\nThe\ntop two teams in the National League meet up in Los Angeles this\nweekend for what is all but guaranteed to be an electrifying\nthree-game series. As the NL East-leading Phillies (33-22) head out\nto Chavez Ravine to take on the NL West-leading Dodgers (37-19),\nthere\u2019s a lot to think about when trying to predict where this one\nwill go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nSo\nwhich of these dominant teams has the advantage? Which players should\nyou keep an eye on? And what should you expect to see? Let\u2019s take a\ncloser look.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nThe\nDodgers are currently the best team in the NL, and the second best\nteam in baseball, with only the Twins (.685) ahead of them in the PCT\ncolumn. The Phillies, meanwhile, are trailing close behind them and\nare on very solid footing to hold their division right up to the\nplayoffs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nOn\nthe offensive side of the ball, the Dodgers\u2019 bats are again the\nbest in the NL. With a team slash line of .264\/.350\/.466 and a .817\nOPS. And once again, the only team with a better batting average is\nthe Twins (.273), who of course have the advantage of the designated\nhitter. The Dodgers are also one of only four teams to have scored\nover 300 runs so far this season (Minnesota, Texas, and Boston being\nthe others).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nThe\nPhillies bats, on the other hand, are unquestionably good, but not\ngreat. Hitting a respectable .247\/.330\/.421 with a .751 OPS (again,\nwithout a DH), Philly is good for fifth place in batting in the NL.\nBut while the Dodger could conceivably muscle past just about any\nteam by out-hitting them alone, the Phillies are a team that are\ngoing to require some defensive support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nWhich\nis convenient, because that\u2019s where the Phillies really shine this\nyear. Lead by aces Jake Arrieta and Aaron Nola, the Phillies starting\nrotating, as of today, don\u2019t have a single pitcher in their\nstarting rotation who has a win percentage under .500. Arrieta so far\nhas been reliable as usual this season, putting up a .556 with an ERA\nof 3.60. But it\u2019s Nola who has really stood out for the Phillies\nthis year. Despite an ERA of 4.18, Nola hasn\u2019t been rung up for a\nsingle loss yet this year, while racking up 6 wins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nBut,\nwhat the baseball gods giveth, the baseball gods taketh away. And\nunfortunately for the Phillies, despite their strong rotation, the\nDodgers pitching staff is, once again, the best in the NL, with a\nteam ERA of 3.64 compared to Philly\u2019s 4.09.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nSo\nthe Dodgers have the clear advantage here, despite the Phillies being\na perfectly respectable team. Probable pitchers haven\u2019t been\nannounced yet on the Dodger\u2019s side, as of this writing, but Jake\nArrieta is slated to get the start for the Phillies in the opener.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nIf\nyou\u2019re looking to put something down on the Phillies, that\u2019s\nprobably your best shot. This one could end up being a real wild\nride, but expect the Dodgers to have the edge for the majority of the\nseries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The top two teams in the National League meet up in Los Angeles this weekend for what is all but…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":5630,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[136],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5629"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5629\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5631,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5629\/revisions\/5631"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}