Los Angeles Dodgers Beat the Streak selections — April 20
By Jason Reed
The Los Angeles Dodgers are coming off of an off-day for the most polarizing matchup of the MLB season thus far; LA vs. Washington, Kershaw vs. Scherzer.
There is no better Dodger game to attend than Friday night’s contest against the Washington Nationals. Not only are fans treated to post-game fireworks, they will see fireworks on the field between Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer. The Dodgers and Nationals give us the best matchup in the MLB thus far this season.
Those that prefer high scoring contests would not be in favor of this game. However, baseball naturalists that appreciate the art of pitching will love this game. Kershaw and Scherzer are the two best pitchers on the planet; who is one and who is two widely depends on who you ask.
For the first time since the start of the decade, though, Kershaw finally has someone to challenge him for that title. There have been great singular season performances, such as Jake Arrieta’s 2015, but nobody has consistently challenged Kershaw. Scherzer is the first.
As exciting as this matchup is, it does not bode well for our Dodgers Beat the Streak series. Before we get into our picks, let’s take a look how we did in the series finale in San Diego on Wednesday.
Wednesday’s picks:
The Dodgers’ offensive surge against the San Diego Padres helped our Beat the Streak selections. On Wednesday, Sarah selected catcher Yasmani Grandal, who has been scorching the cover off of the baseball.
That hot streak continued, as Grandal went 2-5 with a double and an RBI. As for my selection, I picked Cody Bellinger, who also had a pretty good night. Bellinger also went 2-5 with a double and an RBI; producing the exact same stat line as Grandal.
Let’s get right into Friday night’s picks.
Sarah’s pick (Current streak: Three): Chris Taylor
WHY:
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My pick for today is Chris Taylor. One of the most valuable things about Taylor when it comes to his talent on the field is his speed. Speed is a wildly important aspect of the game, especially when you’re playing an elite team like the Nationals.
Tonight, both teams are going to be looking for each and every advantage they can get, since the pitching probably won’t be making many mistakes. Taylor is great at running out a double play, and I think that that, along with his success at the plate, will play a role in tonight’s game versus the Nationals.
Though Taylor definitely has the power to hit homers, Max Scherzer doesn’t give up too many of them. Taylor, however, is one of the best guys in baseball when it comes to stretching a routine single into a double. His eight RBI’s this season are another reason to believe in CT3 tonight.
Jason’s pick (Current streak: Eight): Corey Seager
WHY:
This is easily the hardest selection I have had to make since we started this series a little over a week ago. Thus far, I am a perfect eight for eight on my selections; I have used a mixture of statistical analysis as well as just some luck (like Yasiel Puig’s broken single in the first game of this series).
However, the Dodgers are yet to face a guy like Scherzer during this series. Hits are going to be hard to come by and it is safe to assume that both Kershaw and Scherzer may allow a combined five or fewer hits. It will be a story of who blinks first.
Thus, I am going with the best natural hitter on the Dodgers in Corey Seager. Seager is coming off of a 4-5 game, which is a scary pick as hitters rarely repeat the feat. However, I am hoping that Seager will jump on a 0-0 fastball before falling behind in the count on Scherzer.
Next: Dodgers series preview vs. Nationals
If you fall behind on Scherzer it is very hard to recover and Corey Seager is arguably the best first-pitch hitter on the Dodgers. This pick is my least comfortable to date, but I still have faith.