Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Milwaukee Brewers Pick 4/29/21

Los Angeles Dodgers (16-9) vs. Milwaukee Brewers (14-10)

When: 7:40 p.m., Thursday, April 29

Where: American Family Field, Milwaukee

Moneyline: LAD -161/MIL +140 (Get Dimeline Baseball Lines >>> Underdogs pay more; favorites cost less! it’s the ONLY way to bet on baseball games!)

Runline: Dodgers -1.5/Brewers +1.5

Total: 7.5

Starting Pitchers: Trevor Bauer (3-0, 2.53 ERA, 0.66 WHIP) vs. Eric Lauer (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.00 WHIP)

Long Time Waiting

The Brewers have been waiting a while to send Eric Lauer to the mount as a starter, as he spent 2020 coming out of the bullpen after coming to Milwaukee from San Diego. Lauer didn’t exactly handle coming out of the bullpen well in 2020, as all four of his appearances ended up in defeats for Milwaukee. In two of his appear-ances, he surrendered a combined 13 runs to Cincinnati and Minnesota, essentially taking Milwaukee out of the game.

This game looks like it could be a repeat, because Los Angeles seems to have the perfect lineup needed to knock Lauer around. Lauer’s biggest strength is getting ahead of right-handed hitters and getting them out. The problem is, the Dodgers have a lineup of at least four and possibly five left-handed hitters, leaving Lauer with little ability to get ahead based on matchups. If he doesn’t figure out how to stop lefties, who hit .333 against him the last time he was a starter, he’s not going to last for very long as a starter with the Brewers. Given that he allowed 16 earned runs in 11 innings last season, that result wouldn’t be much of a surprise.

Breaking the Slump?

There’s no other way to say it: the Dodgers have been struggling badly as of late. It’s too early to say if Los Angeles is feeling the pressure that comes with being the defending World Series champions, but what is clear is that the Dodgers really are not themselves at the moment. Los Angeles did break out of the slump a little bit with a six-run eighth inning in their most recent game against Cincinnati, but the Dodgers have looked only ordinary for the most part. They’ve now failed to win in three consecutive series and lost two of them outright, and up until Wednesday, they’d given up four runs or more in five straight games.

Los Angeles will get this thing turned around because it has too much talent not to make another run at the title. But at the same time, it’s becoming very apparent that the champs will not have it all their own way this year. They’re getting everyone’s best shot, and any sign of weakness will be jumped on at the first opportunity.

More Picks: Get more free picks from expert handicappers >>>

Hampered Hitters

On the one hand, the Brewers have plenty of talent in their batting order. Any team with a healthy Christian Yelich and Kolten Wong is going to put a lot of hitters on base and score a fair amount of runs. But the injury bug has stung Milwaukee, as Wong was out for a week and a half earlier this month, and Yelich has played just nine games all season. Wong is back in action and is hitting the ball well, but the rest of the Brewers are barely touching the ball.

Through 24 games, Milwaukee has a team average of .217, which isn’t good enough to get it done without unbelievable pitching. The Brewers’ pitchers have been solid for the most part, but when things have gone wrong for the Milwaukee defense, they’ve disintegrated in a hurry. Losses to the Cubs (15-2) and Marlins (8-0) have underscored just how quickly things can collapse for this squad, and the truth is that without Yelich, the Brewers don’t have the hitters needed to keep pace with the better teams in the National League.

Betting Trends

• The Dodgers are 25-7 in their past 32 games against the NL Central.
• The Dodgers are 43-15 in their past 58 road games.
• The Brewers are 7-0 in their past seven after a loss.
• The Brewers are 2-5 in their past seven games as a home underdog.
• The over is 6-0 in the Dodgers’ past six games.
• The over is 5-2 in the Brewers’ past seven games as a home underdog.
• The Dodgers have won six of the past seven meetings.
• The under is 7-1 in the past eight meetings.

Weather Report

This will be a very mild night for baseball in Milwaukee, with the temperature pushing 60 degrees and wind likely not much of a factor. If it does affect anything, it’s going to be pushing the ball toward right-center field, with the wind blowing at nine miles per hour.

Dan’s Pick

Right now, Milwaukee is a team in flux, and while the Dodgers are doing something similar, Los Angeles has enough experience to stay on track despite losing an important player or two to injury concerns, while Mil-waukee really can’t seem to find its offensive rhythm.

If they couldn’t find it against the Marlins and Cubs, the chances are terribly slim that they’re suddenly going to get themselves back on track by knocking off the Dodgers. With Bauer going to the mound, I think the price on the Dodgers is fairly reasonable for this situation, and I like Los Angeles to condemn Milwaukee to more misery at this point in the season. Give me the Dodgers. Did you know… that you can bet on games live-in-progress? This feature is offered at quite a few online sportsbook now, but one stands out above the rest! —> Bovada Sportsbook! They’re platform is way better than the rest and they don’t have tiny limits like most bookies. They offer new clients a generous 50% signup bonus, your credit card WILL work for deposits and they pay FAST! Click here to register for a new account! You’ll be so glad you did!