaadt has been good, but he hasn't been untouchable at home. Yamamoto has been unreal for the Dodgers. Back the first five run line. 

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