MLB Odds: Mets vs. Dodgers prediction, pick, how to watch

The New York Mets take on the Los Angeles Dodgers. Our MLB odds series has our Mets Dodgers prediction and pick. Find out how to watch Mets Dodgers.

The Los Angeles Dodgers continue to struggle. We have seen them endure bad months of April before. They were 12-16 through their first 28 games in the 2018 season, and they made the World Series that year. It’s still early, and the Dodgers do have the 162-game runway in which to sort out their foremost flaws. It’s not too late. Not at all. The 2022 Seattle Mariners were in a much worse position than the Dodgers currently are. Seattle was below .500 in early June and seemingly buried in the standings. The Mariners then won 14 games in a row, turned around their season, and made the American League Division Series.

The Dodgers do have plenty of time here in mid-April.

However: One can certainly see that the Dodgers don’t have nearly as good a roster as they have in the recent past. No Corey Seager and Trea Turner has meant a lot. Losing those two players has taken the starch out of their offense. The Dodgers just got shut down in three straight games by the Chicago Cubs at home. Justin Steele, Jameson Taillon, and Drew Smyly — solid pitchers, but not elite pitchers — all handcuffed Dodger hitters this past weekend at Dodger Stadium. Los Angeles did not score more than two runs in any of those three games. L.A. hitters managed a total of three runs against the Cubs’ starters. That’s crazy.

Since the Dodgers aren’t nearly as good at the plate as they were last year, their pitching limitations — without Walker Buehler and Tony Gonsolin — are more profound. The Dodgers could win a lot of 2-1 and 3-2 games with Buehler and Gonsolin healthy and able to pitch. They can’t expect to win nearly as many low-scoring games with two core starters unavailable. The Dodgers have to find a way to hang in there over the next few months until the summer, when they are very likely to make a trade deadline move for a high-end piece.

Here are the Mets-Dodgers MLB odds,

MLB Odds: Mets-Dodgers Odds

New York Mets: +1.5 (-152)

Los Angeles Dodgers: -1.5 (+126)

Over: 8.5 (-120)

Under: 8.5 (-102)

How To Watch Mets vs. Dodgers

TV: SNY (Mets) / SportsNet LA (Dodgers) / MLB Network regional coverage

Stream: MLB.tv

Time: 10:10 p.m. ET/7:10 p.m. PT

*Watch Mets-Dodgers LIVE on fuboTV (click for a free trial)*

Why The Mets Could Cover The Spread

The Mets just did what they were supposed to do: Sweep the A’s in Oakland. The Mets are confident and feeling great about themselves heading to Los Angeles against a Dodger team whose hitting struggles are well-documented and profound. The Mets got very good pitching in Oakland, but if you say that the Mets flourished solely because the A’s are a horrendous team (which is a very reasonable claim to make), keep in mind that Mets pitching was good last week against the San Diego Padres, too. Buck Showalter is getting the pitching he needs from his team on a consistent basis. The consistency of the Mets’ pitching is what gives them a really good chance of beating the slumping Dodgers. New York won’t allow Los Angeles to wake up.

Why The Dodgers Could Cover The Spread

The Dodgers’ biggest advantage in this game is that Dustin May is their starter, matched against David Peterson. May has the most upside of any Dodger starter. He throws 100-mile-per-hour heat with late movement and bite. He is a shutdown pitcher who has clearly improved from past seasons and seems ready to put all the pieces together in his promising career, which has been inconsistent to this point in time but could be about to take off. Peterson, meanwhile, is a back end rotational piece on the Mets’ staff. He is a solid pitcher, but he is not a shutdown pitcher. He will give up a few runs per game. With May on the bump, the Dodgers could win a 3-1 or 4-2 game in which their offense doesn’t run wild. The Dodgers have a good chance of scoring more than two runs after scoring only two in each of their past three games.

Final Mets-Dodgers Prediction & Pick

The Dodgers should score four or five runs, which should be enough to cover with May on the mound. This might end 5-3 or 4-2 for Los Angeles.

Final Mets-Dodgers Prediction & Pick: Dodgers -1.5