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The Washington Nationals travel to the Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas to take on the Houston Astros in Game 1 of the 2019 Major League Baseball World Series on October 22, 2019.
The Nationals swept the St. Louis Cardinals in four games in the 2019 NLCS while the Astros defeated the New York Yankees in six games in the 2019 ALCS. Max Scherzer will be the starter for Washington. Scherzer was 13-7 with an ERA of 2.81 during the regular season. He will face Gerritt Cole in Game 1. Cole was 23-5 with an ERA of 2.30 for the Astros. The Astros are MLB betting favorites to beat the Nationals in Game 1.
Nationals Sweep Cardinals
The Washington Nationals are coming off a four-game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2019 National League Championship Series. The Nationals won Game 4 with a score of 7-4 despite Patrick Corbin struggling as he gave up four runs in five innings. The Nationals were led by Trea Turner who went 2-4 at the plate with two RBIs.
Max Scherzer will get the nod to start for the Nationals in Game 1 of the World Series. Scherzer is 2-0 with an ERA of 1.80 in the postseason. During the regular season, Scherzer was an impressive 7-2 with an ERA of 2.64 on the road. In his last outing, Scherzer pitched seven scoreless innings with 11 strikeouts in a win against the Cardinals.
Washington scored 873 runs during the regular season while batting at a 0.265 clip. They ranked 2nd in On Base Percentage at .342 and 7th in slugging at .454. The Washington pitching staff was 13th with an ERA of 4.27. 9th in WHIP at 1.29 and they were 2nd overall with 87 quality starts.
Astros Oust Yankees in Six
After losing Game 1 of the 2019 American League Championship Series to the tune of 0-7 against the New York Yankees, the Houston Astros stormed right back with three straight victories in including two at Yankee Stadium. Then in Game 6, Jose Altuve delivered a walk-off home run that sent the Astros to the 2018 World Series.
Gerritt Cole will open on top of the mound for the Astros opposite Max Scherzer. Cole is a super 3-0 with an ERA of 0.40 in the postseason and is 12-2 with an ERA of 2.64 when pitching at home this season. In his last start, Cole gave up only seven hits in seven scoreless innings against the Yankees.
Houston ranked 3rd in the majors with a total of 920 runs scored. They ranked 1st in batting average at .274, 1st in On Base Percentage at .352 and also first in slugging at .495. The Astros had the third-best pitching staff with an ERA of 3.66. They also ranked 1st with 89 quality starts and first in BAA at .221 while ranking 4th in WHIP at 1.13.
Who Wins?
Washington is 6-0 SU in their last six games played. The Nationals are 4-1 SU in their last five games played. Houston is 4-1 SU in their last five games played. The Astros are 6-1 SU in their last seven games played at home. Head to head, the Nationals are 10-1 SU in their last 11 games played against the Astros. Washington is 8-1 SU in their last nine road games against Houston.
Both Gerritt Cole and Max Scherzer have been outstanding this season including the playoffs but I think Houston is the better overall team and they have home-field advantage in this game. Gerrit Cole has conceded just one run in 22.2 innings pitched in the postseason with 32 strikeouts. Max Scherzer has also been terrific in the postseason but he does not have the most reliable bullpen. I think this game is going to be a closely fought contest with the Houston Astros batters finding success against the Washington Nationals’ bullpen. I’m picking the Houston Astros to beat the Washington Nationals in Game 1 of the 2019 Major League Major Series.
Prediction: Houston Astros
Over/Under Odds
he under is 6-4 in the Nationals’ last 10 games played and the total has gone under in five out of the last six road games played by Washington. The total has gone under in four out of the Astros’ last six games played. The total has gone under in four out of their last six October games, the under is 5-1 in their last six Tuesday games, and the under is 3-1-1 in Houston’s last five games played at home. Head to head, the total has gone under in seven out of the last 10 meetings between these two teams.
Over
6.5 (-123)
Under
6.5 (+103)
Odds were taken from SportsBetting.ag as of 10/21/19
These teams have combined to score 7.6 runs per game in their last 10 meetings and 7.66 runs per game in their last three games played. Gerritt Cole has allowed just one run in 15.2 innings pitched at home and just one run in his last 22.2 innings played in October. Max Scherzer has given up only four runs in 20.0 postseason innings this year. This game has all the makings of a pitching duel between two of the best in the business. The trends also point to the under.
Prediction: Under 6.5
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