MLB Baseball Betting: Washington Nationals at Los Angeles Dodgers

Two teams fighting for the championship in their respective divisions will go at it on Monday night as the Washington Nationals head across the country to take on the Los Angeles Dodgers at Chavez Ravine. The Dodgers are currently in first place in the NL West with a 3 game lead over the San Francisco Giants and a 7.5 game lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks. They had been playing decent baseball during the past month but are currently coming off a three game sweep at the hands of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Nationals were in control of the NL East just a month or so ago but now they’re slumping and have watched the New York Mets shoot past them into first place. The Nationals have lost 8 of their last 13 games and enter play tonight 1.5 games out of first place in their division and five games out of the National League’s final wild card spot.

It should be a good pitching matchup tonight as two talented lefthanders will face off. For the Nationals, lefthander Gio Gonzalez will take the hill. Gonzalez has been excellent at home but mediocre on the road this season. He’s looked good in his most recent starts posting a 2.45 ERA in his last three games but the Nats managed to lose two of those contests. That, in microcosm, is a good explanation of what has gone wrong with the Nationals in the second half of the MLB season.

The Dodgers will counter with Brett Anderson–he’s been solid in most settings this year with an ERA in the low 3’s. At home, he’s got a 3.15 ERA and the Dodgers have won 7 of his 11 starts. He’s been formful in his last three assignments but the Dodgers managed to lose two of those three games. This is Anderson’s first career start against Washington while Gonzalez has a nice 2.50 ERA in three career starts against the Dodgers though his team lost two of those games.

Very good, even matchup but we can get past the Dodgers’ impressive run of domination at home this year. Los Angeles is 37-18 on their home field while the Nationals are a sub.500 road team. We’ll bet accordingly.

BET LOS ANGELES DODGERS -125 OVER WASHINGTON NATIONALS