The New York Mets are cruising with four consecutive series victories after a sweep of Pittsburgh ahead of their flight out west.
The Dodgers still lead the NL West at the time of this writing, but they haven’t been the juggernaut many have projected.
Los Angeles has fallen in five of its last seven games, with early runs proving a recurring theme in those losses.
An offense that ranks first in RBIs and second in homers had just five hits in a shutout defeat to the Washington Nationals.
Sean Manaea will make his fourth appearance for the Mets on Friday.
He owns a 29.2 percent whiff share according to Statcast, contributing to 18 total strikeouts in 14 innings.
The Dodgers boast loud advanced batting metrics but have struck out 198 times throughout 811 plate appearances, which is the second most in baseball as of Thursday.
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L.A.’s Yoshinobu Yamamoto has been tough to hit through his last three starts.
His strong command and unknown MLB potential has a Mets club with the second-fewest strikeouts overall and a .366 OBP in their last 10 games slightly undervalued on the runline.
The play: Mets +1.5 runs (-126, FanDuel).