MLB Best Bet: Friday, May 20th

The Los Angeles Dodgers had Thursday off to travel to the City of Brotherly Love while the Phighting Phils have been shut out twice over the last 3 games against the Padres before starting this 3-game set at Citizens Bank Park. Our resident MLB expert Ej Garr is following up last night’s easy cash with another play on the total for this matchup as the Over 8.5 makes the board with reasonable odds on the offer.
MLB Best Bet: May 20th

• Philadelphia vs LA Dodgers: Over 8.5 Runs

Odds as of 10:30 am May 20th, 2022. Odds may now differ.

Philadelphia vs LA Dodgers Best Bet

May 21, 00:05 UK time

The total can be seen as 9 at numerous sites but you may also be seeing this line at 8.5 with a price of 1.83. Pinnacle and Marathon are each showing a fair offer on the early line and I want to address those concerns about what we’ve seen from the Phils the last few days. 

Yes, The Padres shut out the Phillies twice as they took 2 games of the 3-game series that wrapped up yesterday. There were only a total of 8 runs scored between the Padres and Phillies over the last 3 days, by the way, so what am I doing offering the Over in this spot?

I am glad you asked because I didn’t want to leave you with any questions unanswered as I now expect all of that to just magically turn around on a Friday evening in Philly. First of all, that weather, baby! Open your forecast and I want you to envision what you think of as baseball weather. It is going to be a balmy 88*F with a nice gentle breeze blowing out to centre field. 

Now, this isn’t Yankee Stadium or Baltimore either, but make no mistake that when the weather in this part of the world gets humid and heated? Oh, baby, buckle up, sunshine! Philadelphia is as much a hitters’ park as any stadium in the nation and I hope it contributes to helping us cash this ticket on the total.

Secondly, hi! Hello, just wanted to say hello and welcome you to the weekend. Okay, now that we have that out of the way let’s talk about starting pitching for this gem. 

Julio Urias is pitching for the Dodgers and I am not sure but what happened in his last start again? Oh, wait, I remember now. The Phillies offence went BONKERS for two days destroying Dodger pitching for 21 runs in the first two games of their 4-game set just last week in LA. Not one, oh, not twice either. Nope, not even thrice but how about all four of those bombs that Urias gave up in the third game of the series with Philly on May 14? The 8 earned runs were his season-worst effort and now he has to face them again in this park in the heat?  

The Phillies won that affair 8 – 3 and the last time Urias saw a mound he was getting jacked up all over the place by this same lineup. Now, he and Phillies’ starter Ranger Suarez are both taking the mound opposing each other this evening again. You’d think that having two lefties on the hill would maybe keep a lineup in check and Suarez did hold his own in that outing giving up only 1 homer through 7 innings with the win.

Suarez has given up at least one bomb in 4 of his 7 starts including 2 that contributed to his only loss of the 2022 campaign against Texas back on May 3. His record of 4 – 1 is outstanding and the Phils are 6 – 1 in his starts as a team as well. One thing Suarez has taken advantage of is outstanding run support when he toes the slab. As you can see, The Phils have scored no less than 4 runs for him in any of his 7 starts so he gets guys fired up to hit behind him.

With that in mind and the weather heating up, we can disregard the last few nights of quiet bats for the Phillies and expect them to come back to life tonight. We just need that tidy 4 – 4 game to come to fruition and we can run into the weekend with another ticket on a total that you’ll need to cash! 

• Selection: Over 8.5 Runs
• Best odds: 1.85 (Marathonbet)
• Stakes 4/10

Odds as of 09:30 am May 20th, 2022. Odds may now differ.

Get more tips for Philadelphia vs LA Dodgers

More baseball tips on bettingexpert
More baseball news on bettingexpert