Diamondbacks vs. Dodgers MLB Preview and Best Bet

The Dodgers keep on winning and the Diamondbacks keep on losing. L.A. will look for a three-game sweep of the D-Backs on Wednesday. The Dodgers have won five straight games overall and are 13-2 against Arizona. Tuesday’s win clinched a playoff spot, but Los Angeles still has its eyes set on running down the Giants for the NL West crown. The Diamondbacks, meanwhile, have lost eight of their last 10.    

For this matchup, let’s take a look into the MLB odds and how you should be wagering over at the top-rated sportsbooks. 

Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Los Angeles Dodgers

Wednesday, September 15, 2021 – 10:10 PM EDT at Dodger Stadium 

The Dodgers keep on winning, and the Diamondbacks just keep losing. Los Angeles, the defending World Series champions, have the second-best record in baseball and, on Tuesday, became the second team to clinch a playoff spot this season. The Diamondbacks, meanwhile, have the second-worst record in MLB, just a half-game better than the Orioles. 

When Dodgers and D-Backs meet, it hasn’t been pretty. Los Angeles is 13-2 against Arizona this year and has taken the first two games of this week’s three-game series. The Dodgers have won five straight games, while Arizona has lost eight of their last 10. Even though L.A. wrapped up a spot in the postseason, Los Angeles still has its eyes set on running down the Giants for the NL West crown.  

Not Competitive 

In the best division in baseball, the Diamondbacks picked a bad year to tank. Arizona is an unthinkable 48 games out of first place, 28 and a half back in the Wild Card race. The Diamondbacks are just overwhelmed against top competition, going 27-63, .300, against teams with a winning record.  

The Dodgers have feasted on the D-Backs this year. In their 15 games, which produced 13 Los Angeles wins, the Dodgers have scored five or more runs 10 times, including their last four games against each other, while the Diamondbacks have scored three or fewer 10 times. 

The Diamondbacks are turning to young players in this lost season, but even that isn’t going well. First baseman Seth Beer was making his first career start in just his fifth MLB game on Tuesday and ended up dislocating his left shoulder diving for a hit. He’ll be out for the foreseeable future.  

Arizona was scheduled to start lefty Madison Bumgarner as it tries to avoid the sweep. He is 7-10, 4.66 on the year. It now appears, however, that Merrill Kelly will return from the COVID list to make his first start since mid-August.   

  

Back in the Playoffs 

It’s official: The Dodgers will get the chance to defend their title. A playoff berth wasn’t in doubt, but the team mathematically clinched its ticket on Tuesday night and will be headed back to the postseason for a franchise-record ninth straight year.  

The previous eight trips have come with a National League West title, however, and the Dodgers still have work to do to repeat that for the ninth season. They are two and a half games behind the surprising Giants, but the two teams will not meet again in the regular season.  

Obviously, catching the Giants is important, because the Dodgers would like to avoid the one-and-done Wild Card game as they look to repeat as world champions. No team has won back-to-back titles in the last two decades, and no National League team has done it since 1976 when the Big Red Machine won its second straight.  

The @Dodgers are going to the #postseason for the 9th straight season; their longest streak in franchise history. pic.twitter.com/pVzmuoxyWi

— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) September 15, 2021

The Dodgers got a boost on Tuesday when closer Kenley Jansen returned from the paternity list after taking time off for the birth of his daughter. He closed out the ninth in a non-save situation. 

The Dodgers will start Cy Young candidate Julio Urias, who is 17-3, 2.98 on the year. Urias has posted wins in each of his last four starts, beating the Giants, Braves and getting two wins over the Padres. He has dominated the D-Backs, going 2-0, 0.77 against them.  

The Pick 

The Dodgers are an expensive MLB pick, and the high price is merited. They haven’t had any uncertainty about making the playoffs for months, so clinching it won’t change their approach to the remaining games as they set sights on taking the West.   

There is simply no reason to believe that the Diamondbacks will win.

MLB Pick: Dodgers (-338) with BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)

Dodgers (-338)

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*The pick reflects the line at the moment the writer made the play, the odds at the beginning of this article show the live line movement. Since the lines might vary, don’t forget to refer back to our live odds.

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