MLB Baseball Betting: Los Angeles Dodgers at Washington Nationals
Afternoon game at the top of a short card of Major League Baseball pits the Washington Nationals against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Nats have lost two straight and they’re doing so at the worst possible time. Meanwhile, Miami keeps winning (8-2 L10) and are now just 4.5 games back of Washington for first place in the NL East. The New York Mets haven’t been playing particularly well but they’re just 6 games back. The Dodgers are finally putting some pressure on the San Francisco Giants in the NL West. The Giants have lost 4 straight and Los Angeles has their lead down to 4.5 games.
Washington has a good chance to get a victory on Friday as they’ll send right hander Stephen Strasburg to the mound. Strasburg is having a monster season and has a perfect 13-0 record heading into this game. In game he’s started, the Nationals are 16-1 including 10-0 at home. He’s been virtually unhittable in his last three starts: 22 2/3 innings pitched, 5 hits, 2 earned runs and 20 strikeouts. In his first start off of the disabled list he took a no hitter into the 7th inning before being pulled for a relief pitcher. Los Angeles has done reasonably well against Strasburg–they’ve won 2 of three career meetings though they haven’t faced him since May of 2014.
Los Angeles will start Julio Urias–a very intriguing prospect with serious MLB velocity but who is raw in every other component of pitching at the Major League level. Urias is coming off a bad loss but otherwise has pitched fairly well. It’s clear he’s learning the game. The Dodgers have won 4 straight Urias starts and five of six. The Dodgers have had no problem with the Nationals in recent years. They’re 4-0 against Washington this year and were 4-2 against them last year. Starting pitching aside, this is a good chance to play on the Dodgers against the struggling Nationals at a good price. Unfortunately, we can’t do that. Strasburg has been pitching at such a high level all year–and particularly since coming off the disabled list–that we have no interest in getting in front of him. We’ll lay the price.
BET WASHINGTON NATIONALS -200 OVER LOS ANGELES DODGERS
