Los Angeles Dodgers: Clayton Kershaw looks to lead LA to a series win

The Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees are tied at one apiece in what is being dubbed the best regular-season series of the year.

The Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees are in the third and final game of a weekend series that is arguably the best regular-season series, for any team, in 2019.

Not only is this a potential World Series preview, but this pits two teams with so much history against one another. The Yankees and Dodgers will always be synonymous with each other, and while they each have their own rivals in the Red Sox and Giants, these matchups feel more special because of their rarity.

This is only the fifth time ever that the two teams have squared off in the regular season and is the first time since 2004 (the first time these two teams met in the regular season) that both teams will make the playoffs.

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This is about as big as it can get in the regular season without playoff implications and even this has some implications as the Dodgers hold a two-game lead over the Yankees for potential home-field advantage in the World Series.

The Yankees won the first game in an absolute blowout where the bats showed up and punished Dodger pitching. The Dodgers won the second game in a tightly contested pitcher duel that yielded one home run for each team.

The table is set for a great and intense game on Sunday. Clayton Kershaw takes the mound with a 0.90 career ERA against the Yankees while being a beacon of consistency this season. Domingo German opposes Kershaw with a 5.72 ERA in his last seven games, albeit he has a 16-3 record on the season.

On paper, the Dodgers should have the advantage on Sunday. However, the Yankees still have the best power-hitting lineup in baseball and a bullpen that is very tough to score against.

But let’s not forget that Kershaw ranks fourth in the MLB in run support as the Dodgers average 6.82 runs per Kershaw start.

The Dodgers should look to pile the runs up early against German. As part of our Los Angeles Dodgers Beat the Streak series, here is who we think can provide at least one base hit to get the job done.

Jason’s pick (Current streak: 1): Max Muncy

Max Muncy did not get a hit yesterday against the southpaw and was not great on Friday against James Paxton, either. Finally, Muncy and the Dodgers get a matchup against a right-handed pitcher that should yield some results for the power-hitting bats in the lineup.

The offense has been pretty poor in these first two games and has not scored more than three runs since the team burst out for 16 against the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday. While they aren’t due for 16 runs, they are due for some offensive output, much to the dismay of German.

Muncy is going to be part of that offensive output as a threat to not only reach base with his immaculate plate vision but to put some runs on the board himself.

Muncy’s average has been bad over the last two weeks but his power numbers are there. This feels like the kind of game where his hard-hit balls find the gap and he has a multihit showing to get his average out of the rut it has been in.