The Texas Rangers are on the road at the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday to start a three game series. The Texas Rangers are the defending World Series Champions, but have started slow this season. The Rangers are 31-34 on the season, which is still second in the West. But, the Rangers trail Seattle by five games in the divisional race. Texas is 5-5 over their last 10 games.
For the Los Angeles Dodgers, they are 41-26 on the season. The Dodgers are leading the National League West. Los Angeles was looking for a sweep on Sunday, but fell to the New York Yankees. The Dodgers are 6-4 in their last 10 games.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are -155 over the Texas Rangers in this one.
Defending Champion Rangers
Dane Dunning will get the start for the Texas Rangers in this game. Dunning enters the game with a 4-4 record and a 4.09 earned run average. Dunning has thrown 50.2 innings this season, and struck out 57 batters. The righthander has allowed 10 homeruns in 10 starts this season.
Texas has struggled to get things going consistently this season. The offense is 12th in runs scored, and 12th in runs allowed. The offense has a .242 batting average, and opponents are hitting .227 against them. The Rangers are 16th in baseball with 66 homeruns on the season.
The top offensive threat for the Rangers has been Corey Seager. Seager and Adolis Garcia are the top home run hitters for the Rangers. They both have 13 on the season. Marcus Semien has 11 on the season. The Rangers start a three game series in Seattle on Friday to continue their road trip.
First Place Dodgers
For the Los Angeles Dodgers, James Paxton will get the nod. The 35 year old lefthander took his first loss of the season in his last start. Overall, he is 5-1 with a 4.19 earned run average. Paxton has struck out just 33 batters in 53.2 innings this season.
Los Angeles, of course, is led by Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. Teoscar Hernandez actually leads the entire team with 16 homeruns. Ohtani has 15 and Betts 10. Freeman is behind at 8, but has a .290 batting average on the season. Ohtani leads the team at .310.
As a team the Dodgers are scoring 4.9 runs per game. The Dodgers have a .256 batting average, and their 86 homeruns are third in all of baseball. Los Angeles will remain at home after this series. The Kansas City Royals will enter town for a three game weekend.
Dodgers Top Rangers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are at home, and going to take advantage of taking a Rangers team that just cannot seem to get things, and keep things together. We are going to take the Los Angeles Dodgers to slug around Dane Dunning and win this game. Both teams score plenty of runs here, so consider taking the OVER. Our final bet is the Los Angeles Dodgers -155 over the Texas Rangers on Tuesday!
