MLB Baseball
2025-08-11 - Los Angeles Angels at Los Angeles Dodgers
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States : MLB Baseball
Monday 11th August 2025 - Scheduled 9:38pm
2:38am (British Time)
Preview
In recent years, the bragging rights in Los Angeles has been with the Major League team playing in the National League and that is unlikely to be much different in 2025. However, it is the Los Angeles Angels (56-62) who swept a three game road series with the Los Angeles Dodgers (68-50) and they will be keen to keep their Playoff hopes alive and push this rival back towards the San Diego Padres in the National League West.
There is a tough few weeks ahead for the Los Angeles Angels who are in fourth place in the American League West, but who are still in touching distance with those teams chasing Wild Card spots. They would love to close the current gap before moving into September, the final month of the regular season, but four losses in five games have slowed the momentum.
Inconsistency has been an issue for the Los Angeles Dodgers of late and they are now just 2 games ahead of the Padres in the Division, while in another fight to simply finish with a top two Seed and to avoid the Wild Card Round in the post-season.
The Dodgers did win the series against the Toronto Blue Jays this past weekend, although frustrated at not being able to complete the sweep on Sunday. Handing the ball over to Yoshinobu Yamamoto will give the Dodgers the confidence that they can bounce back and get back to winning ways on Monday as this new series begins.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto has a 10-7 record with a 2.51 ERA in twenty-two starts this season and he has already bettered the number of wins secured in the regular season in 2024. The ERA is on course to be improved too and Yamamoto has displayed his ability to put up plenty of starts in the relentless regular season in the Major League.
He was handed the decision loss against the powerful Milwaukee Brewers last month, but Yoshinobu Yamamoto deserves credit for the way he has bounced back. The following four starts after that decision loss have ended with a 2-0 record and 1.46 ERA and he has pitched into the 6th Inning three times.
This is the first time Yoshinobu Yamamoto will face this opponent and the Los Angeles Angels will counter with Jose Soriano who has a 7-9 record and 4.01 ERA in the twenty-four starts he has made this season. The third year pitcher is still learning and developing his game and Soriano has shown character by the willingness to listen to the advice from older players who are no longer in the League.
Credit also has to be given to Jose Soriano for not allowing a difficult start to influence his performance in the next game. That makes him potentially dangerous for this top Dodgers batting lineup as Soriano lasted 4 Innings and allowed seven runs to suffer the decision loss against the Tampa Bay Rays in his opening start this month.
This will be the first time Jose Soriano has started against the Los Angeles Dodgers- his only previous experience of facing the Dodgers was out of the bullpen in his rookie season and Soriano allowed a single run, while putting up two outs.
The Dodgers and Angels split two games in this ballpark last year, but the sweep earlier this season does mean the latter have won four in a row.
Prediction
These two teams may both be pushing for a place in the Playoffs later this season, but the Los Angeles Dodgers look much further along than the Los Angeles Angels when it comes to those goals.
Neither team is playing with a lot of consistency right now, but the Dodgers were able to get the better of the Toronto Blue Jays in a three game series this past weekend.
With a superior starter going to the mound, the Dodgers may have enough of an edge to earn the victory here to snap the run of losses to this inter-League rival.
The Pick :
Los Angeles Angels 3-6 Los Angeles Dodgers
