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Carrie Stroup here with your Mets vs. Dodgers betting line for Game 5 of the NL Championship
NEW YORK METS (92-74) at LOS ANGELES DODGERS (94-72)
Sportsbook.ag Line: New York +135, Los Angeles -150, Total: 6
The Mets and Dodgers will battle for a spot in the NL Championship Series when they meet in Los Angeles for Game 5 on Thursday.
Game 4 was an exciting one between these two teams and LHP Clayton Kershaw finally came through in the postseason for his Dodgers. Kershaw pitched seven innings in the game and allowed just one earned run on three hits. Los Angeles was facing elimination in that one and will now have a chance to advance with this win or go home meeting with New York on Thursday.
This elimination game will feature a pair of studs on the mound, as RHP Jacob deGrom (15-8, 2.45 ERA, 218 K) of the Mets will face RHP Zach Greinke (20-3, 1.72 ERA, 208 K) of the Dodgers. One thing favoring the Mets in this one is that the team has been very good away from home, going 31-15 against the money line in road games in the second half of this season. The Dodgers, however, are 30-7 against the money line as a home favorite of -150 or more with Greinke on the mound over the past three seasons.
Some injury news worth noting is that SS Ruben Tejada (Knee) is out for the year for the Mets and C Yasmani Grandal (Shoulder) is questionable for the Dodgers in Game 5.
Jacob deGrom will be on the mound for the Mets in the most important game of the year and New York will be extremely comfortable about it. deGrom was lights out in Game 1 of this series, allowing no earned runs in 7.0 innings of work and striking out 13 batters in the process. He allowed just five hits in that game and will be looking to shut the Dodgers down once again on Thursday. The Mets aren’t going to just need deGrom to pitch well, but they will also need to find a way to get to Greinke.
Two players that could help them do that are OFs Yoenis Cespedes (.291, 35 HR, 105 RBI) and Michael Conforto (.270, 9 HR, 26 RBI). In the Game 2 loss to the Dodgers, both players hit solo shots off of the Dodgers’ star. Conforto was specifically inserted into the Game 5 lineup because of that homer and the Mets will be hoping that he can provide a similar spark in this one.
All season long, the Dodgers were able to rely on Zach Greinke to win them games and that will be no different when they face the Mets in this Game 5 showdown on Thursday. Greinke was very good in Game 2 against New York, allowing just two earned runs in seven innings of work. He struck out eight batters and allowed just five hits as well. This time, however, Greinke will be going against deGrom and that could mean that he’ll need to allow less than two earned runs in order to help his team win. There will be pressure on both pitchers to blank their opponents in this one and it will be interesting to see how that effects them.
Offensively, the Dodgers will need guys like 1B Adrian Gonzalez (.275, 28 HR, 90 RBI), 3B Justin Turner (.294, 16 HR, 60 RBI) and OF Yasiel Puig (.255, 11 HR, 38 RBI) to come through. Turner went 2-for-4 with a double in the meeting with deGrom in Game 1, but the other two guys have not had success against the Mets ace. They are, however, some of the most explosive bats for this team and will need to drive in runs in order to help the Dodgers advance.
- Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter
