Major League Baseball season kicks off today, with many of the teams playing their first game of the regular season. San Diego Padres VS Colorado Rockies is one of the matches happening on the first day of the regular season.
The Colorado Rockies will play in an away game happening at the home field of the San Diego Padres in an NL West opening-day matchup. Colorado would want to rebound from finishing last place in the NL West in 2022. While San Diego hopes to move on after losing in the NCLS last season to Philadelphia.
Pitching for this matchup will be done by Rockies right-hander German Marquez who had 9-13 with a 5.00 ERA last season, and Padres lefty pitcher Blake Snell, 8-10 with a 3.38 ERA in 2022. The opening pitch will happen at 4:10 PM EST.
MatchPlug has laid out the MLB best bets today for the San Diego Padres and Colorado Rockies game.
Predictions and Betting Preview For San Diego Padres VS Colorado Rockies MLB Regular Season
- Venue: Petco Park, Downtown San Diego, California
- When: Thursday, March 30th, 2023
- Time: 18:40 GMT
- Teams to play: Padres and Rockies.
- MLB Expert Picks: SPREAD -1.5
Odds as seen on 1XBet.
Betting On The San Diego Padres
- 1XBet Spread: -1.5
- 1XBet Moneyline: 1.59
- 1XBet Over/Under: Over 8.5
The San Diego Padres made some season-altering trades that almost led to them appearing in the World Series, before losing to the Phillies in the NLCS in 2022. Refusing to take their loss lying down, San Diego signed former Red Sox SS Xander Bogaerts to a multi-year deal this offseason.
Adding Bogaerts to the team will give the Padres an all-star lineup that will get better with former SS Fernando Tatis Jr’s return, now a right fielder after he was suspended in the first half.
They added DH/1B types like Nelson Cruz and Matt Carpenter to give the lineup a fantastic right/left combo at the plate. San Diego still has a solid rotation and two superstars in third baseman Manny Machado and outfielder Juan Soto. With their strong bullpen too, the Padres are one of the teams to beat in the National League.
San Diego will look to Blake Snell to take the ball on Opening Day. Last season, Snell began the season on the IL recovering from injury and didn’t exactly make his stride until after the all-star break. He had eight wins in 24 starts. Snell has an 11.21 K/9 rate in the month too. He finished 1-1 with a 5.31 ERA in four starts against the Rockies last season. He has been great at home during his career with a 2.70 ERA and a record of 31-23. Snell also has an 11.43 K/9 rate at home in his career.
Key Injuries: SP Joe Musgrove (toe) is still recovering from the injury, and Soto is put as day-to-day with an oblique Injury. Tatis Jr. will come back from suspension on April 20th.
Betting On The Colorado Rockies
- 1XBet Spread: +1.5
- 1XBet Moneyline: 2.584
- 1XBet Over/Under: Under 8.5
The Colorado Rockies are faced with the challenge of advancing in one of the toughest divisions in baseball, after finishing last place in 2022. They didn’t make any major acquisitions, one season after a huge deal signing ex-Giant and Cub Kris Byrant to a multi-year deal. Byrant played only 42 games in his first season in Colorado due to injury.
Bryant will have to give the Rockies a big season if they hope to keep up with the competition. Colorado also hopes for solid years from C.J. Cron and third baseman Ryan McMahon, veteran DH Charlie Blackmon is expected to push through with the rule changes for infield shifts.
Colorado’s pitching staff has any major arms and will depend on the batters to stay in the games. The team’s farm system is improving but the help they need may be one more year away.
Marquez will be sent to the mound for the opening-day assignment against the Padres. Last season, he was tied for the team lead in wins with nine on the season. In 24 career April starts, Marquez has gone 4-9 with an ERA of 4.69. He has played better on the road in his career with an ERA of 3.77 and a 34-30 record. Marquez went 1-0 with an ERA of 4.50 against the Padres last season. He allowed 14 hits in 12 innings and had a K/9 average of 9.75.
Key Injuries: Starting 2B Brandon Rogers may miss all of 2023 as he waits for news on if he needs surgery or not on his dislocated shoulder.
MatchPlug Prediction
The run line for San Diego Padres VS Colorado Rockies has more value than the money line. The Padres have a good home performance, especially Snell. They went only 9-10 against the Rockies last season, they went 6-3 with them in San Diego.
Additionally, San Diego outscored the Rockies 47-27 in San Diego last season. The Rockies did not make much effort to boost their roster during the offseason and is missing second baseman Rogers.
Fans can expect the strong lineup of the San Diego Padres to rack up good numbers against the Colorado Rockies’ suspect pitching staff. Furthermore, the Padres won 5 of their last 6 Opening Day games.
For MLB Expert Picks you can trust regarding Padres and Rockies, you can refer to the sportsbooks odds we listed in this preview.
Prediction: Padres Spread.
