Overview
The Washington Nationals play their final game before the all-star break today in Baltimore when they take the Orioles. The Baltimore Orioles have owned the Nationals over the past few seasons winning 12 of the last 17 meetings including 11 of the 15 played in Baltimore.
Head to Head Trends
Nationals are 2-6 in the last 8 meetings.
Nationals are 4-11 in the last 15 meetings in Baltimore.
Baltimore Orioles (+105)
The Baltimore Orioles are 2nd in the American League East 3 games back of the 1st place New York Yankees. The Orioles were probably one of the hottest teams in the league for a large part of June when they won 16 of 20 games but that had a lot to do with almost every hitter in the lineup getting red hot at the same time so when that happens your obviously going to win a lot of games. The Thing is you remember back before that hot stretch the Orioles kind of sucked and since the end of June when the offense started to come back down to earth they pretty much suck again winning just 3 of their last 12 games.
Starting for the Orioles today is lefty Wei-Yin Chen who is 4-4 with a 2.82 ERA on the season. Chen has been great so far this season but he has given up an oddly high amount of home runs especially for a guy with such a low ERA. Chen has given up 6 home runs over his last 3 starts while allowing a total of just 6 earned runs so seems like it’s only time until those solo homers start turning into 2 and 3 runs shots.
Baltimore Orioles Trends
Orioles are 1-4 in their last 5 overall.
Orioles are 19-7 in Chens last 26 home starts.
Washington National (-115)
The Washington Nationals are 1st in the National League East 2 games up on the 2nd place New York Mets. The Nationals haven’t exactly been playing great ball either with just a single win over their last 4 games mostly due to their offense struggling to score runs right now as well.
On the hill for the Nationals today is Max Scherzer who is 9-7 with a 2.12 ERA on the season. Scherzer has been lights out most starts this season it was only a few weeks back he threw a complete game 1 hitter and then in his very next start he threw a no hitter.
Washington Nationals Trends
Nationals are 7-1 in their last 8 vs. a team with a winning record.
Nationals are 8-3 in Scherzers last 11 starts as a favorite.
Conclusion
I’m going with the Washington Nationals over the Orioles in this one. The Orioles are not playing very good ball right now and I also like Scherzer today especially since he threw just 81 pitches in his last start so I think he might be in a another big game today.
Free Pick: Washington Nationals -115
