The MLB season is set to get underway for 2025 when the Los Angeles Dodgers defend their crown as the reigning champions against the Detroit Tigers at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers have already begun their season after a short trip to Tokyo for a two-game series, while Detroit will open up their season by looking for one of the most unexpected results imaginable.
We’ll take a look at the match-up and provide you with our best free MLB betting picks as we try to earn you some extra cash while you take in all the action on the field.
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The Dodgers have celebrated hard in the off-season after winning their eighth World Series championship in 2024.
Manager Dave Roberts signed a new four-year contract worth $8 million while they made a host of additions to their roster including left-handed pitchers Jack Dreyer and Blake Snell, outfielder Michael Conforto and shortstop Hyeseong Kim. Tanner Scott also arrived, while a number of players also re-signed including Blake Treinen and Teoscar Hernandez.
Their regular season campaign began early too as they headed off to Tokyo for a two-game series against the Chicago Cubs, and they were successful in both outings.
The opening game saw them claim a big 4-1 win as Yoshinobu Yamamamo led the team to victory in front of over 42,000 people. In front of his home nation he only allowed one run on three hits across five innings in a stellar performance, while Shohei Ohtani landed two hits and scored two runs.
The second game the next day produced a more exciting game as Landon Knack helped the Dodgers to extend their record to 2-0 with a 6-3 victory. Roki Sasaki made his MLB debut, only allowing one run in three innings, while Ohtani scored yet another home run.
The Tigers didn’t have the greatest of seasons in 2024, although they claimed third place in their division with an 86-76 record in the regular season.
Their postseason saw them claim two victories over the Houston Astros in a straight sweep, before a five-game series against the Cleveland Guardians. A 7-0 thrashing in the first game left them in a tough position but they bounced back with consecutive 3-0 wins to take a lead. However, that wasn’t enough and they then fell to back-to-back defeats to crash out of the playoffs.
So far this pre-season the team have made several signings to add to their roster including pitcher Alex Cobb, infielder Gleyber Torres and pitcher Jack Flaherty.
Their spring training has also seen plenty of success with wins over the New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Baltimore Orioles and Pittsburgh Pirates among others. Most recently though in the final week the team have suffered two defeats, one tie and one victory in their four games.
The Tigers thrashed the Orioles 9-1 before a 4-0 defeat to the Yankees was followed up by a 0-0 tie against the Atlanta Braves. They then fell to a 4-2 defeat to the Phillies, and will face off against the San Francisco Giants twice before their season opener.
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While the Dodgers are without a doubt the best team in the entire MLB and are the heavy favorites to go all the way and win yet another World Series this year, it absolutely isn’t a given that they will win this game.
The Tigers have got Tarik Skubal who is likely to be the starting pitcher for the game, and he may well be the perfect antidote to stopping Shohei Ohtani from powering away with success as he usually does.
A lefty ace has the best chance of limiting his batting, and last season he tossed a 2.39 ERA in 31 starts en route to striking out 228 batters in 192 innings.
But despite that, the Dodgers roster is now even stronger this year and has got far more weapons to rely on for runs than just Ohtani. Freddie Freeman is likely to return after missing the Tokyo series, but Mookie Betts is still going to be missing due to a mystery illness which has seen him lose over 20lbs.
The team was already the second-highest-scoring team in the MLB last season with an average of 5.2 runs per game and they will no doubt find a way to score plenty here once more.
You won’t get the Dodgers to win a game at -146 very often this season, and with the team having already started the season and gone 2-0 they should start this one quickly too. Back them on the moneyline to extend their winning start to the campaign.
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