At the tail end of tonight’s MLB slate, two NL Wild Card hopefuls do battle in a matchup with extra stakes between division rivals. The San Francisco Giants (72-71) are one of the hottest offenses in baseball but face off against an Arizona Diamondbacks (72-72) squad intent on dashing their opponent’s postseason hopes during this series.
Here’s a Giants vs. Diamondbacks prediction and pick on DraftKings Sportsbook for today’s action.
Giants vs. Diamondbacks prediction, preview
The Giants remain one of the hottest teams in all of baseball despite dropping a pair of contests to the St. Louis Cardinals over the weekend. Despite the momentary setback, San Francisco won 11 of their 12 contests before those and boasts a scorching offense that averages over seven runs per contest in the last two weeks. The Giants are doing that while batting an absurd .315 as a team with a .908 OPS, obviously both MLB-best marks. They’ve also mashed 24 homers in their last 12 contests, second-most in the sport as well. If they’re playing like this at the plate, this team seems nearly unstoppable.
Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks are also hitting their stride after struggling around the .500 mark for the majority of the season. Arizona sits 7-3 across their last 10 outings and recently won five straight series over the Reds, Brewers, Dodgers, Rangers and Red Sox. The Snakes now rank 10th in scoring over the last two weeks with over five runs per game, though their .244 average ranks 17th and their .698 OPS actually falls 21st over the same span. How are they winning, then? The arms are coming to life with a 3.58 ERA and 1.25 WHIP which rank fifth and ninth-best over the same sample.
Tonight, the Giants’ ace takes the mound as Logan Webb (3.17 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 194 SO in 178.2 IP) draws the start. He faces veteran journeyman Nabil Crismatt (2.14 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 14 SO in 21.0 IP) who’s 2-0 across his four appearances this season thus far.
Giants vs. Diamondbacks pick, best bet
On DraftKings Sportsbook, the Giants enter as -192 home favorites on the Moneyline while the Diamondbacks come in as +156 road underdogs. The run total sits at 7.5 for the matchup with the over favored at -115 odds.
This series holds massive implications for both teams and their hopes of sneaking into the MLB Postseason. San Francisco and Arizona currently sit just outside the NL Wild Card picture at four and 4.5 games back of the final spot, and the Cincinnati Reds are also just four games back. Depending on how this series goes, either side could take a larger lead in that playoff chase while the other will face longer odds of extending their season in the home stretch of September.
Tonight feels like a prime opportunity for the Giants to pad their slim lead, especially with Webb on the mound. He’s one of the best pitchers in the MLB and sees plenty of strikeouts with a 26.3% K%, plus he punishes opposing teams and forces ground balls at a high level with a 92nd-percentile ground ball percentage. The Diamondbacks must play small ball tonight if they’re to have a chance at winning, but even then, the San Francisco offense looks too hot to handle for most pitchers, much less Crismatt. The Giants could dominate this series opener.
Best bet: SF Giants -1.5 (+118)
Click the odds on this bet to tail!
