This Friday the (73-59) San Diego Padres and the (90-39) Los Angeles Dodgers will play game one of this three-game series. The first pitch will be thrown out at 10:10 PM EST inside Dodgers Stadium. Los Angeles still has an 18.5-game lead over the second-place San Diego Padres in the NL West.
The Padres are coming into this one after winning their previous series against the San Francisco Giants. They swept San Francisco in three games, as they looked great at the plate. The Padres scored 15 combined runs in those three games.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are entering this one after a tough series with the New York Mets. They split the first two games, as the Dodgers couldn't get their bats going against deGrom in game two. They will need their bats to wake up if they want to challenge the Padres in this one.
This game was written/published before last night's results.
The San Diego Padres are 7-3 in their last 10, as their strong play has given them a 2.5-game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers for the third and final NL Wild Card spot. Unfortunately, they are still 18.5 games back from the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West. They need to win these games to avoid losing their Wild Card spot.
At the plate, the Padres are scoring 4.48 runs per game and they are hitting .243 as a team. This is the 15th most runs scored per game and the 16th highest overall team batting average. As of late, they have been driving in men when they are in scoring position. San Diego has struggled to show off their power this season, though. They are only hitting .91 home runs per game, which is the 22nd lowest average in the MLB. The Padres will also stay conservative once they have reached base safely. They have only stolen 38 bases this season, which is the third least in the entire league.
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According to MLB.com, the Padres will be starting Yu Darvish on the mound. He is currently 11-7 with a. 3.41 ERA and a .99 WHIP. In his last start he pitched for 7.0 innings and gave up five hits and three earned runs to the Kansas City Royals. That win did snap a three-game losing streak for him, though. Darvish has also had a few issues on the road this season, as he is 5-5 with a 4.44 ERA. San Diego's bullpen has also been solid this season. They have the 13th lowest overall bullpen ERA in the league, as they are only allowing 3.74 runs per game. As a team, they are allowing 4.14 runs per game, which is the 10th least in the league.