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Welcome to another installment of Major League Baseball Friday bets, or, as I love to fondly call this little exercise, Friday Night Lines. To start things off, we’re going to zero in on a matchup between two future Hall of Famers. 

It is Max Scherzer vs. Clayton Kershaw in Dodger Stadium. 

While it wasn’t the MLB debut for either pitcher, their first head-to-head battle famously took place after two Hall of Famers were late scratches. The Dodgers had announced Greg Maddux as their starter while the Diamondbacks had announced Randy Johnson. Instead, both were removed and Kershaw stepped in for Maddux while Scherzer took over for Johnson. The Dodgers won, but Kershaw gave up three runs on six hits in four innings. Scherzer struck out 11, though he gave up three runs on five hits in five innings. 

That was Sept. 7, 2008. Andy Pages, who will be the Dodgers’ center fielder Friday night, was seven years old. 

What might the duo of Hall of Famers have in store for us in Dodger Stadium for this one? 

Odds are from DraftKings

Blue Jays at Dodgers, under 4.5 runs, first five innings (+100)

I’m counting on Kershaw and Scherzer to both throw relatively well. They could each allow two runs through five innings, which isn’t dominant at all, but it’s perfectly adequate given their ages and the offenses they are facing. 

Scherzer, two outings ago, allowed three runs on three hits in seven innings with 11 strikeouts. Last time out, he gave up just one run (a solo homer) in six innings. He’s feeling good. He’s familiar enough in Dodger Stadium, sporting a 2.54 ERA in 15 career starts and the Dodgers haven’t seen him since 2023, when he worked 10 scoreless innings against them. They’ve been prone to bouts of inconsistency, too, so Scherzer keeping them off the board through five innings isn’t a terrible bet at all.

The Blue Jays’ offense just went absolutely, insanely bonkers in Coors Field, scoring 45 runs in three games. That was against one of the worst teams in baseball history in the most hitter-friendly ballpark in baseball history, so a hangover here for the first few innings Friday night seems like a strong bet. 

Kershaw threw six scoreless innings last time out, so we know he’s capable of firing up zeroes. He hasn’t faced the Blue Jays since 2019. The only Blue Jays players that have seen him more than a handful of times haven’t seen him in years, so it wouldn’t be surprising for them to need one time through the order before adjusting to his stuff. 

Joe Ryan under 5.5 strikeouts (-115)

It’s tough to go under on Ryan, given that he’s got a 2.83 ERA and 141 strikeouts in 127 ⅓ innings this season, but there are a few factors at play to consider. First up, he’s facing the Royals and they are very tough to strike out, relatively speaking, here for 2025. They only strike out 17.6% of the time against right-handed pitchers, the second-lowest mark in baseball after the Blue Jays. The Rockies lead the way at 26.4%, 14 of the 30 teams are at 22% or greater, while 27 of the 30 teams strikeout at least 20% of the time against righties. 

Ryan has owned the Royals in his career, but there has still been a lot of contact. For example, he threw seven scoreless, two-hit innings against them on April 9, but only struck out four. 

Further, Ryan’s strikeout rate has dipped in his last two outings with five and four strikeouts, respectively. 

Home run play: Tyler Soderstrom +390

We’ve got a nice confluence of factors here with the A’s visiting the Orioles for the lefty Soderstrom to go deep.

• Soderstrom has hit homers in two straight games. He has a history of hitting them in bunches, such as three homers in two games, three homers in three games, and four homers in seven games, which have already happened this season. 
• Orioles starter Tomoyuki Sugano has allowed 12 home runs in 10 starts at home this season
• Thirteen of Sugano’s 21 home runs allowed this season have come by left-handed hitters.
• Oriole Park at Camden Yards has been the second-best home run park for left-handed hitters in the last two seasons after Philly’s Citizens Bank Park. 

Send one toward the warehouse, Tyler! 

Futures play: Cubs to win NL Central +200

The Brewers lead the division by four games and have been the best team in baseball for months. They are on pace to win 99 games. Here’s how good they’ve been in stretches: 

• Since May 17, the Brewers are 49-19, a 162-game pace of 117 wins. 
• Since May 24, they are 45-16, a 162-game pace of 120 wins. 
• Since June 9, they are 35-12, or a pace of 109 wins. 
• Since June 17, they have gone 31-9, which is a pace of 126 wins. 
• Since July 5, the Brewers are an absolutely staggering 21-4. 

They are a good team and I picked them as the futures play here to make the playoffs a few weeks ago. I still believe that. And they’ll likely win the Central. I’ll go with the Cubs. Now, I can hear screams of bias, but it’s actually the opposite. As a Cubs fan, my internal, emotional response these last few weeks has been something like, “Screw this, the division race over. Just win the Wild Card round.” 

As an analyst, though, I can’t help but look at those bullet points above and think — with so many weeks left in the marathon of the regular season — that a backslide is coming. The Brewers aren’t good enough for 120-ish wins. They just aren’t. Even if they don’t want to admit it, their fans know this. 

Now, given the change in the standings, it might look like the Cubs have collapsed, but they’ve actually just been playing .500 ball. They are 13-13 since July 4. It isn’t awesome, but it isn’t falling apart like so many other top teams have in the past month or so. Check the awful stretches for the Dodgers, Astros, Blue Jays, and especially, the Tigers. This doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing will happen to the Brewers, but I have a feeling it’s coming. Again, see those paces above they’ve been running. The MLB season is so long and grueling that larger samples have a way of evening things out. 

The Cubs are better than this and the Brewers are due for a backslide. That five-game series in Wrigley later this month will go a long way in determining the division, but I’ll grab the Cubs at plus money right now.