Los Angeles Dodgers 2008 Betting Preview

The Los Angeles Dodgers finished the 2007 season with a 82-80 record finishing fourth in a very competitive National League West. The Dodgers were 43-38 at home, 39-42 on the road but only 34-38 against the rest of the NL West. They finished the season losing the last 7 out of 10. Dodger bettors finished the season minus -6.50 units. They were a good over the total team finishing 87-72-3 towards the over scoring and giving up 4.5 runs per game.

Grady Little resigned as manager but many believe he would have been fired regardless as the Yankees and Joe Torre went separate ways. Torre agreed to a three-year, $13 million contract when he agreed to become the 26th manager in Dodger history. Torre brings a career record of 2067-1769 with a postseason record of 76-47 to L.A. He won World Series championships in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2000 with the New Yankees and was named American League Manager of the Year in 1996 and 1998.

Los Angeles was among the top teams in MLB in most statistical categories, both offensively and defensively. They were 3rd in the league with a .275 team batting average, 10th overall with 735 runs scored, 6th with a .337 OBP, 3rd with 137 stolen bases and 13th with a .743 slugging percentage. The Dodgers were top 10 or better in all the pitching categories; 6th with a 4.20 team ERA, 2.61 in team batting average against, 5th with 43 saves, 9th with 78 quality starts and 3rd with a 1.35 team WHIP.

The Dodgers made three big offseason acquisitions. Besides bringing in manager Joe Torre they also signed former Atlanta Braves slugger Andrew Jones and signed Hiroki Kuroda who played in Japan and comes to MLB with a lot of expectations.

The NL West has some strong pitching and the Dodgers pitching could be one of the best rotations in the game. The staff ace is Brad Penny who was 16-4 with a 3.03 ERA in 2007. He'll join Kuroda, veteran Derek Lowe, rising star Chad Billingsley and the wild card is Jason Schmidt who is coming off shoulder surgery last June. The bullpen is solid top to bottom led by closer Takashi Saito who saved 39 games in 2007.

Offensively there are some questions. They will be counting on Andrew Jones to rebound from a terrible 2007 season. Juan Pierre now moves over to left field and also must step it up this year. The right field spot is up for grabs. They'll join veteran infielders Rafael Furcal who battled injury most of 2007 and Jeff Kent who is reportedly playing in his final season of a great career. There could be questions at 3B and the Dodgers have two youngsters who are expected to continue to improve and 1B and catcher respectively, in Russell Martin and James Loney.

The Dodgers appear to have a lot of pieces and have a leader in Joe Torre who knows how to win. LA is favored along with Arizona to win the NL West at +205. You can get the Dodgers at +825 to win the NLCS and +1015 to win the 2008 World Series. The books have set the over/under in teams wins at 87.5.