Washington Nationals vs. San Francisco Giants Prediction 7-23-23 MLB Picks

The San Francisco Giants and the Washington Nationals meet in the finale of their three-game set in MLB action from Nationals Park on Sunday afternoon. Can the Giants salvage something from the series? Or will the Nationals complete a rare sweep? Let’s dive in and find out.

San Francisco Giants Team Preview

The San Francisco Giants are a team with serious playoff aspirations to potentially crack the NL West division lead or at the very least snag an NL Wild Card spot, but if they’re going to, they can ill afford sluggish series like this one against the Nationals, dropping Saturday’s game by a final score of 10-1. The loss dropped the Giants to 54-45, tied for 2nd with Arizona, 4 games back in the NL West and tied for the top-spot in the NL Wild Card race. Michael Conforto leads the Giants with 13 home runs and 51 RBIs while J.D. Davis has a team-high 81 hits with 12 home runs and 49 RBIs. Wilmer Flores also has 12 homers while Thairo Estrada has a team-high 18 doubles and LaMonte Wade Jr. has a .276 batting average this season. The Giants did not have a starting pitcher announced at the time that this article was published.

Washington Nationals Team Preview

The Nationals have had their fair share of ups and downs this season, and the month of July has not been one of the Nationals’ best, but they have another chance here at their first sweep of the season after improving to 40-58 with their win over the Giants on Saturday. The win still leaves the Nationals 23.5 games back in the NL East and 13 games back in the NL Wild Card race and while 40-58 isn’t the worst record of all-time, it’s still just one game up on the Rockies for the worst record in the National League. Lane Thomas leads the Nationals across the board with 113 hits, a .290 batting average, 16 home runs and 53 RBIs. Jeimer Candelario has 15 homers and 47 RBIs while also posting a team-high 27 doubles. Luis Garcia and CJ Abrams each have a team-high 4 triples as well this season. MacKenzie Gore will start for the Nationals here and is 5-7 with a 4.59 ERA and 114 strikeouts this season.

Washington Nationals Team Facts

The Nationals have won each of their last four games as home underdogs.

The Nationals have covered the run line in each of their last eight games as underdogs against the Giants following a home win.

The Nationals have led after 3 innings in three of their last four games as underdogs against NL West opponents.

The Nationals have led after 5 innings in each of their last four games as home underdogs.

The Nationals have led after 7 innings in each of their last four games as underdogs against NL West opponents.

San Francisco Giants Team Facts

The Giants have won each of their last 10 Sunday day games against teams that held a losing record.

The Giants have covered the run line in each of their last seven day games against NL East opponents following a loss.

The Giants have lost the first inning in three of their last four games as favourites against NL East opponents.

The Giants have trailed after 5 innings in each of their last five games.

The Giants have trailed after 7 innings in each of their last five road games against NL East opponents.

Matchup/League Facts

The Washington Nationals ranks 30th in the league for walks this season (241).

The Washington Nationals ranks 2nd in the league for strikeouts against this season (696).

The San Francisco Giants ranks 2nd in the league for walks allowed this season (263).

The San Francisco Giants ranks T28th in the league for steals this season (46).

Chris’ Pick

It’s uncharted territory for the Nationals to be in a position for a sweep, especially against a playoff contender like the San Francisco Giants, but I’m still rolling with the Nats here. Washington’s just been the better team over the course of this series and I don’t see any reason to really deviate from that here. I’ll side with the Nationals in this one to nab their first sweep of the year.