Aug 18, 10:43am | 5 min read

San Diego Padres vs. Washington Nationals Prediction, Picks, Odds: Can Yu Darvish Continue Dominant Stretch?

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MLB expert and handicapper Jason Radowitz is looking for Yu Darvish and the San Diego Padres to come through against the Washington Nationals. Come find out his play of the day.

ANALYSIS

San Diego Padres vs. Washington Nationals Prediction, Picks, Odds: Can Yu Darvish Continue Dominant Stretch?

The San Diego Padres will take on the Washington Nationals in the first game of the weekend series. The Padres stacked up their lineup at the trade deadline and are hoping to really take off with their offense moving forward. On the other hand, the Nationals were that trading partner to the Padres and gave up on their team for the season. Therefore, this game and series can really only go one way.

Here are our picks, predictions, and odds for Thursday's game between the Washington Nationals vs. San Diego Padres.

Padres vs. Nationals Start Time, Where to Watch, and Odds

Date: August 18, 2022
Game Time: 9:40 pm ET
Where to Watch: BSSD, MASN

Click Here for Padres vs. Nationals Odds

Padres vs. Nationals Injury Report

Padres

Out: SS Fernando Tatis Jr. (Suspension)

Nationals

Out: 2B Luis Garcia (Groin), 3B Carter Kieboom (Elbow)

Padres vs. Nationals Line Movement

San Diego Padres vs. Washington Nationals Prediction

It'll be Anibal Sanchez on the mound for the Nationals tonight. That's never a bad thing for an offense. Sanchez has a 6.29 xFIP in the last 30 days with 14.7% of strikeouts and 10.3% of walks allowed. On the year, the veteran right-hander is winless, holding a 0-5 record with a 7.20 ERA. Yes, this is not a typo. He has a 7.20 ERA on the year. The only good thing that Sanchez has done is limiting line drives but he still rarely gets ground balls. He’s also allowed 42% of hard contact with righties doing a ton of damage against him. But ultimately, he’s allowing extra-base hits to both sides of the plate consistently in the last 30 days. Meanwhile, the Padres are hitting a .197 ISO with a wOBA of .348 against righties in the last 30 days using their projected lineup. Sanchez allows a ton of extra-base hits. Meanwhile, Jurickson Profar, Juan Soto, Manny Machado, Brandon Drury, and Trent Grisham have been hitting extra-base hits consistently against righties in the last 30 days. The Padres stack up well against Sanchez in tonight's game.

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On the other hand, Yu Darvish will get the call for the Padres. He's 10-6 with a 3.40 ERA. But he's been even better as of late, pitching with an xFIP of 2.54. He's struck out 31.8% of batters while only allowing 3.9% of walks. On the other hand, the Nationals rarely walk and have an ISO of .129 with a wOBA of .310 against righties with their projected lineup over the last month. As you get deeper down the lineup, the worse things get with this offense. As a lineup, the Nationals have hit 49.6% of ground balls against righties in the last 30 days. Darvish has struggled slightly against righties. Joey Meneses and Luke Voit have potential, but the Padres have way more potential with their lineup, going up against a much worse pitcher. With that said, I'm riding the Padres on the run line at -2. Yes, we'd need three runs out of the Padres, but a two-run win would just be a push.

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Jason grew up an avid sports fan. His passion for sports writing grew in high school and he developed a blog that was strictly for New York Sports. From his work, you will quickly realize that he loves looking at games from an analytical and numbers perspective and hopes to provide you with that same perspective in his articles.

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