Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports/Sipa USA

Los Angeles Dodgers vs Los Angeles Angels: The battle for LA

The Los Angeles Dodgers are visiting the Los Angeles Angels in the series opener tonight Angels Stadium.

The Dodgers are the best team in the league

The Los Angeles Dodgers are on top of the NL West with a league-best 83-55 record, including 38-31 on the road. They have won 5 of their last 6 games and are coming off an 11-6 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Dodgers have a 3.86 ERA, a .231 batting average, a .301 on-base percentage, and 1.22 walks plus hits per inning pitched. Shohei Ohtani is the best player on the team with 157 hits, 109 runs, and 44 home runs.

Can the defending champs save the season?

The Los Angeles Angels are at the bottom of the AL West with a 57-80 record, including 29-41 at home. They have won 3 of their last 4 games and are coming off a 3-2 win over the Seattle Mariners. The Angels have a 4.52 ERA, a .239 batting average, a .324 on-base percentage, and 1.32 walks plus hits per inning pitched. Zach Neto is the best player on the team with 115 hits, 60 runs, and 20 home runs for the season.

Betting Trends

The Angels are 5-14 SU in their last 19 games overall, 3-6 SU in their last 9 home games and 1-5 SU in their last 6 home games against the Dodgers. The Angels have played over the total run line in 8 of their last 11 games against teams from the NL West and 13 of their last 19 games played on Tuesday while they have stayed under in 4 of their last 6 games overall. The Dodgers are 5-1 SU in their last 6 games overall, 11-1 SU in their last 12 games against the Angels, 9-2 SU in their last 11 games against teams from the AL and 5-0 SU in their last 5 games against teams from the AL West. The Dodgers have played over the total run line in their last 6 games overall and 4 of their last 5 games on the road.

Prediction and Conclusion

The two teams from LA are in a completely different situation going into this series. The Dodgers are on top of the league, while the Angels are among the worst. Both teams will give a chance to players who were not very successful this season. The Dodgers will start Walker Buehler, who is 1-4 for the season with a 5.88 ERA, 39 K, 49 IP, and 1.63 WHIP. The Angels will have Reid Detmers on the mound, who is 3-6 for the season with a 6.14 ERA, 70 K, 63 IP, and 1.48 WHIP. None of these will be able to control the pace of the game, so we will probably have a lot of scoring from the start of the game, so we go with over 9.5 total runs.