NL Pennant All-Star Break Analysis: Phillies, Dodgers Lead Pack

Watch NL Pennant All-Star Break Analysis: Phillies, Dodgers Lead Pack - SportsGrid on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00Now in the NL at the all-star break around Major League Baseball where those pennant prices stand

00:08and where there might be some value to be had. Let's start as we did DRS in the AL at the top

00:14of the National League. The Phil's in a marquee matchup in the final week before the all-star

00:19break sweeping the LA Dodgers at home and yes the Phil's did lose yesterday 18 to 3 and yes

00:25they did lose the weekend set against the Oakland Athletics but still the best team

00:30in Major League Baseball the best record so of course that carries over to the NL. The Dodgers

00:35will enter the all-star break losing eight of their last 11 games so we start at the top. LA

00:41still 20 cents in front of the Phytons plus 180 for Los Angeles plus 200 for Philadelphia. I ask

00:50you this question to begin. Should the Phillies have the second best odds or should the Phillies

00:56be the favorites? Based on what we've seen over the first half of the season and granted I'm going

01:01to say the Phillies should be the favorites here but also you got to take a look at the way the

01:05sports books operate as well. There's a lot of money that came in on the Dodgers right away so

01:09it's still playing in to that price point for them but having said that also what did you take

01:14away out of that three-game series with the Philadelphia Phillies swept the Dodgers? Well

01:17you took away that the Phillies are supposed to win those games and they did widening their margin

01:21which helps them in that chase for the number one overall seed which they're probably going to get.

01:25However once you get to the playoffs it's not going to be Aaron Nola versus an opener against

01:29the Dodgers like we were seeing over the weekend or last week. That's not going to be the case. The

01:33Dodgers when they get their pitchers back from IL and add on at the deadline are going to be a much

01:38more formidable opponent. The one thing we have to remind ourselves it's similar to football right?

01:43If you have a very good quarterback sometimes it doesn't really matter who's around you as long as

01:48they're competent you're going to win your fair share of football games. The reason I equate that

01:51to baseball is if you have a dominant pitcher on the mound and your lineup isn't so good a la the

01:56Braves right now you have a chance to win every single game because the pitcher is the most

02:00important position on that field on a game-to-game basis and you always hear this adage you're only

02:04as good as the starting pitcher momentum for the next day right? So when you sort of break that

02:08down the Dodgers have been throwing out junk after junk after junk just trying to get to the

02:14deadline when the Phillies are throwing Zach Wheeler and throwing Aaron Nola out you and Sanchez

02:18that's going to work out much much better. Case in point you saw yesterday with the Phillies in Oakland

02:22the Phillies like ah well Wheeler's going to miss his final start bullpen game turns out 18 runs for

02:28Oakland. You're only as good as the starting pitcher that you have on the mound that day

02:32and trust me the Dodgers will be much better with their starting pitching staff at least we hope

02:36in the months of August, September, and October.