The Los Angeles Angels are coming off a three-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox as they head into Friday’s series opener against the Washington Nationals. Have the Halos found their form going into this homestand against a lowly opponent, or will the visitors strike first to take the opening game?
Here’s an Angels vs. Nationals prediction and pick on DraftKings Sportsbook for Friday night’s late-slate action.
Angels vs. Nationals prediction, preview
Los Angeles Angels
After successfully clawing their way to the .500 mark with their last series, the Angels now sit 40-40 on the season and third place among the AL West. They’re now just one game back of the Seattle Mariners for second, so even non-division games like tonight suddenly matter a little bit more than they did a few weeks back.
The Angels don’t hit particularly well and rank bottom-five in AVG and OBP, also sitting second-worst in strikeouts and walks. However, the one thing they do well is smack the cover off the ball with 118 home runs, the fourth-highest tally of any team. They still fall 19th in runs scored though, so there’s not a ton of support for a pitching staff which falls 24th in ERA and 28th in WHIP on the year.
Washington Nationals
As for the visiting Nationals, their 33-48 record doesn’t indicate much to be excited about at the bottom of the NL East. They’re just 3-7 across their last 10 games, but there are a couple of bright spots this year in James Wood’s breakout, CJ Abrams’ excellence and the emergence of MacKenzie Gore’s improvement into a standout hurler.
The Nats’ bats rank 22nd in AVG, 21st in OPS and 17th in runs on this season. Their offense feels feisty enough to make games interesting on occasion, but much like the Angels, Wahington’s arms struggle more than most teams. At 28th in ERA and 24th in WHIP, they need a more consistent stable of pitchers before they can truly make some noise and return to the playoffs.
Angels vs. Nationals pick, best bet
The Angels are -171 favorites on the Moneyline at their own ballpark this evening while the Nationals hold +140 odds of an outright win. The run total sits at 8.5 between these two teams.
Right-hander Jose Soriano draws the start for Los Angeles this evening. He’s thrown 93.0 innings across 16 starts this year with a 3.39 ERA and 1.42 WHIP along with 80 strikeouts. He duels against Washington righty Jake Irvin, who posts a 4.18 ERA, 1.23 WHIP and 66 punchouts across 94.2 innings.
As for tonight’s best bet, I’m targeting the Angels’ starting arm. Soriano has very quietly been hot during the month of June. Over his 24.1 innings this month, the right-hander’s ERA sits at 3.33 with a 1.15 WHIP and 31 strikeouts. He posted at least six strikeouts in three of his four outings with 10 and 12 Ks in a couple of those. With +110 odds on over 5.5 strikeouts and +235 odds on 7+ punchouts, either of these lines hold some appeal tonight if he can continue this recent hot streak.
Best bet: Jose Soriano over 5.5 strikeouts (+110)
Click the odds on this bet to tail!
