Good baseball doesn\u2019t always make for good betting. And good betting doesn\u2019t always make for good baseball. But in the case of this four-game inter-divisional series, beginning Thursday night, we just might get a bit of both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Can two middling teams really give us good baseball? Well, there\u2019s no reason not to be optimistic, but if all else fails, here are some tips that\u2019ll at least help you get the most out of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The San Diego Padres are the home ball club for the series, and sitting squarely in the middle of their NL West division, they\u2019ve got a ways to go before they can even come close to the red hot Dodgers, who are leading the division, as well as the entire National League, by a veritable country mile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the current runners up in the NL West, the Colorado Rockies, are also red hot, having recently come off a 9-1 home stand, and the Padres are only one game behind them. So despite the runway success of the Dodgers, it\u2019s still a competitive division, and the Padres have a reasonable shot at a Wildcard spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, the Washington Nationals are struggling. Second last in the NL East, the Nats are 6 games below .500, and 6.5 games behind the NL East leader, the Philadelphia Phillies (take from that what you will about the strength of the NL East at the moment). Despite a respectable pitching staff, the bats just haven\u2019t been producing the way they\u2019d hoped in the absence of former Nats star Bryce Harper (who of course went to the aforementioned Phillies).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But with all of the bad news out of the way, Washington actually has plenty to feel good about. They\u2019re 8-2 in their last 10 games, and they\u2019re climbing. That\u2019s hot enough to count on them to take a least a game or two of this four-game series, for which they\u2019ll surely be considered underdogs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The generally excellent Max Scherzer hasn\u2019t really been having games go his way this year, with just a 3-5 record on the season so far. But with an ERA of 3.06, there\u2019s still plenty of promise from the 34-year-old RHP. He penciled in as the probably pitcher for Saturday\u2019s tilt (against a TBD from the Padres), so that could be a good opportunity to put some money down on the Nats. He\u2019ll be coming off his best outing of the season thus far, not to mention an extra day of rest. That fresh arm could lead to a big payout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Friday game could be interesting as well, with the Nats slated to start RHP Erick Fedde against the Padres\u2019 Nick Margevicius. Fedde is unproven, with only 24 innings pitched this year, and a 1-0 record. But he\u2019s recorded 15 Ks in that time, with an ERA of 2.55. Meanwhile, Margevicius has racked up a dubious 9.17 ERA in his past four starts. The Padres 6-man rotation is expected to go back down to 5 next week, so Margevicius is almost certainly on the chopping black and playing for his job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n