Yankees vs. Dodgers Game 3 prediction: World Series odds, picks, best bets Monday

Perhaps the $1.21 billion the Dodgers spent last winter could actually be providing a return on investment when it counts. 

Los Angeles has pumped out a .248/.340/.451 postseason slash line with Tommy Edman emerging as the club’s leader in Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+), a metric that quantifies run creation with external factors baked in.

Come to think of it, you can pick almost any primary batting stat, and a different Dodger leads it heading into Game 3 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium on Monday night. 

The headlining narrative of this World Series was power hitting, and we’ve been spoiled with it so far. Hoth the Dodgers and Yankees have clocked more than 10 percent of their fly balls over the fence. 

As I mentioned in my Game 1 prediction, both Dodger and Yankee Stadium were in MLB’s top-three most home run friendly parks throughout the regular season.

Yankees vs. Dodgers Game 3 odds

With the series now shifting to Yankee Stadium, there’s the obvious temperature drop this time of year, taking some gas off of exit velocity.

However, the Dodgers were just in New York for the NLCS and still hit eight long balls at Citi Field — a significantly more difficult park to homer in than Yankee Stadium — in three games. 

On the Yankees side, I do have trust in the players compensating for Aaron Judge, who can’t hit the broad side of a barn with a bass fiddle right now, to expand their roles on their home field. 

Juan Soto is responsible for three of the Yankees’ five runs in the World Series, batting .429.

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Giancarlo Stanton leads the postseason with six home runs.

Gleyber Torres joins the both of them with a postseason slug percentage north of .400. 

Follow The Post’s coverage of the Yankees in the postseason:

Amongst the collective four postseason starts between Clarke Schmidt and Walker Buehler, Buehler’s six-earned-run meltdown against the Padres in the NLDS is the only real dud, though their exit velocities have regressed in contrast to the regular season. 

I’m valuing dominant hitting over whatever bullpen strategies Dave Roberts or Aaron Boone decide to take, anyway. It’s the pace that the Dodgers set, and you have to run with them to have a chance at winning: Of their 11 playoff games, eight have resulted over 8.5 runs. 

THE PLAY: Over 8.5 Runs (-114, FanDuel)

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Sean Treppedi handicaps the NFL, NHL, MLB and college football for the New York Post. He primarily focuses on picks that reflect market value while tracking trends to mitigate risk.