Padres @ Dodgers Predictions April 22: Buehler to twirl a gem

The most exciting match-up of Thursday in Major League Baseball will be the final game on the ledger as former #7 overall pick LHP Ryan Weathers (1-0 0.93 ERA) takes on the quite outstanding RHP Walker Buehler (1-0 2.00 ERA) as the San Diego Padres face-off with the Los Angeles Dodgers for a four-game series starting tonight a week after a rather fiery three-game series at Petco Park.

There is little doubt that these two sides are among the most talented in the game. The rivalry is also really being taken up a notch. Friday’s game was one of the best of the season so far and 24 hours later - Clayson Kershaw and Yu Darvish went at it. When Trevor Bauer and Blake Snell rounded out the series - it once more emphasizes the talent that these two teams possess.

Thursday’s match-up is a repeat of what we saw last Friday. Weathers’ made his first career start that night and whilst he only went three and two thirds - he didn’t give up a run. That quality shone but with a beaten up bullpen, his team will need a bit more length. As for Buehler, every baseball fan has watched him over the past couple of years and wished he was part of their teams starting rotation.

It should be noted that the Dodgers got the day off on Wednesday and that will certainly be a help for the home side. 

The Picks:

I’m concentrating on the total runs market as I think this’ll be a real pitchers duel. Last time these two faced off - the two starters only gave up two runs in their 9.2 innings pitched but the bullpens were pretty well shelled. This time around though I reckon they’ll be held much more in check.

I like Buehler to dominate the Padres line-up and lead his team to a low scoring win. The over/under line has been set at eight runs and I’m leaning strongly that the under is a good play at -115.

Backing the Dodgers to win with a 1.5 run handicap also isn’t the worst bet in the world at +120. Ryan Weathers will do well to go more than five innings and give up fewer than three runs. If Buehler can go seven and not give up more than a run - which is very plausible - I can see the Dodgers winning a 4-2 type game.