Dodgers vs Braves NLCS Game 2 Picks and Predictions: Scherzer Powers LA To Even Up Series

Runs will be at a premium tonight when Los Angeles, behind ace Max Scherzer, tries to avoid an 0-2 hole against Ian Anderson and Atlanta. The Dodgers are massive MLB betting favorites tonight — and we like them to even up the NLCS in a low-scoring affair.

Oct 17, 2021 • 15:08 ET • 4 min read

The Atlanta Braves will welcome Max Scherzer and the Los Angeles Dodgers back to Truist Park tonight for Game 2 of the NLCS.

The Dodgers elected to utilize a bullpen game in yesterday's series opener. While they held Atlanta to three runs, the Dodgers ultimately lost, thanks to an Austin Riley walk-off single in the ninth.

Max Scherzer was originally expected to start the first game of the series, despite getting the NLDS-clinching save on Thursday. Instead, the Dodgers gave him an extra day of rest and will use him tonight — and are big MLB betting road favorites as a result.

Here are our best free MLB picks and predictions for the Dodgers vs. Braves NLCS Game 2 on Sunday, October 17.

Dodgers vs Braves odds

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Dodgers vs Braves picks

Picks made on 10/17/2021 at 8:57 a.m. ET.
Click on each pick to jump to the full analysis.

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Dodgers vs Braves game info

Location: Truist Park, Atlanta, GA
Date: Sunday, October 17, 2021
Time: 7:37 p.m. ET
TV: TBS

Dodgers vs Braves betting preview

Starting pitchers

Max Scherzer (Postseason: 0-1, 1.46 ERA): Max Scherzer is a jack-of-all-trades. The righty allowed just one run and struck out 10 across seven innings in a start against the San Francisco Giants in the NLDS on Monday.  Three days later, Scherzer closed out the NLDS with a ninth-inning save — his first career save — that included two strikeouts. Scherzer has been absolutely dominant since being acquired by the Dodgers at the trade deadline and remains one of baseball's truly elite arms.

Ian Anderson (Postseason: 1-0, 0.00 ERA): Anderson had an up-and-down campaign this season but he seems to always step up when he’s needed the most. The 23-year-old right-handed pitcher went five innings in Game 3 of the NLDS against the Brewers, allowing just three hits with six strikeouts and no walks. If Anderson can limit walks like this all the time, it’s going to be hard to scratch runs across the board.

Dodgers vs Braves series odds

Dodgers: -145
Braves: +125

Weather

Be sure to monitor the gametime conditions with our MLB weather info.

Key injuries

Dodgers: Max Muncy 1B (Out).
Braves: Ronald Acuna Jr. OF (Out), Marcell Ozuna OF (Out) Jorge Soler OF (Out).
Find our latest MLB injury reports.

Betting trend to know

Under is 5-0 in the last five head-to-head meetings. Find more MLB betting trends for Dodgers vs. Braves.

Dodgers vs Braves predictions

Max Scherzer has plenty of history against this Atlanta lineup from his time in Washington, so he should be pretty comfortable tonight as going up against the Braves at Truist Park is nothing new for him.

Scherzer last pitched on Thursday, where he earned a save in Game 5 of the NLDS to help the Dodgers get to this point. In his last start, he allowed one run in seven innings with 10 strikeouts against the Giants. While the Dodgers lost that game, Scherzer looked brilliant.

The Braves' current roster is hitting just .210 in 189 career at-bats against Scherzer. Not a single one of those players is hitting over .234 against Scherzer, with the best being is Freddie Freeman, who is 11 for 47 with three home runs and four doubles.

Of the 37 career hits Scherzer has allowed to the Braves roster, eight of them have been home runs and 19 of them extra-base hits — there’s a real chance he could allow a long-ball in this game. Outside that though, you can expect dominance.

On the other hand, Ian Anderson looked at his best against the Brewers last week, holding them scoreless across five innings with six strikeouts and no walks. The zero free passes are big, as the one thing Anderson has struggled with in his career has been walks. Anderson owns a career 10-percent walk rate — if he’s able to limit walks as he did against Milwaukee — and not put extra runners on against a potentially dangerous Dodgers lineup — Anderson is going to have plenty of success.

That's especially important against southpaw sluggers: Against his last 31 lefties, Anderson has allowed a .366 wOBA and ISO of .379, and the Dodgers should have at three lefties in the lineup. The biggest bat of those would be Corey Seager, who has a .390 ISO and wOBA of .429 in his last 65 plate appearances against righties.

The Dodgers have also walked 7.8 percent of the time, with plenty of guys that can be patient at the plate and work walks. This should be another close game with minimal action — we’ll ride Max Scherzer and the Dodgers in that case.

Despite last week’s performance, Anderson still has an xFIP of 4.63 with a BABIP of .171 over the last 30 days. He’s been a bit lucky with balls in play becoming outs and has walked 7.6 percent of batters in his last 66 plate appearances.

Still, the Dodgers don’t really profile all that well to begin with. Seager, as we talked about earlier, should be the main contributor for the Dodgers but they’ll need more production from other bats in the lineup if they want consistent success at the plate tonight.

Los Angeles is able to limit ground balls, making up just 37.4 percent of its contact over the last 30 days, but it's also hitting just 17.7 percent line drives during that span, meaning most of the balls in play for the Dodgers tonight will likely be catchable fly balls.

On the other hand, Scherzer is allowing 29.6 percent ground balls and 22.2 percent line drives over the last 30 days. However, it won’t matter if the Braves can’t put the ball in play — Atlanta is striking out at a 26.7-percent clip in the last 30 days against righties... and there’s no better righty strikeout pitcher than Max Scherzer.

Therefore, we’ll take the Under in this game.

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