MLB: Cincinnati Reds vs Washington Nationals Betting Preview

The second half of the Major League Baseball season starts on Friday with the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League East but just three games in the wild card standings.

The Nationals still have a small chance to be in the postseason, trailing the New York Mets for the last spot by six games. For Cincinnati, Frankie Montas (4-7, 4.38) gets the ball against Patrick Corbin (1-9, 5.57) for Washington. The Reds are a -120 road favorite with a total of 8.5 (over -120). First pitch is scheduled for 6:45 p.m. ET / 3:45 p.m. PT and can be seen on Bally Sports Ohio and MASN. Time to get into our Reds vs Nationals betting preview.

Reds Expected by Many to Make Second Half Push

Cincinnati has as much talent as you could for a contending team to have, but the Reds aren’t contending, leaving most of baseball to wonder why they’ve fallen from preseason expectations while most of the betting public expects them to bounce back in the second half. With superstars like Elly De La Cruz and Hunter Greene it’s easy to understand why.

The Reds turn to Montaz to get them headed toward .500, but the Colorado Rockies in a 6-5 loss.

Neither one of these teams will be making plans to be included in the World Series schedule in 2024, but a good second can propel a team right into 2025 success.

What To Make of Corbin?

Patrick Corbin is just 1-9 this season with an ERA that matches what a pitcher with that kind of record should have (5.57). The question comes as to how we perceive Corbin because he’s been good enough to keep the Nationals in games.

The Nats give their 2-time all-star 3.30 runs per game which is a major reason why they’re 5-14 when Corbin gets the ball. Over his last five starts, the former World Series champion has allowed 15 earned runs in 28 innings (4.82 era).

To make his lack of success more of a head scratcher, Corbin is sixth in Major League Baseball with 7.00 units won. Apparently these only come when the 2019 World Series winner is not on the mound. With this information on both teams comes a confident MLB prediction for today.

Let’s Get Some Plus Money in This One

We know who one of the public’s best MLB predictions for today is, and that’s the Cincinnati Reds with 99% of the early money wagered along with 78% of the tickets. Normally we would point to the fact that it’s early wagering and those percentages are still volatile, but with almost 2300 tickets monitored, it’s obvious we will be going against the public in this one.

We know there are high expectations for David Bell’s team but in the first half of the season a loss of 1.59 units wasn’t exactly what the professionals had predicted.

We’re taking Corbin and the Nationals to grab a small plus money winner to start the second half. That does it for our Reds vs Nationals betting preview, all the best with your wagers in the second half of the season.

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