Giants vs Dodgers Prediction, Picks, and Odds: Fireworks at Dodger Stadium

The Los Angeles Dodgers (4-2) look to keep their winning ways going as they host the rival San Francisco Giants (2-2) for a three-game series beginning Monday night in Southern California. 

According to MLB odds, the Dodgers are a hefty -220 favorite white the total has been set at 9. 

San Francisco sends right-hander Keaton Winn to the bump while Los Angeles counters with southpaw James Paxton. I’m setting my sights on the full game total for this pitching matchup. 

Read on for my best bet and full MLB picks and predictions for Giants vs. Dodgers on Monday, April 1.

Giants vs Dodgers odds

Giants vs Dodgers predictions

For this baseball fan located on the West Coast, nothing quite gets the job done like when the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers square off against one another. These two rivals are set for an early-season encounter as the three-game series begins Monday night with a pitching matchup between SF’s Keaton Winn and LA’s James Paxton. 

Both teams are dealing with absences to the rotation to start the year, hence the appearance of both pitchers so early on in the season. The Giants are still working free agent acquisition Blake Snell up to speed after coming to terms with the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner just two weeks ago, while the Dodgers have several recovering arms in Walker Buehler, Clayton Kershaw, and Dustin May. 

Winn offers some promise after posting a Stuff+ of 120 in limited work a year ago. That would’ve ranked fourth among qualified starters a year ago — one spot behind Gerrit Cole and Dylan Cease. Talk about good company.

The right-hander out of Iowa Western CC essentially sticks to two pitches, his 96 mph fastball and a nasty splitter. The splitter is flat-out tremendous, generating 3.8 runs above average. That’ll need to come in handy against a fearsome Dodgers lineup that crushes fastballs (35.5 runs above average against fastballs a year ago, ranking sixth in the MLB) but unremarkable against splitters (-0.7 runs above average, 11th in MLB). 

As for Paxton, he faces a Giants lineup that had the third-highest K% against lefties a year ago at 25.3%. They also had below-average numbers in wOBA (.300) and wRC+ (90) against southpaws. The front office addressed this issue by signing lefty masher Jorge Soler and third baseman Matt Chapman, who hits lefties better than righties. Bob Melvin’s squad has yet to face a left-handed start this season, so results are TBD.

There’s a wide range of outcomes for Paxton this year. He’s almost always effective when healthy, but comes with a CVS receipt of a medical record and fell apart in the second half of the season a year ago. Now he’s another year older and with his average fastball down 2.2 mph in the Spring.

Both starting pitchers offer promise, but both also come with question marks. Winn was shelled by the Dodgers in a start a year ago, allowing six earned and three home runs across 5 ⅓ innings. He’s a two-pitch guy and LA’s lineup mashes fastballs. I’m not positive he’s fully ramped up to speed, either, after experiencing elbow soreness in the Spring. 

As for Paxton, his velocity was way down at points in the Spring and he faces a Giants lineup that could be underrated slightly in the market against lefties after a few offseason acquisitions. 

Weather looks like it could play a factor as the current forecast calls for sustained winds of 9.2 mph blowing out to right field throughout the game. 

My best bet: Over 9 (+102 at DraftKings)

Giants vs Dodgers same-game parlay

Over 9.5

Shohei Ohtani to Hit a Home Run

Jorge Soler 1+ RBI

+1,000 at DraftKings

Shohei Ohtani has made the headlines for all the wrong reasons to start his Dodgers tenure. He’s too good of a player to stay down long, however, and now is a good time to pounce as his .656 OPS is due for a rebound. 

The wind is blowing out to right field and Ohtani is bound to start mashing dingers sooner or later, and Monday seems like a good matchup for him to get to work. 

Lastly, Soler mashes left-handed pitching (.991 OPS since 2022) and his RBI prop Over correlates well with the full game total Over. 

Learn how to bet a same-game parlay with these helpful tips and strategies.

Giants vs Dodgers moneyline and Over/Under analysis

• The Dodgers are generally profitable against the Run Line, hitting the spread in 82 of their last 144 games. 
• The total opened at 8 but quickly moved to 8.5. There are still some juiced 8.5 Overs available, but 9 is beginning to pop at most locations. 
• Track any further changes using our MLB line movement tool. 

Trend to know

These teams are a combined 7-2 O/U to start the season. Find more MLB betting trends for Giants vs. Dodgers

Giants vs Dodgers game info

Starting pitchers

Keaton Winn (0-0, 0.00 ERA): Winn essentially sticks to two pitches, his 96 mph fastball and a nasty splitter. The splitter is flat-out tremendous, generating 3.8 runs above average. That’ll need to come in handy against a fearsome Dodgers lineup that crushes fastballs (35.5 runs above average against fastballs a year ago, ranking sixth in the MLB) but unremarkable against splitters

James Paxton (0-0, 0.00 ERA): There’s a wide range of outcomes for Paxton this year. He’s almost always effective when healthy, but comes with a CVS receipt of a medical record and fell apart in the second half of the season a year ago. Now he’s another year older and with his average fastball down 2.2 mph in the Spring. 

Latest injuries

Weather

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