Washington Nationals at Chicago Cubs Betting Preview/Player Prop
18 May 2021
Washington has gone just 3-6 in their last nine games, and this has not been a great start to the season for the Nationals. The Nationals currently sit in the last place in the NL East with an overall record of just 16-21.
Chicago has now won three of its last four games to get back to the .500 mark on the year. The Cubs are in third place in the NL Central but are just 2.5 games in back of the division-leading St. Louis Cardinals.
The Washington Nationals are the betting favorites at -111 on the money line on Tuesday night.
Nationals Need More Offense
The Washington Nationals have plenty of talent in their everyday lineup, but they just continue to struggle to score runs. Washington is hitting .252 as a team, but they are near the bottom of MLB in terms of runs scored.
Shortstop Trea Turner leads the team with a .329 batting average to go along with ten home runs and 21 RBIs. Kyle Schwarber belted a two-run homer in his return to Wrigley on Monday night, and the Nationals need more in this one.
Patrick Corbin is on the mound on Tuesday night, and he has really struggled to being the year. Corbin has gone just 2-3 with a 6.19 ERA, and he will be facing a talented Cubs lineup.
Davies Delivering For Cubs
Chicago will send Zach Davies to the mound for game two of the series, and he is just 2-2 with a 5.60 ERA so far this season. Those numbers are a bit deceiving, though, as Davies has pitched great in the month of May.
The Cubs belted three home runs in the series opener, and this team will not have trouble scoring runs this season. Chicago is just outside the top-10 in terms of total runs, but that comes after a very slow start to the year.
Third baseman Kris Bryant leads the team with ten home runs, and he also sports an impressive .301 batting average. This should be another big night for the Cubs on offense.
Cubs Over Nationals Again
The offensive struggles for the Nationals just simply don’t make sense, but there doesn’t seem to be a big change coming soon. Washington is going to have to find more offense to turn the season around, but they are facing a hot pitcher on Tuesday night.
The Cubs have plenty of thunder in that lineup, and this should be another big night on offense. Chicago will give Davies plenty of run support, and the veteran right-hander will take care of the rest.
Washington just can’t seem to figure things out, and Chicago will take advantage by picking up a second-straight win in the series. Bet the Chicago Cubs -1.5 as they beat the Washington Nationals by at least two runs on Tuesday night.
Player Prop
Kris Bryant (+100) Over 0.5 Runs Scored
Coming into this season, a common storyline was whatever happened to Kris Bryant? Injuries to his shoulder, wrist and hand, and a significant drop in his power numbers, saw Bryant slump toward irrelevancy in the Cubs lineup.
But this year has been more like the vintage Bryant. For one, he’s healthy. He also put in a lot of time in the off-season working on his swing. The result has been far more production from the 29-year-old third baseman.
Entering tonight’s game, Bryant ranks near the top in HRs (10), 2Bs (14) and OPS (1.017). And all the time spent on base has led to him being ranked 6th in runs scored at 31.
He’s been relatively quiet over the last two games while going 0-for-9 with 5 Ks. But we’ll look for Bryant (+100) to bounce back tonight and continue to strong season by going over 0.5 runs scored.
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