Top MLB Odds, Picks & Predictions: Wednesday (Dodgers vs. Padres)
The official Opening Day in Major League Baseball is not until next Thursday (March 28), but the league is treating bettors and fans alike to its first two regular season games on Wednesday and Thursday morning with a two-game set between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres as part of the MLB World Tour Seoul Series in South Korea.
Given the time difference, each of these two games has first pitch at 6:05 am, so be sure to get your bets in early.
Read on for our MLB Best Bets for Wednesday.
Wednesday’s Best MLB Bets
(Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook)
Los Angeles Dodgers (-194) vs. San Diego Padres (+162) | O/U 8.5 (-122/+100)
The Dodgers won 100 games last season, and that figures to be the floor for the team this year after spending $1.2B in the offseason to lure prized acquisitions like Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamomoto. As such, the Dodgers are not likely to be favorites of less than -200 often during the season, but they are in this case, given the uncertainty surrounding starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow and how the team will adjust to playing in South Korea.
Los Angeles went 87-53 overall as favorites last season, and won 64.1% of its games (25-14) when playing as a moneyline favorite of -198 or shorter. That makes San Diego’s +162 odds were a gamble, especially since Glasnow is coming off a season allowing by far his highest barrel percentage (11.6%) over a full season, which ranked in the fourth percentile. He also ranked in the bottom 15% of all pitchers in exit velocity and hard-hit percentage allowed, while his fastball velocity was the lowest it has been since 2017.
San Diego lost a key piece of its lineup when Juan Soto went to the New York Yankees, but this is still a team that started strong ranking in the top 10 in the league in home runs for the first month of the season. Yu Darvish has held current Dodgers hitters to a .181/.264/.336 slash line in his career, including striking out Mookie Betts more times (7) than hits allowed to him (6) in 31 at-bats. Darvish went 2-0 with a 2.89 ERA and 10 strikeouts in 9 1/3 innings in spring training, and given that he has a career 3.25 ERA in the first month of the season (his best of any single month), we expect him to put the Padres in a position to steal this opening game from the NL West favorites.
Pick: Padres Moneyline (+162)
Make sure to check out our other best bets for Tuesday:
- NHL Prop Betting Cheat Sheet
- Top NHL Odds, Picks & Predictions
- NBA Same Game Parlay Odds, Picks & Predictions
- 2024 NCAA Tournament PrizePicks Player Predictions
- MLB No Runs First Inning (NRFI) Picks: (Dodgers vs. Padres)
Mike Spector is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from Mike, check out his archive and follow him @MikeSpector01.