L.A. Hopes To Bounce Back From Loss With Win vs Colorado

The Los Angeles Dodgers were 10-2 over their previous 12 regular season games before losing their season opener against the Colorado Rockies on Thursday night. The Dodgers will try to earn their first win of the season on Friday when they take on the Rockies again in Colorado.

Sportsbook Odds Analysis

The Dodgers opened as a massive -281 favorite before being bet down to Los Angeles -242. The Rockies are going off at +222 at home just one night after pulling off the upset as +190 home underdogs. The total has moved up from its opener of 11.5 runs to 12 runs. The OVER is 7-3 in Los Angeles’s last 10 games played in April.

Starting Pitchers Analysis

Trevor Bauer had the best season of his career with the Cincinnati Reds last season, winning the NL Cy Young Award and recording a 1.73 ERA and a 0.79 WHIP with 100 strikeouts across 73 innings pitched. The Dodgers added Bauer to their rotation this offseason with a three-year deal worth $102 million.

Antonio Senzatala enters his fifth year in the major leagues with a career ERA of 5.00 and a career WHIP of 1.43. But he is coming off of a career year in 2020 as he sported a 3.44 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP across 12 starts for the Rockies. The 26 year old is hoping to prove that last season was a step foward in his development is opposed to a fluke.

Los Angeles News & Notes

Clayton Kershaw just didn’t have his best stuff on Thursday night as the veteran lefty allowed five runs in 5.2 innings with only two strikeouts. Five runs is usually enough to win for the Dodgers, who had the best team ERA in the majors last season at 3.02 and figure to be even better this year with the addition of Baeur to the rotation. But on Thursday the Dodgers wound up on the losing end of an 8-5 final score.

Los Angeles enters the 2021 season as the clear favorite to win the World Series going off at +350. All of the key players from last year’s championship group return, and the Dodgers’ treasure trove of talented prospects puts them in position to continue to challenge for World Series titles for years to come.

Colorado News & Notes

Colorado’s new-look offense got the job done on Thursday scoring eight runs against Clayton Kershaw and the talented Dodgers’ bullpen. The Rockies traded away Nolan Arrenado this offseason to the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for pitcher Austin Gomber and a handful of prospects. Colorado also lost David Dahl to free agency.

Newcomer C.J. Cron went 2-for-4 with two runs in the victory. Cron played in only 13 games for the Detroit Tigers last season, but in 2019 and 2018 he batted .253 with a combined 55 home runs across those two seasons. Cron joins Charlie Blackmon and Trevor Story in the middle of a lineup that the Rockies are still hoping can produce plenty of runs in 2021.