Dodgers favored vs. Giants in Clayton Kershaw's return to mound

Kyle Madson

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Dodgers favored vs. Giants in Clayton Kershaw's return to mound image

Clayton Kershaw is back! 

The future Hall of Famer is slated to start Thursday's game for the Dodgers against Giants ace Logan Webb. Kershaw and the Dodgers are favored to knock off their National League West rivals and secure a series win in the four-game set. 

For Kershaw it'll be his first action since Game 7 of last year's NLDS where he went just 0.1 innings and allowed six runs on six hits. He underwent surgery on his left shoulder that required him to miss the first half of the year. Now he's lacing up his spikes for the Dodgers in a spot where they badly need a starting pitcher to eat some innings. 

At BetMGM the Dodgers are favored with their veteran southpaw on the hill: 

Run line

Giants +1.5: -165
Dodgers -1.5: +140

Moneyline

Giants: +120
Dodgers: -145

Total

Over 8.5 runs: -115
Under 8.5 runs: -105

Prediction

As nice as it is for the Dodgers to have Kershaw back in the rotation, it's hard to bet on him and the Dodgers against Webb. Even though Webb is struggling lately he still has the stuff to shut down any lineup, and the Dodgers haven't been tearing the cover off the ball in the second half. We're expecting something low-scoring where the Giants salvage a series split. 

Giants 4, Dodgers 3

Kyle Madson

Kyle Madson Photo

Kyle Madson neither likes writing about himself nor writing in the third person. Nevertheless, he persists. While Kyle has spent most of his writing career covering the NFL’s Tennessee Titans and San Francisco 49ers, he’s never lost the love of baseball that has resided in the deepest recesses of his soul since he began playing T-ball at 4 years old (no matter how hard John Fisher has tried). Aside from writing, Kyle also hosts a radio show, the Insiders, with James Ham on ESPN 1320 in Sacramento. When he’s not being a sports dork, Kyle loves being a normal dork and traveling, visiting museums, diving further into K-Pop fandom (#SKZ) and hanging out with his wife and cats. Don’t follow him on Twitter or Instagram at @KyleAMadson.