Sunday Night Baseball will feature a National League battle of West versus East as the Los Angeles Dodgers (71-46) and New York Mets (59-57) finish a three-game series. The Mets will host this one at Citi Field with the first pitch scheduled for 7:08 pm ET.
After taking the first two games, the Dodgers will be looking for the sweep Sunday. In Saturday’s game, they won 2-1 over the Mets.
In the win, Walker Buehler pitched seven innings of one-run ball while striking out 10. Will Smith hit his 17th home run of the season in the victory.
The Mets got a quality start from Taijuan Walker in the loss as he went 6.2 innings and allowed just a single run. Unfortunately, the offense couldn’t come through for them despite a solo home run from outfielder Michael Conforto.
The Dodgers are the favorites Sunday despite playing on the road. They are -168 to win while the Mets’ Moneyline sits at +142. The runline features New York +1.5 (-126) and the over/under for total runs is eight.
Pitching Matchup
The Los Angeles Dodgers will turn to future Hall-of-Famer Max Scherzer in the finale. On the season, Scherzer is 9-4 with a 2.67 ERA, 0.89 WHIP, and has 163 strikeouts in 121.1 innings pitched.
The Mets will counter with veteran righty Carlos Carrasco (0-0, 6.75 ERA). In his last game, against Washington, he made it through just one inning after giving up four runs on four hits and a walk.
By The Number
Offensively, the Dodgers have been one of the best teams in baseball. They currently rank third in scoring averaging 5.20 runs per game. The Mets rank just 28th averaging 3.81 runs per game (3.54 at home).
The Dodgers have actually been the best team in baseball on the defensive side. In terms of scoring defense, they sit first allowing opponents just 3.63 runs per game. The Mets rank sixth allowing opponents 3.93 runs per game.
Dodgers Trying To Keep Pace With Giants
At 71-46, the Dodgers are tied for the second best record in all of baseball. Unfortunately for Los Angeles, the best record also resides in their division in the San Francisco Giants.
Coming into play Sunday, the Dodgers trail San Francisco by four games in the division. Trying to keep pace with the Giants and to keep their Wild Card spot secured, they will look for the sweep on Sunday.
Leading the way for the Dodgers offensively over the last week has been Cody Bellinger. Despite a rough season for the free swinger, he has hit .261/.320/.739 with three home runs and seven runs batted in over the last week.
Mets In Three-Way Battle
The N.L. East is shaping up to be one of the most intriguing divisions to follow as the season winds down. The reason for that is three teams (Mets, Phillies, Braves) all sit within a game and a half of one another. Unfortunately for the Mets, they currently sit in third and need to find some wins as they battle for the division.
The lone run for the Mets Saturday was off of a home run from Michael Conforto, and he is a player to watch Sunday, too. In his career against Scherzer, he is hitting .379 in 29 at bats with three home runs and four runs batted in off of the righty.
When looking at the whole season, Pete Alonso has been the Mets’ strongest hitter. He currently leads the team in home runs (25), runs batted in (65), and runs scored (56).
Take The Dodgers To Finish The Sweep
Anytime that you have to face the Dodgers it will be a challenge, but with Max Scherzer on the mound, it is almost downright unfair. Especially with Carlos Carrasco yet to find his groove on the mound, this is a game the Dodgers should be able to take with ease.
Take Los Angeles to win and don’t be afraid to take them covering the 1.5 runs on the runline as well.
