The Los Angeles Dodgers take on the San Diego Padres in Game 4 of this five game Wild Card series. This series has been extremely close with back-and-forth games so far. The Dodgers came out strong winning Game 1 and it seemed like it would be another Dodgers playoff series where they absolutely roll over their opponent, but the Padres bounced back. They won Game 2 in Los Angeles after the Dodgers came back on them multiple times. Then they won last night in a close game behind the efforts of their pitching staff. The Padres are now up 2-1 in the series with a home game. They have one of their horses going in Joe Musgrove and he faces Tyler Anderson of the Dodgers. Anderson dominated this year during the regular season, but this season kind of came out of nowhere. He did make a postseason start in 2017 and absolutely dominated, throwing a quality start, and only allowing one run.
Tyler Anderson will be the Dodgers starter today and he has a bit of playoff experience, but I am still not sure how long he will last. This is an elimination game for the Dodgers so I would think he would come out at any sign of trouble. He will face Joe Musgrove from the Padres. Joe Musgrove signed an extension this season and has really had a breakout season. He hasn’t allowed a run in any of his last three starts and that includes a playoff start against the Mets in an elimination game where he went seven innings while allowing just one hit. He has been about as unhittable as it gets his past few turns in the rotation. The Padres bullpen has also really impressed me. They were able to keep the Dodgers scoreless against the bullpen last night and ended up winning a close game because of them. I think they will continue to pitch well, and they really only need two or three relievers after Joe Musgrove today.
However, I think this will be a low scoring game and the I don’t think the Dodgers go down without a fight. The Padres bullpen has been great this season, but the Dodgers bullpen was ranked 2nd in the league this year for a reason. They have plenty of bullpen depth and they were ranked 1st in the league in wOBA this season, so I think they are able to outlast the Padres and force Game 5.
John's Pick: Dodgers ML @ -125
