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Nationals vs. Pirates Prediction and Odds for Saturday, April 16 (Washington Presents Value as Road Dog)

By Matt De Saro

Boston Red Sox v Washington Nationals
Boston Red Sox v Washington Nationals / Mitchell Layton/GettyImages
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It’s still early on in the MLB season and some teams are still trying to find their groove. I think that both the Pittsburgh Pirates and Washington National are teams that fall into this category. Sub .500 teams that have shown some flashes of brilliance. But, have underperformed overall. Though I should clarify that the Pirates are actually overachieving based on their projected win total, but still have a losing record. 

The Nationals were able to bounce back yesterday to deal a crushing blow to the Pirates via a 7-2 win. This after the Pirates took game one 9-4. One takeaway from this is that 22 runs in two games are significant. The Pirates are hitting better than expected and the Nats’ bats might have woken up on Friday. 

Here are the odds for this game, courtesy of WynnBET Sportsbook. 

Nationals vs. Pirates Odds, Run Line, and Total

Run Line

  • Nationals: -1.5 (+145)
  • Pirates: +1.5 (-175)

Moneyline:

  • Nationals:+102
  • Pirates:-112

Total:

  • Total 9 (Over -120/Under +100)

Nationals vs. Pirates Prediction and Pick

Josh Rogers will get the start for Washington in this spot after a surprisingly strong season debut against the Braves on Monday. Rogers held the reigning World Series champions to one run in 5 ⅓ innings with three strikeouts and two walks.

He walked away from that game with a 1-0 record and 1.69 ERA. The Pirates’ starter today, Bryse Wilson, had a bit of a different experience to open his season. He got beat up a little in St. Louis and surrendered three runs in four innings to the Cardinals. It wasn’t a disaster, but certainly not a great way to start the year. He will bring a 6.75 ERA into this matchup. 

The Nationals' offense ranks seventh-best in the MLB right now in terms of total runs scored. And while the Pirates' offense is sixth in batting average, they are 15th in runs scored. The Pirates are also having issues on the mound with a team ERA of 4.86. 

I don’t believe Rodgers will be as dominant here as in his last start, but I do think he will do enough to give the Nationals a great chance to win on the road here. 

Pick: Nationals +102 to win

Follow all of Matt De Saro’s betting picks HERE

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