MLB Baseball Betting: Washington Nationals at Milwaukee Brewers

Things are getting ugly for the Washington Nationals. They’ve been on top of the National League East for awhile now and maintaining a decent lead. Over the past week or so, however, they’ve really hit the skids. Following a 6-5 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday they’ve dropped seven straight games and left the door wide open for the second place New York Mets and third place Miami Marlins. The Mets are 2.5 games back pending their Saturday night games against the Atlanta Braves and the Miami Marlins are 3 games back having beaten the Chicago Cubs 9-6. The Milwaukee Brewers haven’t been much of a team this season but they’ve won 3 straight and are just one game back of the slumping Pittsburgh Pirates for third place in the NL Central.

The Nationals got even more bad news earlier in the day when Stephen Strasburg was scratched from this start. Strasburg had been dealing with upper back pain and dislocated ribs he suffered in a weight room accident and it reportedly ‘flared up’ on Saturday. Tanner Roark will get the start here and he’s got a 3.18 ERA in 15 starts this season. Of course he won’t provide the psychological lift to the team that Strasburg’s return would though he might be more capable at this point since he’s actually healthy. Jimmy Nelson will get the start for Milwaukee and he’s been decent this year though he’s struggled in his most recent outings. Milwaukee has gone 7-8 in Nelson’s 15 starts as he’s put up a 3.80 ERA. At home, the Brewers are 4-4 but Nelson’s ERA is 2.62. Milwaukee has lost his last three starts and Nelson has struggled with a 5.79 and 2.00 WHIP. Note that these numbers are based primarily on one bad start–at San Francisco on June 15 where he allowed 8 hits and 6 earned runs in just 3 2/3 inning of form. His other two starts in this timeframe were good as he allowed only 3 earned runs in 10 1/3 innings.

Nothing is going right for the Washington Nationals right now and Strasburg’s injury complications are just the latest thing. The Nationals should be favored once again so why not take the Brewers and look for them to complete the sweep?

BET MILWAUKEE BREWERS +150 OVER WASHINGTON NATIONALS