The Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies meet for Game 1 of the NLDS on Saturday.
The pregame narrative: It’s very reasonable to say that the NL’s two best teams are meeting up in this series. Los Angeles enters Game 1 as an underdog, but I’ll happily back the visiting club on this ticket. I’m also looking to back a certain L.A. outfielder and fade Philadelphia starter Cristopher Sanchez.
Check out my +275 Dodgers vs. Phillies predictions for Game 1, featuring a prop bet on Andy Pages.
Dodgers vs. Phillies predictions
Parlay: Dodgers ML | Pages 1+ hits | Sanchez under 6.5 Ks (+275)
Dodgers ML (+104): Shohei Ohtani gets the ball for L.A., and that’s bad news for Philadelphia.
The Dodgers starter enters the playoffs in fine form. He pitched 14.2 innings across three appearances in September, allowing zero earned runs, striking out 18, and surrendering two walks.
That included five hitless innings with five punchouts against Philadelphia.
Historically, Phillies hitters are batting a lowly .091 with a dreadful .252 xwOBA in 23 plate appearances versus Ohtani.
The southpaw also boasts a dominant 30.4% strikeout rate against this lineup.
Sanchez starts for Philadelphia, and there’s reason to be concerned, but more on that later.
MLB SGP legs
Pages 1+ hits (-180): I like the value on Pages to get a hit for several reasons.
Firstly, this is a pretty solid hitter. Pages batted .272 on the campaign, bringing his average up 24 points from the previous season (.248).
The outfielder does well against left-handed pitchers like Sanchez, too, which helps his cause in this contest. Pages posted a .313 BA vs. LHPs this year, compared to just .258 BA vs. RHPs.
He’s also familiar with Sanchez, specifically. The two have squared off 10 times, with Pages registering a hit in four of their meetings.
Pages swatted two hits against Sanchez the last time these two squared off on Sept. 16.
Sanchez under 6.5 strikeouts (-182): Lastly, I’m fading Sanchez on his strikeouts prop.
Sanchez was one of MLB’s best at generating punchouts this past season, ranking seventh among all hurlers (212 Ks).
But this number seems a little too high for several reasons.
Firstly, this isn’t a total Sanchez tops regularly. The lefty has gone below this mark in nine of his last 12 outings. One of those misses was a six-strikeout effort vs. this Dodgers squad.
Additionally, L.A. has been able to generate offence against Sanchez in their meetings. Sanchez surrendered eight earned runs across two appearances vs. L.A. this year.
With managers having a lower tolerance for pitching woes in the postseason, a shorter outing from Sanchez likely keeps him below the number.
Dodgers vs. Phillies predictions as of 12:36 p.m. on 10/04/2025.
Stevie’s an avid NFL, NHL, and tennis bettor who has no problem talking himself into the underdog. His previous stops include Yahoo! Sports Canada and Toronto Metropolitan University, where he received a degree in Sport Media.