Padres vs. Nationals prediction and odds for Wednesday, May 24 (Washington undervalued?)

The Washington Nationals lost the series opener against the San Diego Padres with former star outfielder Juan Soto back in town, 7-4, but will look to get back on track Wednesday against San Diego with Trevor Williams on the mound.

Washington and San Diego are on opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of roster construction based on the massive offer the Padres offered the Nationals last summer for Soto, but the team is struggling in 2023 after making a surprising NLCS run in 2022. The Padres are 22-26 while the Nats are a surprising 20-28.

How should we handicap this matchup between two teams with surprising starts to the year?

Here are the odds:

Padres vs. Nationals odds, run line and total

Padres vs. Nationals prediction and pick

The Nationals offense has been incredibly potent this season, third in the big leagues in batting average against left handed pitching. The team will face a southpaw Ryan Weathers, who has started games and also come out of the bullpen at times. Weathers has struggled with walks and inability to strike batters out in his career (he has averaged about two strikeouts for every walk over three seasons in the bigs) and the Nationals offense is not one to sleep on.

Washington is is hitting just under .300 this year against southpaws (.299) and have a near-9% walk rate. Weathers is going to struggle to keep up and the Nationals present the pitching advantage on Wednesday with right hander Trevor Williams going against a Padres team that is last in the bigs in batting average at .211.

The teams may be in different points of its life cycle, but on Wednesday, it’s the Nationals who have the more complete roster to get a win.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.