Dodgers vs Padres Odds, Lines, and Pick

• The Dodgers aim to continue their hot start against the NL West rival San Diego Padres 
• The pitching matchup features Clayton Kershaw against former teammate Yu Darvish 
• Read below for a preview and betting prediction for the game

The Los Angeles Dodgers — and their big league-best 12-2 record — go for their eighth straight win against the Padres Saturday in San Diego (8:40pm ET) .

The three-game series resumes featuring a pitching matchup between Clayton Kershaw and Padres hurler Yu Darvish.

Dodgers vs Padres Odds

Odds as of April 16th

Dave Roberts’ club took the first game of the series Friday thanks to a wildly entertaining 11-6 victory in 12 innings. Now, Mookie Betts and Co. enter the series Saturday as a slight favorites in the Dodgers vs Padres odds.

The Dodgers broke open a back-and-forth affair with five runs in the 12th inning that started with a Corey Seager two-run bomb. A night after picking up his first career regular season save, David Price earned his first victory in a Dodger uniform — while adding an RBI sacrifice fly.

Darvish will try to slow the Dodgers juggernaut.

Dodgers’ Career Stats vs Darvish

Yu Da Man

Considering combined service time, it’s somewhat astonishing only a handful of Dodger players have ever faced Darvish — who’s been pitching in the big leagues since 2012.

After a shaky Padre debut in a game San Diego eventually won 8-7 over the Diamondbacks on Opening Day, the 34-year-old has been  lights out in his last two outings.

Yu Darvish, Breaking Ball Filth. 😷 pic.twitter.com/QVw39fdpCA

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 13, 2021

Darvish has tossed a combined 13 innings, allowing only six hits and two walks while striking out 13. On the year, he owns a 3.06 ERA. He’s only faced the Dodgers — a team he narrowly won a World Series with in 2017 — once during his career.

That one game was a dominant one, in which he went seven innings, giving up only two hits and a walk against 10 strikeouts in a no-decision.

The four-time All-Star faces a stacked lineup that may not have experience against him, but one that certainly has enjoyed a great start to the 2021 season.

Justin Turner leads the Boys in Blue with a .440 batting average, which is good for second in the NL behind Brandon Nimmo, and is slugging a ridiculous .800. Turner also has team-highs in home runs (four) and RBI (14). His nacho home run Wednesday night served as one of the MLB highlights of April.

Max Muncy, Corey Seager and Mookie Betts are all hitting above .300 this season and even though they have a combined 1-for-9 mark against Darvish, the trio — along with Turner — pose a major threat to any pitching staff.

Padres’ Career Stats vs Kershaw

Kershaw Kryptonite

For years, success in the postseason was future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw’s Achilles’ heel. But after finally breaking through in 2020 with a World Series title, the three-time Cy Young Award winner’s new Kryptonite might be San Diego’s lineup.

To say this group of Padres has had success against him would be an understatement. It starts with another former teammate in Manny Machado.

In 18 career ABs against Kershaw, Machado has five hits, including two homers with six runs driven in. But Machado isn’t alone in relative ownership over Kersh.

Trent Grisham and Eric Hosmer have also taken the brilliant southpaw deep, while five — five! — probable starters Jayce Tingler will have in his lineup Saturday have a career batting average against him of .300 or better.

The comfort level San Diego has with Kershaw  and  the lack of familiarity the Dodgers have with Darvish has me fading LA Saturday.

The pick: Padres ML (+112)

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