After a rare day and a half off at home, the Dodgers will begin a series with the Baltimore Orioles Friday night.
The Dodgers now have the best record in all of MLB and have a chance to be the first team to 50 wins this weekend. The Orioles are at the other end of the wins spectrum, sitting at 35-41, 11.5 out of first in the AL East.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto will have a chance to avenge that mess of a game in Baltimore last September on Saturday, but Friday night the Dodgers will send Roki Sasaki to the mound.
Sasaki is coming off his own mess of a game in Chicago, allowing seven runs to the White Sox in 4.1 innings.
The Orioles are a very patient team against the splitter, and as a team are among the best seven in the league in walks against righties, outside swings, and chase percentage. They also look to have a lefty heavy lineup, which Sasaki has struggled against.
Should Sasaki faulter, the bullpen is very well rested with over 48 hours between outings for any arms in the ‘pen.
For their part, the Orioles are sending Trey Gibson to the mound. Gibson is a young prospect with limited starts who so far, has shown poor command and been hit hard. The right hander has a 5.91 ERA and is 1-2 on the season. The Dodgers offense should look to find themselves against a pitcher like Gibson.
Blaze Alexander is the best hitter on the Orioles right now, and the only one batting over .300. The rest of the team is sitting at .250 and below, with their young guns like Gunnar Henderson and Jackson Holliday much closer to the .200 mark. They are coming off a series in Seattle where they lost 2-of-3, and only scored six runs total.
Will Smith is not expected to be reinstated from the IL on Friday, even though he is now eligible to come off it. The Dodgers would like him to be fully recovered from his neck issues before he returns to being backstop.
This homestand will be the last of the month of June, as the Dodgers will hit the road and not return to Dodger Stadium until July 2.
