MLB Tuesday best bets: Dodgers to make statement vs. Padres

The divisional round of the MLB playoffs begins Tuesday, with all eight teams scheduled to be in action.

Let's take a look at a couple of games worth zeroing in on.

Padres (+190) @ Dodgers (-220)

The San Diego Padres deserve a lot of credit for going on the road and unseating the New York Mets despite having to deal with Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom.

That being said, the Los Angeles Dodgers are a completely different animal. L.A. had its way with San Diego during the regular season, winning 12 of 17 meetings against its division rival.

Projected starter Mike Clevinger took the mound in three of those games and fared horrendously. Clevinger allowed 14 runs and five homers, and he pitched no more than five innings in any of those appearances.

Clevinger hasn't exactly been stout of late - he owns a 4.98 FIP over the past month - so this lethal Dodgers offense should be able to exploit him.

I don't think the same can be said about the Padres versus Julio Urias. The dynamic lefty made four starts against San Diego this season, earning a win in three and allowing just four total runs over 24 innings. All four runs came off the long ball, so the Padres didn't really show any ability to string together some hits.

Considering the Padres don't have a ton of power in their lineup, that's unlikely to be a sustainable way to generate offense against Urias. They will have to string together hits, which is a tall order.

Look for the Dodgers to make a statement with a multi-run victory in Game 1.

Bet: Dodgers -1.5 (+100)

Yordan Alvarez over 1.5 total bases (+110)

I think the Houston Astros are a tier or two above the rest of the AL. There isn't much value in just backing their moneylines, though, so we're going to get a little creative and head to the prop market.

Yordan Alvarez stands out in a big way when looking at Astros players best equipped to succeed against someone with Logan Gilbert's profile. Gilbert throws four-seamers more than 50% of the time, with sliders being his most prominent secondary pitch.

Alvarez feasts against both of them. He posted a mind-blowing .500 wOBA against four-seamers during the regular season. His SLG% was more than .750, and his hard-hit rate was a whopping 71.2%. For perspective, no other Astros regular even managed close to 60%.

While Alvarez isn't quite as dominant against the slider, he's still remarkably good. He led the Astros in wOBA, SLG%, and hard-hit rate against that pitch as well.

If you're still not sold, Alvarez smashes right-handed pitchers - even more so in Houston. He recorded a .406 wOBA and .340 ISO against righties at home this season.

At plus money, with only one good swing needed to get there, there's real value in backing Alvarez.

Todd Cordell is a sports betting writer at theScore. Be sure to follow him on Twitter @ToddCordell.