MLB Baseball Betting: Atlanta Braves at Washington Nationals
The Atlanta Braves have been an awful team all season long but credit where it’s due–they’ve kept playing hard, even if they weren’t playing well. Now they’re in a position when they won’t finish in last place in the Majors. The Minnesota Twins have done a lot of the work to help the Braves–they’ve lost 15 of 16 and unlike the Braves they look like they don’t care any more. Atlanta has won 9 of their last 14 though they did lose the opening game of this series. The Nationals have also been playing well winning 6 of 10 and keeping a solid lead over the New York Mets and Miami Marlins in the NL East. The Mets have been playing well and posing a challenge winning 3 straight and 7 of 10. The Miami Marlins have been doing just the opposite and have lost 4 straight and 9 of 10.
A secondary goal for the Braves is a bigger challenge–they’re just 7.5 games back of the 4th place Philadelphia Phillies which is as close as the Braves have been in months. Philadelphia won the series opener on Monday against struggling Miami but have lost 8 of 10. This is something handicappers should keep in mind in September–teams like the Braves who are still exerting an effort and that can be enough to win some games in September. Williams Perez will get the start for Atlanta here–this is his first start since June 6 as he’s been on the DL with a rotator cuff strain. Perez was ‘hit and miss’ in his 9 starts early in the season but since he was injured it means little. The Braves won 6 of his 9 starts which is something for such a bad team.
The Nationals will start the Enigmatic Gio Gonzalez who has been pitching fairly well of late after a horrible start to the season. Despite his struggles this year the Nationals have won 8 of Gonzalez’s home starts. The Braves haven’t been much against left handers this year but they haven’t been much against anyone in any situation. This could be a ‘flat spot’ for the Nationals with Stephen Strasburg scheduled to go in the series finale tomorrow. We’ll take a shot on the hard trying Braves at a huge price.
BET ATLANTA BRAVES +190 OVER WASHINGTON NATIONALS
