Braves vs. Dodgers Thursday MLB odds: Los Angeles home underdog for only second time in five years; NL MVP showdown between Ronald Acuna, Mookie Betts

Maybe the most intriguing MLB regular-season series left on the schedule is Braves at Dodgers, which begins Thursday night in Los Angeles. These teams have the two best records in the sport and are the two favorites to win the World Series at DraftKings. It would be a huge surprise if the teams don't meet again in the NLCS. The Dodgers are +120 Thursday, only the second time since 2018 they have been home underdogs.

On April 19, the Dodgers were +120 at home vs. the Mets. The pitching matchup that day as was a contributing factor, as Max Scherzer started for New York and Noah Syndergaard (since traded away to the Guardians, who soon released him) went for Los Angeles. New York won 5-3.  Over the last 10 seasons, the Dodgers have only been a home underdog 20 times. They are 10-10 in those games.

If L.A. has a realistic shot of catching Atlanta for the top seed in the National League playoffs, it almost surely has to win this four-game series considering it is four games back. The Braves took two of three at home in the series in May. However, the Dodgers have dominated August. In the past four seasons, L.A. is now 88-23 in the month, a .793 winning percentage – the best in a single month over a four-season span in MLB history (minimum 80 games).

The Dodgers have 24 wins this August,  the most victories in any month since the team moved to Los Angeles, and they have a chance to match the overall franchise record on Thursday. The .857 winning percentage this month would also be the highest in club history.

The Braves lead the majors in homers with 250, already a franchise record and the second-fastest team ever to reach 250, trailing only the 2019 Twins (129 games). Atlanta is the only team in baseball with three 30-homer players this season, and just 11 players in total have reached the mark.

We could get some clarity on the NL MVP race this weekend with Atlanta's Ronald Acuña Jr. currently a -145 favorite and L.A.'s Mookie Betts at +100 at DraftKings.

Betts is having an historic August. He leads the majors with a .454 batting average, 49 hits, 32 runs and 1.309 OPS to get back in the MVP race. If he has two hits tonight, it would be the most by a Dodgers hitter in any month since 1940. Acuña is one homer shy of becoming the first-ever member of the 30-homer, 60-steal club.

Betts' teammate and former Brave Freddie Freeman is +1200 for MVP -- he won it in 2020 with Atlanta -- and probably would be the winner in many other seasons considering he has become only the third player ever with at least 25 homers and 50 doubles prior to September in a season. Nobody has hit 60 doubles since 1936. Freeman has 51, one shy of the franchise record.

It's a great pitching matchup Thursday as well. Atlanta's Spencer Strider (15-4, 3.46 ERA) is a +180 second favorite for the NL Cy Young Award and leads the majors in wins (15; tied with the Cubs' Justin Steele) and strikeouts (236). The right-hander has allowed just one run over 21 innings in his past three starts. He lost to the Dodgers on May 23, allowing four runs (two earned) over six innings with 11 Ks. Betts has a double in two at-bats off Strider and Freeman is 1-for-5.

Veteran right-hander Lance Lynn (10-9, 5.56 ERA) was quite terrible for much of this season with the White Sox but has clearly been energized since his trade to the Dodgers. He's 4-0 with a 2.03 ERA in five starts with them. He pitched in Atlanta on July 15 while with Chicago and lost, allowing four runs over 5.1 innings. Acuña Jr. is 1-for-3 off him with a homer. 

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