The Dodgers are running away with the NL West. The Diamondbacks are sitting at .500 with a decision looming on whether they buy or sell — and a trip to Dodger Stadium isn't going to make that call any easier.
Bush’s Picks
ARILAD
ARILAD
OverUnder
Best BetDodgers
The Dodgers are the far superior team right now, sitting 15 games over .500 with the deepest lineup in the sport and five All-Stars to show for it. Arizona is a .500 club walking into a buzzsaw with a compromised rotation, which makes the home side the play even without a clean number to point to yet. This is about outright talent gap, not price value.
Diamondbacks
+Won last outing 8-0 behind Max Kepler homer
+Front office wants to buy at the deadline
+Lovullo's group has rallied from worse before
−Rotation gutted: Burnes, Soroka, Nelson, Walston all out
−Bullpen thin with Puk, Martinez, Saalfrank on IL
−Sitting at just 45-45, 3 losses in last 5
Dodgers
+60-32, 4-1 in last 5, running away with NL West
+Freeman red-hot since mid-May, 5 All-Stars named
+Key bats (Hernandez, Smith) nearing IL returns
−Bullpen has blown late leads even amid the winning
−Snell, Glasnow, Diaz still not full strength
−Edman day-to-day, lineup shuffling without him
Neither club has a starter locked in for Friday's 7:10 PM PT opener, and that's not a coincidence — both rotations are banged up. Arizona is already without Corbin Burnes, Michael Soroka, Ryne Nelson and Blake Walston, all on the injured list, while the Dodgers are still waiting on Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow to work their way back. Whoever takes the ball for either side is doing it with a thin cushion behind them.
The lineups tell a different story. Freddie Freeman has been raking since the middle of May and just added his 15th homer of the season, and the Dodgers are getting Enrique Hernandez and Will Smith closer to activation after their own IL stints. Arizona, meanwhile, got a jolt from Max Kepler, who homered in his first game back from an 80-game PED suspension — a nice story, but not exactly the kind of reinforcement that closes a 13-game division gap.
Show fees
7:10 PM PT
Spread
ML
Total
ARI Diamondbacks
LAD Dodgers
None of that changes the shape of this series on paper. The Dodgers have won 4 of their last 5 and are playing with house money atop the division, while Arizona arrives needing results just to keep GM Mike Hazen's buyer instincts alive before the deadline.
Arizona Diamondbacks
Jul 9?@ Padres—
Jul 8?@ Padres—
Jul 7?@ Padres—
Los Angeles Dodgers
Jul 8?vs Rockies—
Jul 7?vs Rockies—
Recent form.
Look at the last 5 for each side and the gap is obvious. The Diamondbacks have alternated wins and losses all week, capped by an 8-0 blowout of the Padres, but that's one good night against a team that's been reeling. The Dodgers, by contrast, have needed extra innings and late-game theatrics — Dalton Rushing's walk-off against Colorado — to keep winning, which says their bullpen isn't bulletproof even while the record stays gaudy.
Arizona Diamondbacks
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Los Angeles Dodgers
(0)
Fully healthy — no injuries on ESPN's report
Injury report — info via ESPN.
Arizona's pitching situation is the bigger concern walking into Dodger Stadium. Losing Burnes, Soroka, Nelson and Walston all at once forces Torey Lovullo into bullpen games and spot starts against a lineup that's dropped 12 and 8 runs on opponents in the last week alone. The Dodgers have their own MASH unit — Snell, Glasnow, Diaz, Treinen, Graterol — but most of that group is depth pitching, not names holding up the current roster. For a .500 Arizona team trying to convince its front office to buy instead of sell, this is exactly the kind of series that decides which direction Hazen leans.
