San Diego Padres vs Los Angeles Dodgers Prediction & Betting Tips - MLB Spring Training

Prediction published on 21/02/2024, 13:20  by Matthew Newman | Modified on 22/02/2024 at 07:10 in Baseball Predictions

The opening game of spring training pitches the reigning National League West champion Los Angeles Dodgers taking on the San Diego Padres. The same two teams will begin the regular season in Korea on March 20. 10 of the last 11 years, the Dodgers have won the division and they look like the team to beat once more. The addition of Shohei Ohtani over the winter will add serious depth to their batting lineup this season and then to their starting pitchers in 2025. Speaking of starting pitching, the Dodgers came to terms with Clayton Kershaw earlier this month to go along with Yoshinobu Yamamoto, James Paxton and Tyler Glasnow. There are few teams with that level of quality on the mound and in Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts and Max Muncy they have three of the top hitters in the game as well. Hopes will be high that they can add another World Series to the one they won in 2020.

San Diego has not won the NL West since 2006. They finished just above .500 last year with an 82-80 record but traded star player Juan Soto to the New York Yankees in the offseason. They got a solid return in terms of pitching and also catcher Kyle Higashioka in return but it remains to be seen how much of a loss Soto will be. Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish will lead the rotation again this year with fans hoping for a strong second season from Xander Bogaerts who is moving to second base from shortstop. They still have Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis who can both put up serious batting numbers to keep them in contention.