Bottom Two

The Washington Nationals host the Oakland Athletics at Nationals Park on August 30th at 7:05 pm. This will be the first time both of these two teams play against each other in the regular season. The Nationals head into this game with a home record of 20-46 and the Athletics have a road record of 26-38. The odds for this game are currently -115 Nationals, -105 Athletics, and the over/under is set at 8 according to Caesars Casino & Sportsbook. New users will receive a Risk-Free Bet of up to $1250 on their first wager. 

The Oakland Athletics are currently 48-81 and are the last seed in the AL West. Over their last 10 games, they are 5-5 and are on a two-game winning streak. In their last series, they played against the New York Yankees where they lost the first two matchups but won the last two to end the series. In this game against the Nationals, the Athletics will have Cole Irvin take the mound for them. On the season, Irvin is 6-11 with an ERA of 3.16 and a WHIP of 1.03. The Athletics are currently in last place for the number of hits in the league with 906. Catcher Sean Murphy leads the team in batting average, hits, RBIs, and OBP. The Athletics are lucky to have Murphy as they are not the best hitting team and rank in the bottom 5 in the most important hitting categories. In their last two wins, the Athletics have scored 7 runs while recording 14 hits. If the Athletics want to continue their winning streak, they need to continue hitting the ball well and scoring runs. 

The Washington Nationals are currently 43-85 and are in last place in the NL East. Over their last 10 games, they are 4-6 and are on a one-game winning streak. They are coming off a series against the Cincinnati Reds where they won only one of the three games they played. In those games against the Reds, they allowed 15 runs while only scoring 8 runs. In this game against the Athletics, pitcher Erick Fedde will take the mound for the Nationals. On the season, Fedde is 5-8 with an ERA of 4.88 and a WHIP of 1.51. The Nationals are currently in 15th place for the number of hits in the league with 1,053. This number is heavily inflated as more than 190 hits belong to Juan Soto and Josh Bell. These players were traded at the end of the trade deadline to the San Diego Padres. This trade made it clear that the Nationals will be headed into a rebuilding stage and will hopefully become a competitive team in the near future. The Nationals need Nelson Cruz, Cesar Hernandez, Keibert Ruiz, and Lane Thomas to have great games as they lead the Nationals in hits.

I think the Athletics should win this game on the road against the Nationals. They have a better pitcher in this game and have just won two impressive games against the Yankees. This game will be very slow as it will feature the two worst teams in the league based on record. These teams are currently in a rebuilding phase and players like Murphy for the Athletics will be building blocks for the team’s future. Expect Murphy and Irvin to have great games as the Athletics control the game against the Nationals.

For our expert, Oakland Athletics vs Washington Nationals pick, take the Athletics -1.5.