The Nationals and Padres wrap up its series on Thursday afternoon as the Nats continue to try and play spoiler for the Friars.
These two are forever linked as the Nationals traded star outfielder Juan Soto to the Padres last summer, but the two are separated by one game following the Nats 5-3 win on Wednesday. Can San Diego get a decent outing from lefty Blake Snell on Thursday to get a win?
Here are the odds and our best bet on Thursday:
Padres vs. Nationals odds, run line and total
Padres vs. Nationals prediction and pick
Snell hasn't been a great investment for the Padres, posting a 4.03 ERA in his three seasons with San Diego. This year has been his worst with the club, posting a 5.40 ERA with a career low strikeout-to-walk rate that is below two now. Snell is striking out fewer than 10 batters per nine innings for the first time since 2017 and walking more than five in the same timeframe.
He'll face a Nationals offense that is surprisingly competitive this season. The team doesn't strikeout often, below 20%, and is doing as good of a job of getting the ball in play as any team in the bigs, hitting .312 in balls in play.
The Padres offense, despite all the investment in big money hitters like Soto, is dead last in the big leagues in batting average this season as a group. The team will face rookie Jake Irvin of the Nationals who hasn't been great in his rookie campaign, but it's a small sample of just four starts.
The Padres can't justify this price with Snell on the mound against an above league average offense. I'll take another shot at the Nationals as home underdogs.
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
