The talented but often underachieving San Diego Padres get set to clash against the Washington Nationals in the finale of a three-game set Thursday inside Nationals Park from Washington, District of Columbia. They toss out the first pitch at 12:05 pm for a lovely afternoon affair.
Bookmaker has installed the Padres -180 on the ML.
The Padres always seem to have a solid offense and scary lineup when the season begins. The franchise has no issues adding players, trading for big-time stars, or breaking the bank. But they have nothing to show for it over the last several years, and the fanbase is growing impatient and frustrated.
This season is the same, as San Diego is barely over the .500 mark and again needs to make a late-season push if they want to secure one of the two NL Wildcard spots. On offense, the Padres are led by veteran third baseman Manny Machado, who has cracked 13 home runs while batting a solid .262 on the season. The 32-year-old can go on a hot streak and carry the team, but the rest of the offense has to get on base more consistently.
The Padres are just + 17 in the run differential department, and they either hit home runs or fail to move guys and runners over in scoring position. That needs to change. They will toss out Dylan Cease, who takes the ball and heads to the mound with a mark of 9-8 and an ERA of 3.76 on the season.
The Nationals have had a down season and will not catch the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East. They are a team between winning some games here and there and rebuilding, and they are content with that.
They are a whopping 17 games back of the first-place and front-running Phillies, and they are not a team with the veteran experience to make a push remotely in the second half of the season. They might win some series here and there, but they will be on the outside looking in again when October rolls around.
On offense, they are led by shortstop CJ Abrams, who has slugged 15 home runs while collecting 49 RBI. He is batting .264 on the season for the Nationals, who are hitting just .239. They need the firepower on offense to match up with the Padres and will need to manufacture runs and play small ball in this one.
They will toss out Patrick Corbin, who has posted a mark of 2-9 to go along with an ERA of 5.36 on the season.
The Nationals are 3-2 in their last five games and 3-2 in their last five games against the spread. They are a solid 29-24 in their road games against the spread. The totals have gone over in three out of their last five games, and the totals have gone over in 22 out of their last 48 games at home. The Padres are 3-2 in their previous five games and 2-3 in their last five games against the spread. They are 30-18 in their road games against the spread. The totals have gone over in just one out of their last five games.
