The Astros are coming into this game with a 53-35 record this season and they have been playing very well in their recent games. They have won 4 of their last 5 games and they are coming off of an 18-1 win against the Dodgers in their last game. Their pitching has been very good in these games, but their offense has also been heating up in their last 4 games as well. They are going up against a Dodgers team that is 56-33 this season and has also been playing very well in their recent games. They have won 4 of their last 5 games, but their last 2 series were both against much weaker opponents in the White Sox and Royals, now they are coming off of an 18-1 loss to the Astros in the 1st game of this series and their pitching is simply not as good as the Astros this season. Framber Valdez is starting for the Astros in this game and he is 9-4 with a 2.72 ERA this season. He has been great in his recent starts as he has allowed 2 earned runs or less in each of his last 7 starts as well as 9 of his last 10 starts, and he has not allowed a run in his last 2 starts either. He has also been great on the road as he has allowed 2 earned runs or less in 3 of his last 4 as well as 4 of his last 6 road starts, and he has one of the better bullpens in the league to back him up here as well. Shohei Ohtani is starting for the Dodgers in this game and he is 0-0 with a 2.25 ERA this season. He has only made 3 starts this season as he is still coming back from an injury, and he has not pitched many innings in all 3 of these starts. He only pitched 1 inning in each of his first 2 starts and now he is coming off of a start which he pitched 2 innings in. He will likely not have a deep outing in this game so the bullpen is going to have to carry the weight against this Astros offense, and the Dodgers have actually allowed 16 runs total in the last 2 games Ohtani started, giving up 7 runs and 9 runs after Ohtani left those 2 games. The Astros are going to have some confidence here from that 18-1 win and they have the better pitching staff, playing just as well as the Dodgers recently. The Astros will win this game.