Pick Padres in Thursday MLB Betting Against Nationals

Being forced to chase the leaders is a tough spot to be in, especially when the team that is out in front seems to hit a winning streak at exactly the same time as you do. That is what the Washington Nationals are having to deal with right now as they try to run down the New York Mets in the NL East. They will try to use home field advantage to keep the push going when they face the San Diego Padres in the final game of a 3-game MLB betting series on Thursday.

San Diego vs. Washington MLB Game Info

Date/Time: Thursday, August 27th, 7:05 PM Location: Nationals Park, Washington, DC TV: MASN Radio: 106.7 The Fan Opening line: Washington -155

WATCH: #ZIM #GRANDSLAM Bring ’em all home, Ryan Zimmerman: http://t.co/h8Z5bhzzpj pic.twitter.com/XFyNjemgvh

— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) August 26, 2015

The Nationals (63-61) are starting to win again, but their 3-game streak has come at a time when the Mets are in the midst of a 5-game winning run. The end result is that the Nationals are now 5.5 games back in the NL East, and are quite frankly running out of time. If they are going to overhaul the Mets for the division title, they are going to need the bats to stay as hot as they have been over the past 3 games. They have scored 23 runs during that stretch, which is well above what they have been averaging over the past few weeks. While it would be easy to write this team off right now, you would be advised to look at their upcoming schedule. There are a lot of teams on there who are currently occupying the cellar of their respective divisions. That does not mean guaranteed wins, but it does present an opportunity to make up ground. Joe Ross (4-5, 3.56 ERA) will try to make it back to back wins on Thursday. Baseball fans in San Diego (61-64) will tell you that their team is still very much in the playoff picture, but what they won’t tell you is that in order to get there, they will have to overtake 3 teams whilst making up a 7.5 game deficit. The Padres were on a nice little run, which included a 5-game win streak that matched their longest this season. That seems like a distant memory, though, as they followed that up with back to back losses that ended up seeing them lose a game in the standings. The truth of the matter is that this Padres team has not shown enough consistency to make anyone believe that they can get to the top of the division, even with all the other teams struggling right now. Andrew Cashner (5-12, 4.03 ERA) will start for the Padres.

Key Betting Trends

• The total has gone OVER in 6 of San Diego’s last 7 games
• The total has gone OVER in 11 of San Diego’s last 13 games on the road
• Washington is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games when playing San Diego
• The total has gone OVER in 9 of Washington’s last 11 games at home

Both of these teams have struggled with consistency this season, which is why it is hard to see the Nationals continue to win. I like the Padres to take this game in a close one.