Washington Nationals vs. Tampa Bay Rays – MLB, September 16, 2020

The Washington Nationals and Tampa Bay Rays will wrap up a two-game interleague set at Tropicana Field on Wednesday afternoon. The Rays won the opener 6-1 to cut the deficit in the regular-season series to 2-1, as the Nats beat them twice in Washington last week.

The Nationals are 17-29 following Tuesday’s loss, and the reigning champions will certainly fail to reach the postseason. They are six games behind the bottom wild card in the National League and seven games behind the Miami Marlins who hold the second spot in the NL East. 

The Rays, on the other side, improved to 31-17 and increased their lead ahead of the Yankees and Blue Jays to four games. They will look to win the AL East while fighting against the White Sox and A’s for the top seed in the American League.

Hereof, I bring you the best Nationals vs. Rays betting pick along with all the tips and trends.

The Nationals have lost four of their last five games, while the Rays have won three of their previous four. The hosts desperately need every game in their nail-biting race for the No. 1 seed in the American League, so the bookies listed them at -170 to win straight up.

Neither side will send some of their aces to the mound which caused a 9-run line on the totals.

The Nationals will start Austin Voth for the ninth time this season, and the 28-year-old righty has been terrible thus far. He’s 0-5 with a 7.99 ERA and 1.68 WHIP, and Voth has yielded at least three earned runs in each of his previous six starts. Also, he couldn’t last for more than 4.2 innings in that stretch.

On the other side, Josh Fleming will take the hill for the hosts, and the 24-year-old rookie is 3-0 with a 4.12 ERA and 1.22 WHIP in four starts. The lefty has allowed seven earned runs on 13 hits and a couple of free passes in his previous two starts and 9.1 frames of work.

The Nats are recording 4.76 runs per game (15^th in the MLB), but they’ve scored just six runs over their previous three outings. Washington bats .263, enough for the seventh-best in baseball, while the Nationals’ slugging percentage of .433 is 11^th-best in the majors.

The Rays have the eighth-highest scoring offense in the MLB, averaging 5.00 runs per contest on the 19^th-best batting average of .239 and a 12^th-best slugging percentage of .433.

The previous three encounters between the Nats and Rays went in the under, but with Austin Voth and Josh Fleming on the mound, I’m looking for a high-scoring affair.

The Rays used four arms from their bullpen in the opener, while the Nationals sent three relievers to the mound. Tampa’s bullpen has the seventh-best ERA of 3.72, but the Nats are 18^th with a 4.57 ERA. Hereof, give me the over on the totals.