MLB Baseball Betting: Chicago Cubs at Washington Nationals
The Cubs pulled out a victory on Tuesday night and will try to make it two straight over the Nationals on Wednesday in Washington, DC. This game has the Cubs as an underdog once again due to the pitching matchup. The Nationals are trying to take advantage of the poor play of the rest of the NL East to open up a commanding lead atop the division. They’re five games up now and have won 7 of 10 even with Tuesday’s loss. Every other team in the division has a losing record in their last ten games. The Cubs are 9.5 games up on the second place St. Louis Cardinals in the NL Central. They’ve shown signs of being human lately after a torrid start and have now won 6 of 10. They’re still putting up great numbers and winning games at just under a 70% clip (69.8%).
Excellent pitching matchup as two of the best righthanders in baseball go at it. The Cubs will start Jason Hammel and the Nationals will counter with Stephen Strasburg. Hammel has a 2.36 ERA on the year and Chicago has won 9 of his 12 starts this season. Strasburg’s ERA isn’t as glossy (3.03) but it’s hard to argue with his team’s performance when he’s on the hill. Washington is 12-1 in Strasburg’s starts overall and the pitcher’s personal record (not counting ‘no decisions’) is 10-0. Interestingly, Strasburg has only faced the Chicago Cubs once in his career losing an 8-2 verdict at home on May 11, 2013. Jason Hammel has been very effective against Washington during his career with his teams having a perfect 5-0 record in his starts against the Nationals.
Once again, this is a question of value. Two good teams, two good pitchers but the Nationals are a solid favorite. The way to play this is to think of it as a coin flip. At worst, it’s a 50/50 proposition. If you get ‘plus money’ on one side of a coin flip you’ll clean up in the long term. In this matchup you can even make a case that Chicago should be favored despite the Nationals’ excellent record behind Strasburg this season. We’re playing the dog.
BET CHICAGO CUBS +125 OVER WASHINGTON NATIONALS
