Cincinnati Reds vs Los Angeles Dodgers Prediction, Odds and Picks for Today, 10/01/25

Here we will see Game 2 of the National League Wild Card Series between the Cincinnati Reds and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Last night, the Dodgers had a dominant performance where they beat the Reds by a score of 10-5. On the mound today, we will see Zack Littell of the Reds and Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Dodgers. Littell has been decent this season with a 3.81 ERA and a 10-8 record. The issue is that Littell has struggled in the month of September with an ERA of 4.91. In that time, he has pitched 25.2 innings giving up 20 hits and 14 earned runs. While these numbers are not terrible, they do not give me much confidence against a Dodgers team that ranks 6^th in batting average, 7^th in hits, and 2^nd in runs scored on the season. The Dodgers also have the most runs scored in home games this season. The hitting of the Dodgers proved to be a problem for Hunter Greene last night and could be a problem for Littell today.

For the Dodgers, Yamamoto will take the mound. Yamamoto has looked incredible in the month of September. He has pitched 27 innings giving up just 7 hits and 2 runs to put him at an ERA of 0.67. Yamamoto has also given up 1 run or fewer in five straight starts. This is just the form the Dodgers were hoping he would find coming into the playoffs. Yamamoto will face a Reds team 21^st in batting average and 18^th in runs scored in away games this season. Yamamoto has faced the Reds once this season where he pitched 7 innings giving up just 4 hits and 1 earned run. I suspect we will see another good start for the young pitcher from Japan. Outside of the starters, the Reds have had the better bullpen on the season but the Dodgers pen has found their form much like Yamamoto. Overall, we have a huge edge in starting pitcher and hitting on the season. I am taking the Dodgers to win this one and advance to the next round.

Reds vs. Dodgers Prediction: Dodgers ML (-260) available at the time of publishing. Playable at that number.