Las Vegas Athletics vs Washington Nationals Betting Picks

We had the A's on the moneyline last night, and it blew up fast, a 23-4 final that exposed just how thin this bullpen is right now, but that game says nothing about tonight's total. Neither starter made it out of the fourth on Friday. J.T. Ginn gets the ball for the Athletics off a full week of rest since his last turn, a rough one where a gassed staff let a bad outing snowball, but for a pitcher who's limited hitters to well under a hit an inning most of the year, that's the kind of stumble extra rest tends to correct. Zack Littell's ERA still reads poorly, but his last time out against the Yankees was his best start of the month, four innings and just a single run allowed. What tips this the rest of the way is the A's bats, which have gone cold at the worst possible time, two runs total across their final three games before the break. Two starters trending the right way and one lineup that's stopped hitting is enough to keep this one UNDER the posted total tonight.

Washington leads all of baseball in slugging and arrives with a 28-18 road record, the kind of profile that usually gets treated as an automatic price on the moneyline. But look at what's actually happening in Las Vegas: the Athletics have dropped nine straight, and Gage Jump was the best pitcher on the mound in that latest loss, five and two-thirds innings, one run, seven strikeouts, beaten 1-0 because his own offense couldn't push a run across. That's a lineup slump burying a pitching staff, not a rotation problem, and Jump draws a Nationals lineup that hasn't faced him this season. Cade Cavalli takes the ball for Washington, a respectable 3.83 ERA and 110 strikeouts on the year, solid work, but not the kind of gap that should make a home team a true underdog. At a coin-flip price, I like the pitching matchup and the buy-low spot over an offense that's been feasting on beat-up staffs lately. Las Vegas is the play on the moneyline tonight.

Washington took a beating from the Athletics last night at home, 16-7. The Nationals have allowed 63 runs in their previous five games, or a ridiculous 12.6 per game. They've lost six in a row, and there are signs that this team is quitting right now. The Athletics are a bad team, playing good ball right now. They are 8-3 in their last 11 games, scoring 6.5 runs per contest. Bad pitching and a cold team, vs. hot hitting and a hot team... I like the Athletics in this one.