MLB Baseball
2025-10-08 - Philadelphia Phillies at Los Angeles Dodgers
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States : MLB Baseball Playoff Divisional Series Game 3
Wednesday 8th October 2025 - Scheduled 9:08pm
2:08am (British Time)
Preview
The Major League Baseball season is incredibly long and there are going to be periods when teams hit a slump, either in pitching or in batting numbers. You can only hope that those slumps are in May or June rather than in October, but that has unfortunately been the case for the Philadelphia Phillies in the Divisional Round Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The pitchers have given them a chance, but the top of the batting order have failed miserably and two home losses makes it very difficult to see how the Phillies can force this Series back for a Game 5 in front of their fans.
Manager Rob Thomson has already made a big call for Game 3 by stating that Aaron Nola will be the starting pitcher.
The long-time Phillies pitcher finished the regular season with a 5-10 record and a 6.01 ERA in the seventeen starts made, but the fanbase have not been enamoured by the choice of Aaron Nola to begin Game 3. He is very experienced, but Nola gave up at least four runs in three of the five starts made in September, while he has allowed at least four runs in each of the last four starts made on the road.
Earlier this season Aaron Nola gave up three runs in 6 Innings thrown against the Los Angeles Dodgers. His last Playoff start in 2024 saw Aaron Nola give up four runs in 5 Innings thrown in Game 3 of the Divisional Round against the New York Mets and Nola was saddled with the loss.
This is a win or bust moment for the Phillies and so Aaron Nola is not going to be asked to work through any moments of difficulty and instead Thomson will turn to his bullpen. Most of the Philadelphia fans would have expected Ranger Suarez to have been given the start considering how well he has pitched all season and he is expected to get an early call if Aaron Nola struggles.
In his only start against the Dodgers, Ranger Suarez allowed three runs in 6 Innings thrown against them last month.
There is some uncertainty as to how the Phillies will approach Game 3, but the Dodgers are much more comfortable with handing the ball to Yoshinobu Yamamoto and looking for their starter to move through the second half of this contest.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto almost completed 7 Innings in the Wild Card Series against the Cincinnati Reds and did not give up a single earned run. The 9 Strikeouts will give him confidence considering the way the Phillies batting lineup have been chasing the ball through the first couple of games in this Series.
Back in April, Yamamoto threw 6 Innings against the Philadelphia Phillies and did not give up a single earned run in that start.
Prediction
There is a little bit of an uproar about the choice of starter for a win or go home effort as far as the Philadelphia Phillies are concerned, but Aaron Nola has plenty of experience and Ranger Suarez will be set to come in almost immediately.
The problem for the Phillies is that they cannot afford to fall behind with the batting issues they have had through the first couple of games in the Series.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto is pitching at a really high level and he is a much more confident pitcher with the experiences he has had over the last twelve months.
Another Dodgers win looks the most likely here with all the momentum picked up in this Series and with the defending World Series Champions having found the big Hits or Outs at the key times to take the first two games of the Series.
One player that might make appeal in the prop markets is Mookie Betts.
He is just 1-9 in this Series, but Betts is 9-23 against Aaron Nola with two Home Runs.
The likelihood is that Mookie Betts will only face Nola once, but he is also 4-10 with two Home Runs against Ranger Suarez, who is likely to come in for Nola out of the bullpen.
Mookie Betts is 6.00 for a Home Run in Game 3 having had 20 Home Runs in 150 regular season games played in 2025.
The Pick :
Los Angeles Dodgers 6-2 Philadelphia Phillies
