MLB Free Pick: Phillies vs. Nationals Betting Odds & Handicapping Preview

These two teams will resume their four game series tonight after the Nats took game one by a score of 5-2. The Phillies took two of three off the Nationals last weekend in Philadelphia and Washington will be looking for some retribution to get back to .500 and start making some ground on the division leading NY Mets.

The season started out fairly well for the Phillies who were 3-3 after two series’ against top quality teams, the Red Sox and Nationals. This team has slipped back to what was expected of them before the outset of the season however and have dropped five straight and find themselves in the basement of the NL East.

The Phillies will send Sean O’Sullivan (0-0) to the hill tonight. The hefty right hander was solid in his last outing against the Nationals, tossing six innings and surrendering just two hits while striking out five and walking one in a no decision.

Philadelphia has not had terrible pitching this season, but run production has just been terribly difficult for them thus far. During their current five game losing skid the Phillies have managed to plate just 11 runs. They’ll be in tough tonight against Nationals ace Max Scherzer who is sporting a tidy 0.66 ERA in two starts.

The aforementioned Scherzer is searching for win number one on the 2015-16 season, as he’s currently saddled with an 0-1 record despite sparkling numbers. Scherzer took a no decsion in the Nats’ 4-3 win over the Phillies last week and will be hoping his team can give him some more run support this time out.

Max has fanned eight batters in each of his last two outings and has walked just four batters so far this season. The Nationals’ bats have been lively of late, scoring 30 runs in their last five, but they were hard pressed to keep the Red Sox off the board in their mid-week series and gave up 22 runs in three games, dropping two of them.

With Scherzer on the hill tonight and a lineup that is starting to wake up this should be almost automatic for Washington and if they can get on O’Sullivan early, their pitcher should be able to guide the ship home as I don’t see the Phillies lighting up Scherzer at all.

Phillies vs. Nationals 4* Free Pick

This one seems like a no-brainer and the odds would suggest that as well. The payout is not significant enough to take the Nationals on their own, but this is a nice game to throw into a three or four game parlay that you should be able to rest easy on. The Nationals are just a far better team and they have one of their seemingly endless stable of aces on this mound tonight. Washington should take this one with ease, play the Nationals with confidence.