Battle of the Basement – Pittsburgh Pirates vs. Washington Nationals

Two of the worst teams in MLB battle it out again on Wednesday night when the Pittsburgh Pirates and Washington Nationals take it to the diamond. The Nationals were pummeled in the first two games of this three game series and will be looking to avoid a sweep when they send pitcher John Lannan to the mound. Lannan has been okay but not great this year with a 1.47 WHIP, a 4.00 ERA, and a record of 2 and 3.

The Pirates counter Lannan with pitcher Paul Maholm. Maholm has been much better than Lannan with a 3.51 ERA, a 3 and 1 record and 1.27 WHIP.

Here is the BetOnline online sportsbook betting line for this game.

Pittsburgh Pirates
Paul Maholm – L +1 ½ -175 +115 O 9 -105 O/U 4 -125/-105

Washington Nationals
John Lannan – L -1 ½ +155 -135 U 9 -115 O/U 4 ½ -115/-115

Here are a few online wagering trends for this game.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are 4 and 1 in their last 5 games following a victory.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are 0 and 4 in Paul Maholm’s last 4 starts.

The Washington Nationals are 1 and 5 in their last 6 games as the favorite.

The Washington Nationals are 7 and 23 in John Lannan’s last 30 starts.

Another trend is that the Pirates are 4 and 0 in the last 4 meetings between these two teams. The bottom line is that Pittsburgh is just the better team. They put their best pitcher on the mound, have already beaten the Nationals twice, and are underdogs to win in this game.

To me, that’s an easy wager, right? Not so fast. Even though the stats say that Maholm is the better bet, he has gone 0 and 1 with a 10.45 ERA in his last two road starts. Not only that, but in his only start against the Nationals in 2008, Maholm was horrible when allowing 7 runs and 10 hits in five innings.

Lannan on the other hand has been fantastic lately going 2 and 1 with a 2.50 ERA.

So, where does that leave bettors? The options make this difficult but if Maholm pitches to form, then the Nationals actually have a good shot to win this game at -135. But that isn’t the best MLB wager available.

To me the best bet is going with the over in this game. These two teams have given up a lot of runs together and neither squad has the terrific middle relief needed to keep the game under. Maholm should give up plenty of runs while Lannan might be good up until 6 innings but then the Nationals’ middle relief should blow an inning or two.

I’ll be betting over the BetOnline Total of 9 runs at -105 in this game.