Overview
The Washington Nationals are in Atlanta for the rubber match of their 3 game series with the Braves. The Braves won the first game 8-4 and after being down 9-1 after just 2 innings the Nationals managed to comeback and take the second game 13-12. The Nationals haven’t had much luck versus the Braves over the past couple seasons especially in Atlanta where they have won just 5 of the last 16 meetings.
Head to Head Trends
Braves are 4-0 in Woods last 4 home starts vs. Nationals.
Nationals are 5-11 in the last 16 meetings in Atlanta.
Atlanta Braves (+103)
The Atlanta Braves are 2nd in the National League East with a 10-10 record 4.5 games back of the 1st place New York Mets. The Braves started out the season hot winning their first 5 games but they haven’t done a whole lot since with just 5 wins over their last 15 games.
On the hill for the Braves today is lefty Alex Wood who is 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA on the season. Wood has pitched pretty solid so far this season not allowing more then 3 runs in any of his 4 starts. The only negatives with Wood is he hasn’t gone all that deep in either of his starts and his strikeout to walk ratio is not very good with just 12 strikeouts versus 10 walks.
Atlanta Braves Trends
Braves are 5-2 in Woods last 7 starts with 4 days of rest.
Braves are 2-6 in their last 8 overall.
Washington Nationals (-113)
The Washington Nationals are tied for last in the NL East with a 8-13 record 7 games out of 1st place. The Nationals have really been struggling so far this season, they snapped a 6 game losing streak yesterday and I think they were a bit lucky scoring 3 runs in the top of the 9th inning and also coming back from an early 8 run deficit.
Starting for the Nationals today is Jordan Zimmerman who is 1-2 with a 5.23 ERA in his 4 starts this season. Zimmerman has been pretty good so far it’s just the one start versus the Red Sox where he game up 7 earned runs in just 2.1 innings of work that has his numbers a little skewed.
Washington Nationals Trends
Nationals are 1-6 in their last 7 overall.
Nationals are 58-27 in Zimmermanns last 85 starts.
Conclusion
I know I said it before but I really like home dogs in baseball so I’m going with the Braves over the Nationals in this one. The Nationals are dealing with a lot of injuries at the moment so even though they might be a good team at the end of the year right now they are not and they are a good team to be fading for the next little while.
Free Pick: Atlanta Braves +103
