Nationals vs Padres Picks & Odds: San Diego Massive Fave Hosting Washington

The San Diego Padres (65-54) are 6-3 in their last nine games against the Washington Nationals (39-79) heading into a four-game series in San Diego. The Padres are going off as huge favorites to pick up a win as a Nationals vs Padres prediction in Thursday night’s series opener.

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Nationals vs Padres Odds & Analysis

Sportsbook Odds

The Padres opened as -360 favorites before betting action on them as the preferred Nationals vs Padres prediction in this matchup drove the line up to San Diego -400. The Nationals will be looking for an upset as +305 underdogs and the total is set at 8 runs after Sportsbook at 7.5 runs. The OVER is 8-2 in the last 10 games between the Nationals and Padres.

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Starting Pitchers

Anibal Sanchez pitched five innings and allowed six hits and three earned runs in Washington’s 4-3 upset win over the San Diego Padres last Saturday night. Sanchez has given up three or more earned runs in all six of his starts this season and will enter this start with an 0-5 record, a 7.20 ERA and a 1.60 WHIP in 30 innings pitched.

Yu Darvish was on the losing end of that upset last Saturday, pitching six innings and allowing seven hits and four earned runs in Washington. Despite that off-night, Darvish still owns a 10-6 record with a 3.40 ERA, a 1.01 WHIP and 141 strikeouts in 22 starts this season.

Washington Has Struggled To Produce Offense Without Juan Soto

The Nationals wrapped up a six-game homestand with a 3-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night. Washington fell to 3-11 over its last 14 games with the loss. The offense has missed Juan Soto and Josh Bell in the lineup since trading them away to the Padres, averaging only 3.5 runs per game during this current 14-game slump.

Washington enters this series with a 1-7 record in its last eight road games. Bettors taking Washington as their Nationals vs Padres prediction will need a lot of things to go right to pull off this big upset.

Things Haven’t Gone According To Plan For The Padres

When San Diego made its blockbuster trade to acquire Juan Soto at the trade deadline, many believed that the Padres had solidified themselves as a World Series contender. But since then, they’ve gone just 5-8 over their last 13 games and have lost Fernando Tatis Jr. for the rest of the season due to a PED suspension.

San Diego enters Thursday’s action sitting a half-game behind the Philadelphia Phillies for a National League wild-card spot. While the hype around the Padres has dimmed, they are obviously still a threat to make the postseason and are getting no shortage of support at the betting window.

Nationals vs Padres Pick & Insights

Nationals: Keys To Victory

The Nationals were +270 underdogs when Anibal Sanchez faced Yu Darvish just five days ago, and they came away with a 4-3 upset win in that one. The recipe for another big upset as a Nationals vs Padres prediction is the same this time around: keep the Padres in check on offense to give this struggling lineup a low bar to clear.

Padres: Keys To Victory

The Padres are at home, have the clearly superior lineup and the clearly superior starting pitcher in this matchup. Whether or not there’s value in them as a Nationals vs Padres pick at -400 is up for debate, but they have plenty of paths to victory as the much better team taking the field on Thursday.

MLB Computer Pick: Padres -400

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