Moneyline pick, best player prop for Nationals vs. Dodgers on Sunday

The Los Angeles Dodgers enter Sunday 7-2 and looking to sweep the Washington Nationals to win their third straight series to start 2021. The Dodgers are doing this despite missing a few key studs in the lineup. Cody Bellinger (calf) is on the injured list and Mookie Betts (back) hasn’t played yet in this series. We’ve got a Hall of Fame matchup with Max Scherzer going up against Clayton Kershaw. The Dodgers ace bounced back after a rough outing in the Opener. Scherzer will look to do the same after allowing 4 HRs to the Braves in the Nats’ Opener.

Nationals vs. Dodgers, 4:10 p.m. ET

Moneyline pick: Nationals +148

The Nationals have lost four in a row after opening the season with a late-inning win. Washington has had a couple of tough breaks, losing three of those four games by a margin of 4 total runs. This feels like a spot where Scherzer needs to show up. In 14 games against the Dodgers in his career, Scherzer has a 2.76 ERA and 92 Ks with just 8 HRs allowed over 81.2 IP. If Betts remains out, the Dodgers lineup is much easier to get through. I’m looking at Scherzer to show up and help the Nats avoid the sweep today.

Prop: Total Runs F5 U3.5 (+100)

The Nats offense has been awful and this could be a pitcher’s duel. If that’s the case and both Kershaw and Scherzer go deep into this game (7-8 innings), then there’s a good chance we don’t see many runs. With that in mind, we can expect both starters to at least go five innings a piece. This is a risky total because of how low it is, but that’s what we get at +100.

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