Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Milwaukee Brewers NL Wildcard MLB Picks, Odds, and Predictions 9/30/20

The Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers meet Wednesday in game one of the National League World Card MLB playoffs at Dodger Stadium. 

The Milwaukee Brewers are in the postseason for a third straight year and hope to get out of the wild card for the second time during that span. The Milwaukee Brewers enter the playoffs splitting their last 10 games. The Brewers have to get something offensively in this series in order to have a chance, as they averaged just 4.12 runs per game and hit .223 on the season, both near the bottom in the MLB. The only reason the Brewers snuck into the postseason is because the pitching staff has an ERA of 4.16 and a 1.23 WHIP, both better than league average. Keston Hiura leads the Brewers with 46 hits and 22 RBI while Orlando Arcia and Avisail Garcia have combined for 88 hits and 35 RBI. The Milwaukee Brewers didn’t announce a starting pitcher at the time this article was published. (will update)

The Los Angeles Dodgers are in the postseason for an eighth straight season and are the odds on favorites to win the World Series. The Los Angeles Dodgers enter the playoffs winning 10 of their last 12 games. The Dodgers are simply the most balanced team in baseball, as they’re first in runs per game (5.82), home runs (118), and the pitching staff is first in ERA (3.01) and WHIP (1.05). The Dodgers can win games so many ways and it’s why most have them winning the World Series for the first time since 1998. Corey Seager leads the Dodgers with 65 hits and 41 RBI while Mookie Betts and AJ Pollock have combined for 118 hits and 73 RBI. Walker Buehler gets the ball, and he was 1-0 this season with a 3.44 ERA and 42 strikeouts this season. Buehler is 1-1 with a 2.72 ERA and 44 strikeouts in his postseason career. 

The Brewers are 6-1 in their last 7 games following a loss, 5-11 in their last 16 road games and 1-4 in their last 5 playoff games. The Dodgers are 6-2 in their last 8 Wednesday games, 76-29 in their last 105 home games and 41-15 in their last 56 overall. The under is 6-1 in Brewers last 7 overall. The over is 5-2-2 in Dodgers last 9 home games. The Brewers are 1-4 in the last 5 meetings. The under is 5-1 in the last 6 meetings.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have built a reputation for choking in the playoffs and have been favored many times over the years to lift the trophy, and they come up short time and time again. However, in this series, it’s hard to see the Brewers having success. The Milwaukee Brewers are one of the worst offensive teams in baseball, and they’re going up against a buzzsaw Dodgers club that does just about everything right. Buehler has also allowed just two earned runs and seven hits in his last 11.2 innings, and he has a 1.31 ERA and .114 allowed batting average in 20.2 innings at home this season. On paper, this should be a quick series victory for the Dodgers, and I don’t care much who the Brewers thitem out on the hill.

Give me the Dodgers and the RL to shave down an expensive ML price.