Fan poll: Phillies vs. Dodgers NLDS predictions
After the Los Angeles Dodgers easily took care of the Cincinnati Reds in the NL Wild Card round, the highly anticipated Phillies-Dodgers series is officially set. The two teams will play a best-of-five series to decide who will move on to the NLCS.
The Phillies had success against the Dodgers in the regular season, going 4-2 across six regular season games. More recently, the Phillies took two of three from Los Angeles at Dodger Stadium in mid-September, a series that should give the squad plenty of confidence heading into the playoff matchup.
Offensively, the reigning champs are led by three-time MVP winner Shohei Ohtani. The phenom crushed 55 homers this season along with a NL leading 1.014 OPS. The lineup isn’t a one-man show however, as the Dodgers can also rely on veteran first baseman Freddie Freeman and former MVP winner Mookie Betts to do major damage as well. Teoscar Hernández is another dangerous hitter, slugging two homers to pair with a .400 batting average in the Wild Card round.
Ohtani isn’t just a problem at the plate, he is also a factor on the mound. Ohtani will make the Game 1 start for the Dodgers on Saturday night, announced by manager Dave Roberts. Interestingly enough, this will be Ohtani’s postseason pitching debut and it will be interesting to see how he fares in a notoriously tough environment for visitors to perform in, thanks to the atmosphere Phillies fans create.
Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto will also prove to be tough pitchers for the Phillies to get runs on the board against. Both players recorded at least six innings pitched with two runs or less allowed in the Wild Card series, anchoring a staff rounding into postseason form.
Both teams are star-studded and the case could be made for either team to survive this NLDS matchup. On top of that, the winner of this matchup will be heavy favorites to claim this year. It all starts on Oct. 4 at 6:38 p.m. Now, Phillies Nation wants to know how you feel about the series as a fan. Who do you think wins this series and in how many games?