Game Time:  5:10 pm ET, Thursday, April 14th, 2022 

Venue: PNC Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Where to Watch: AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh, Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, MLB Extra Innings 

DraftKings: Moneyline: Nationals -105 ** Pirates -115; O/U 9.5

 BetMGM: Moneyline:  

PointsBet: Moneyline:  Nationals +110 ** Pirates -130; O/U 9

Nationals: 2-4, 4th place NL East // finished last season last place in NL East.

Pirates: 1-3, last place NL Central // finished last season in last place in the NL Central

An MLB National League matchup between already struggle;ing teams this year who both finished in last place of their respective divisions.  Last season the Nationals lost 97 games.  Last season the Pirates lost 101 games.  They were both terrible… The only question I have about a matchup like this is which of these teams will be worse?.. so I know where to put my money by default.

The Washington Nationals have won only 2 games so far this season… I know a lot of teams are at 2 wins… but the Nationals are ahead of everybody having already played 6 games. They have 3 Overs and 3 Unders so far.  The Nationals opened the season against the New York Mets in a four-game series and promptly lost the first 3… they won the 4th.. But the damage was done.  They won the first game of a 3-game series against the Atlanta Braves by scoring 11 BIG runs… they lost the second game of that series by giving up 16 BIGGER runs.  This is a bad team.

The Pittsburgh Pirates have won just 1 of their first four games. They have 2 Overs, 1 Under, and a push.  They give off the feeling that they are never in control of a game even when they are up big.  The pitching currently ranks them at 27th.. It has been a mix of tragic and sad.

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The Nationals are 18th in runs scored with 3.83 per game, 18th in batting average with .222, and 26th in OBP with .276.  And hitting is so far their strength… uh-oh

The Pirates are 24th in runs scored with 3.00, 5th in batting average with .259, and 19th in OBP with .302.  There are some positive glimpses in the batter’s box.

The Nationals are 29th in ERA with 6.11, 30th in WHIP with 1.79, and have committed 2 errors for a 6th place fielding mark.  The Nationals pitchers are off to a horrible start.

The Pirates are 27th in ERA with 5.56, 24th in WHIP with 1.41, and also have committed 2 errors for a 8th place ranking

Our prediction for Thursday April 14th is...  Pirates 6 - Nationals 3

The Pirates get the win because they are at home and the Nationals are terrible.  The Over is a strong bet if you want to avoid betting the win/loss.  When a 5.56 ERA goes against a 6.11 ERA the batters should have a field day on both sides!  Bet the Over, skip the moneyline.

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Pittsburgh is 2-1 against in Pittsburgh the last 3 seasons.

2 of 3 games in that series went Under.

Washington is 4-2 against Pittsburgh overall the last 3 seasons.

Nationals: Right hand pitcher Joan Adon.  This kid is a green around the gills kid.  In his first start this season he notched a loss and put up 8.31 ERA with 1.85 WHIP.  He did have 3 strikeouts so it wasn’t all junk.

Pirates: Right hand pitcher JT Brubaker. 6-17 in his career… He also got rocked in his first start this season with a 12.00 ERA, and 2.33 WHIP.

Both pitchers are wobbly newborn fawns… both debuted in 2020

Nationals: 2B Cesar Hernandez, RF Juan Soto, DH Nelson Cruz, 1B Josh Bell, 3B Maikel Franco, LF Lane Thomas, SS Alcides Escobar, C Riley Adams, CF Victor Robles.

Pirates: DH Daniel Vogelbach, CF Bryan Reynolds, 3B Ke’Bryan Hayes, 1B Yoshimoto Tsutsugo, RF Ben Gamel, SS Kevin Newman, 2B Josh VanMeter, C Andrew Knapp, RF Hoy Jun Park

Nationals: Dave Martinez

Pirates: Derek Shelton

Showers.  65*... 16 MPH winds.  Cloudy skies. Not really baseball weather.  Glad no fans even want to go to this one.