How to bet Sunday Night Baseball between San Francisco Giants and Washington Nationals

Can this really be the season's first look at the Washington Nationals for Sunday Night Baseball? Given that the Nationals landed the highest-profile free agent during the offseason, cementing their status among fans and oddsmakers alike as the favorite to win the National League pennant, it certainly comes as a surprise.

Although the Nationals haven't looked like a dominant team for much of the season, causing some angst among their fans, the fact is Washington enters tonight's game having finished the first half of its schedule on a 90-win pace. One week ago, the San Francisco Giants were also comfortably on a 90-win pace, but five straight losses put them in a position of needing to win tonight to avoid an 0-6 road trip. As things stand now, with half the season in the books, the defending world champions are in a familiar odd-year spot in terms of playoff standings: on the outside looking in.

Tonight's series finale between last year's NLDS foes features Jordan Zimmermann and Ryan Vogelsong, which would appear to give the Nationals a decided edge. However, San Francisco has compensated for disappointing starting pitching all season with eye-opening hitting, especially from its infield where the Giants' quartet of infielders are all slugging over .450 -- the only team in baseball that can say that. Add Buster Posey to the mix, and the Giants have a lineup that rightfully isn't intimidated by any team's pitching staff. Joe Peta picks up on that theme as he picks a side for the contest, while Erin Rynning focuses on the quality of the pitchers in choosing how to play the total.