The Washington Nationals take the field as favorites () at home in the first game of the season against the Atlanta Braves () at Nationals Park on Tuesday, with the first pitch at 4:05 PM ET. Washington’s Max Scherzer and Atlanta’s Drew Smyly pitch first for their squads in this matchup.
The betting insights and predictions in this article reflect betting data from DraftKings as of April 6, 2021, 3:00 AM ET. See table below for current betting odds and CLICK HERE to bet at DraftKings Sportsbook.
Nationals vs Braves Betting Odds
Pitching Matchup
The probable pitchers for both teams have not made a start this season. Here are their stats from last season:
Scherzer (WSH) | Pitcher | Smyly (ATL) |
---|---|---|
5 – 4 | W/L | 0 – 1 |
67.1 | IP | 26.1 |
3.74 | ERA | 3.42 |
1.370 | WHIP | 1.100 |
12.3 | K/9 | 14.4 |
2.9 | BB/9 | 3.1 |
Nationals Probable Starter Max Scherzer
- Scherzer gets the call to start for the Nationals, his first this season.
- When he last appeared on Saturday, Sept. 26, the 36-year-old righty started the game and went six innings against the Mets.
- Scherzer and his team went 6-4 in the 10 games he pitched when they were favored on the moneyline a season ago.
Starting pitcher projections reflect team information as of April 6, 2021 at 6:11 AM ET and may change up to the start of game.
Braves Stats vs Scherzer
Player | AB | AVG | H | HR | RBI | OBP | OPS |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ender Inciarte | 43 | .279 | 12 | 0 | 0 | .340 | .782 |
Marcell Ozuna | 41 | .244 | 10 | 2 | 5 | .311 | .823 |
Freddie Freeman | 41 | .220 | 9 | 2 | 3 | .327 | .790 |
Dansby Swanson | 34 | .206 | 7 | 1 | 7 | .250 | .632 |
Travis d’Arnaud | 23 | .217 | 5 | 2 | 8 | .208 | .817 |
Ozzie Albies | 22 | .182 | 4 | 1 | 3 | .280 | .598 |
Pablo Sandoval | 20 | .350 | 7 | 2 | 4 | .435 | 1.185 |
Ronald Acuña Jr. | 17 | .294 | 5 | 0 | 2 | .333 | .804 |
Johan Camargo | 7 | .286 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .286 | .572 |
Austin Riley | 3 | .333 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .333 | .666 |
Braves Probable Starter Drew Smyly
- The Braves will send out Smyly for his first start of the season.
- The last time the lefty took the mound was on Sunday, Sept. 27 last season, when he pitched five innings in a matchup with the Padres.
- The left-hander did not appear in a game when his team was the moneyline underdog last season.
Starting pitcher projections reflect team information as of April 6, 2021 at 6:11 AM ET and may change up to the start of game.
Nationals Betting Trends
- Last season the Nationals scored the 10th-most runs in baseball (293 total, 4.9 per game).
- The Nationals won 44.4% of the games last season they were favored on the moneyline (12-15).
- In games it played as a moneyline favorite with odds of -127 or shorter, Washington had a 10-10 record (winning 50% of its games).
- In the 56 games bookmakers set an over/under for Washington, it combined with opponents to go over the total 30 times (30-24-2).
Braves Betting Trends
- The Braves were underdogs in 16 games last season and won five (31.2%) of those contests.
- Atlanta had a record of 2-9 in games where bookmakers had them as underogs of at least +107 on the moneyline.
- Atlanta and its opponents hit the over in 31 of their 59 games with a total last season.
Nationals Players to Watch
- Juan Soto racked up 13 home runs while slugging .695 last season.
- Soto ranked 24th in HR (13), second in BA (.351), first in OBP (.454), and 19th in SLG (.695) among the qualifying hitters in baseball.
- Trea Turner totaled 41 runs batted in with 78 hits.
- Turner ranked first in hits (78), 15th in RBI (41), fourth in BA (.335), 13th in OBP (.394), and 11th in SLG (.588) among qualifying hitters in MLB.
Nationals Batting Stats (2020)
Player | AB | AVG | R | HR | RBI | OBP | OPS |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Trea Turner | 233 | .335 | 46 | 12 | 41 | .394 | .982 |
Josh Bell | 195 | .226 | 22 | 8 | 22 | .292 | .656 |
Kyle Schwarber | 191 | .188 | 30 | 11 | 24 | .305 | .698 |
Victor Robles | 168 | .220 | 20 | 3 | 15 | .293 | .608 |
Juan Soto | 154 | .351 | 39 | 13 | 37 | .454 | 1.149 |
Yan Gomes | 109 | .284 | 14 | 4 | 13 | .319 | .787 |
Josh Harrison | 79 | .278 | 11 | 3 | 14 | .352 | .770 |
Starlin Castro | 60 | .283 | 9 | 2 | 4 | .317 | .784 |
Alex Avila | 49 | .184 | 6 | 1 | 2 | .355 | .641 |
Andrew Stevenson | 41 | .366 | 11 | 2 | 12 | .447 | 1.179 |
Braves Players to Watch
- Marcell Ozuna finished with a .333 average last season, with 18 home runs and 56 RBI.
- Ozuna ranked second in hits (76), fifth in BA (.333), 19th in SLG (.632), fifth in OBP (.420), fourth in HR (18), and second in RBI (56) among qualified hitters in MLB.
- Freddie Freeman posted a .341 average with 13 homers and 53 RBI.
- Among qualified hitters, Freeman ranked third in BA (.341), second in OBP (.447), first in SLG (.640), 24th in HR (13), third in RBI (53), and fourth in hits (73) in the league.
Braves Batting Stats (2020)
Player | AB | AVG | R | HR | RBI | OBP | OPS |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dansby Swanson | 237 | .274 | 49 | 10 | 35 | .345 | .809 |
Marcell Ozuna | 228 | .333 | 38 | 18 | 56 | .420 | 1.052 |
Freddie Freeman | 214 | .341 | 51 | 13 | 53 | .447 | 1.087 |
Austin Riley | 188 | .239 | 24 | 8 | 27 | .298 | .713 |
Travis d’Arnaud | 165 | .321 | 19 | 9 | 34 | .386 | .919 |
Ronald Acuña Jr. | 160 | .250 | 46 | 14 | 29 | .400 | .981 |
Johan Camargo | 120 | .200 | 16 | 4 | 9 | .244 | .611 |
Ozzie Albies | 118 | .271 | 21 | 6 | 19 | .306 | .772 |
Ender Inciarte | 116 | .190 | 17 | 1 | 10 | .262 | .512 |
Pablo Sandoval | 84 | .214 | 5 | 1 | 6 | .287 | .549 |
Nationals vs Braves Player Props
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