The top four seeds would’ve all advanced into the National League Division Series had the upstart Miami Marlins not gone into Wrigley Field and busted the brooms out on the underachieving Chicago Cubs. While the networks would’ve much rather seen the “Loveable Losers” in the NLDS due to its star power located in a big market, the Marlins are simply an incredible story that the Atlanta Braves best not overlook; we’re talking about a team that lost 105 games a season ago for crying out loud! The best-of-five series is set to take place at Minute Maid Park in Houston, TX where the Braves currently find themselves installed decided -302 chalk to win. Then there’s the other division rivalry set to go down in Arlington at Globe Life Field where Mookie Betts and the heavily favored Los Angeles Dodgers will square off against Fernando Tatis Jr. and the San Diego Padres. The NL West rivals saw half of their 10 regular season showdowns be decided by two runs or less, and their respective records were the best in the NL. Still, online sportsbooks don’t foresee Dave Roberts’ squad having much of any issues with the team installed near -300 favs to win the series. LA is also the decided -138 chalk to win the NL pennant followed by the Braves +370, Padres +372 and Marlins +1200.
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Dodgers -295 vs. Padres +241
By way of winning 43 regular season games and sweeping the Milwaukee Brewers in the wild-card round, it comes as no surprise to see the Dodgers the current odds-on +193 favorites to win the World Series for the first time since 1988. This is a team that’s qualified for the playoffs each of the last eight seasons and reached the NLCS half of the time. With that, it’s certainly understandable as to why the betting markets have sided with Justin Turner and company on the series odds against the Padres since they became available to wager upon. They by far have the playoff experience and have been there while this is San Diego’s deepest trek into the postseason since back-to-back showings in the division series back in 2005-2006. Los Angeles hit the board as -291 favs to advance and have since been bet up to -295 after taking six of the 10 meetings with the Padres in the regular season. The O/U split with an average of 8.5 runs scored per game.
LA’s offense is arguably the best in the game. Opposing pitchers could have it rattled the first few times through the order, and then all of a sudden it strikes by hanging crooked numbers on the board. Case in point Game 2 versus Brandon Woodruff who struck out nine and tossed 4+ innings of shutout ball before the Dodgers finally figured him out. The unit ranks No. 1 in scoring offense (5.8 RPG) and home runs (118) while ranking No. 10 in batting average. On top of all that, it’s better than average in the stolen base department, not fair! Backing the offense up is the league’s No. 1 ranked team ERA (3.02) and NL-best bullpen. However, the Padres have the offensive arsenal to hang in this series with it raking against righties (No. 2) and checking in at No. 8 versus southpaws. But does it have enough in the tank on the bump? San Diego’s bullpen showed well in the wild-card round, but was average in the regular season (No. 14). If Dinelson Lamet and Mike Clevinger are healthy and able to give it a go, it would dramatically improve San Diego’s chances of competing in this series. If not, the Dodgers offense will prove to be too much of an obstacle for “Slam Diego” to compete with.
Braves -302 vs. Marlins +247
Everything lined up perfectly for the Marlins in the opening round. The Cubs entered the series struggling terribly at the plate save for an end of season eruption against the Chicago White Sox whose pitching staff faltered dramatically down the stretch. With that, Miami’s young fire ballers simply cut through their batting lineup with ease. Had the teams matched up a couple times in the regular season, it likely would’ve been a different end to the story. Be that as it may, Miami did what it needed to do to spring the upset and cash a big ticket on the series odds. Unfortunately, they now have to run up against a division rival that saw it 10 times over the course of the regular season. Atlanta went on to win six of those matchups, and put forth some dramatic one-sided victories during that stretch. Who will ever forget the 29-9 thumping they handed the Fish back on September 9?! Or the 11-1 triumph at the tail end of the month which amounted to the Braves taking three of the division rival’s last four regular season meetings.
While the Marlins are no doubt an up and coming team that’s without a doubt ahead of schedule in the rebuild, it’s up against it in this series with the Braves. Though it didn’t show in the series against Cincinnati, Atlanta possesses one of the more lethal offenses in the league. It closed the regular season out ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 in runs scored, batting average, OPS and home runs. While the starting staff leaves a bit to be desired, Max Fried and Ian Anderson have been nothing if not rock solid atop the rotation, and the bullpen rates out amongst the best in the league. The former allowed seven hits and 2 ER through two starts against the Fish in the regular season, while the latter gave up 1 ER and struck out 10 in his lone appearance against Miami. With the Braves ranked No. 1 in all of baseball against right-handed pitching and the Marlins having nothing but righties to throw at them on the starting bump, it all adds up pretty easily. Go ahead and “sharpie” Atlanta into the NLCS!
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