Baseball’s biggest star has a chance to lead his team to the World Series on the sport’s biggest stage Friday as Shohei Ohtani leads the way for the Los Angeles Dodgers when they host the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series. First pitch is set for 8:38 p.m. ET from Dodger Stadium.
Ohtani will be on the mound, and he’s also a threat at the plate as he attempts to put the Dodgers in a position to become the first back-to-back World Series champions since the New York Yankees won three straight from 1998-2000.
The Dodgers took command of the NLCS with a 3-0 lead behind a 3-1 victory in Game 3. Right-hander Tyler Glasnow delivered eight strikeouts in 5 2/3 innings on Thursday. This followed a complete-game win from right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 2 and eight strong innings in Game 1 from left-hander Blake Snell.
Ohtani has never faced the Brewers in his career as a pitcher. It’s unclear who will start for the Brewers as manager Pat Murphy as been noncommittal regarding who he will send to the mound,
Although the Dodgers have had modest offensive output, the Brewers have been even worse. Milwaukee has scored just one run in each of the three games and has registered 10 total hits, with three of those from Caleb Durbin.
“Against these guys, it’s going to take more than what we’ve shown so far,” Durbin said. “Whether that’s just digging deeper, making an adjustment, we have to be better.”
Los Angeles is a -200 betting favorite (risk $200 to win $100), while Milwaukee is priced at +170 in the latest MLB sportsbook odds for Brewers vs. Dodgers. The over/under for total runs scored is 7.5.
In addition to the monster MLB contest, we’ll preview an NHL matchup between the Canucks and Blackhawks and a college football showdown between Minnesota and Nebraska. The following is a snapshot of what to watch for Friday, Oct. 17. All times Eastern.
MLB best bets today, where to watch
Brewers at Dodgers
Time: 8:38 p.m. | Location: Los Angeles | TV: TBS | Stream: Fubo (Try for free)
SportsLine picks — Model: Brewers +170 | Expert: Dodgers -1 (Micah Roberts)
The SportsLine Projection Model likes the reeling Brewers to stave off elimination in Game 4 on Friday, with its simulations suggesting massive value in backing the underdog. The model’s 10,000-game simulation sees Milwaukee staying alive with an outright victory about 50% of the time, a whopping disparity from the implied sportsbook odds of around 37.5%.
However, SportsLine’s Micah Roberts (+836 on MLB picks) doesn’t share the model’s optimism for the Brewers. He believes their offensive funk, in which they have scored three total runs in this series, is a sign of disarray from which they won’t recover. He envisions the Dodgers rolling again in Game 4 and is willing to lay the run with the Dodgers in order to fetch more favorable odds.
More MLB best bets
NHL best bets today, where to watch
Canucks at Blackhawks
Time: 8:30 p.m. | Location: Chicago | TV: ESPN+ | Stream: Fubo (Try for free)
SportsLine picks — Model: Over 5.5 goals | Expert: Blackhawks +120 (Bruce Marshall)
The model has a slight lean toward the favored Canucks to win, but its stronger play is the Over on the posted total. Its 10,000-game simulation projects an average of 6.1 goals scored in the contest, providing enough value on the total. The teams have seen their last four combined games result in 30 total goals.
SportsLine expert Bruce Marshall (+423 last 10 NHL picks) is siding with the underdog Blackhawks. He points out that Vancouver’s Kevin Lankinen will be in goal instead to give rest to starter Thatcher Demko, and he sees that as an edge for Chicago. He also likes what he has seen thus from Chicago and is expecting another solid effort from the Blackhawks, who have won two straight following an 0-3 start.
College football best bets today, where to watch
Nebraska at Minnesota
Time: 8 p.m. | Location: Minneapolis | TV: FOX | Stream: Fubo (Try for free)
SportsLine picks — Model: Minnesota ML +230 | Expert: Minnesota +7.5 (Matt Severance)
The SportsLine Projection Model and SportsLine experts are in lockstep in supporting the Golden Gophers as a touchdown-plus home underdog against the Cornhuskers. The model sees an outright upset as a very real possibility, with its 10,000-game simulation showing Minnesota as the winner nearly half the time. This is in stark contrast to the implied sportsbook odds of around 32% and a projected final score of 24-23 in Nebraska’s favor illustrates the degree to which the model views this matchup as a coin flip.
SportsLine’s Matt Severance (+540 on Nebraska picks) agrees, and he happily grabbed the +7.5 even though he missed the opening number of +9.5. Severance reasons that this is an air-tight matchup and is comfortable taking a full touchdown worth of points as he, similar to the model, envisions a one-score game either way.
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