Padres at Nationals Prediction: Odds, expert picks, starting pitchers, betting trends and stats for July 18
Dylan Cease is slated to take the mound for San Diego against Michael Soroka for Washington.
The Padres sit in second place and 5.5 games behind the Dodgers in the National League West. They won six of their last ten prior to the All-Star Break. Mired again this season in last place in the National League East, Washington overhauled their front office and coaching staff prior to the Break. Pitching has been the primary issue as the Nats have allowed 519 runs. Only the Rockies (589) and the Athletics (551) have allowed more.
Lets dive into the matchup and find a sweat or two.
We've got all the info and analysis you need to know ahead of the game, including the latest info on the how to catch tipoff, odds, recent team performance, player stats, and of course, our predictions, picks & best bets for the game from our modeling tools and staff of experts.
Follow Rotoworld Player News for the latest fantasy and betting player news and analysis all season long.
Game details & how to watch Padres at Nationals
Date: Friday, July 18, 2025
Time: 6:45PM EST
Site: Nationals Park
City: Washington, DC
Network/Streaming: SDPA, MASN
Never miss a second of the action and stay up-to-date with all the latest team stats and player news. Check out our day-by-day MLB schedule page, along with detailed matchup pages that update live in-game with every out.
Odds for the Padres at the Nationals
The latest odds as of Friday:
Moneyline: Padres (-157), Nationals (+132)
Spread: Padres -1.5
Total: 8.0 runs
Probable starting pitchers for Padres at Nationals
Pitching matchup for July 18, 2025: Dylan Cease vs. Michael Soroka
Padres: Dylan Cease (3-9, 4.88 ERA)Last outing: July 9 vs. Arizona - 6IP, 6ER, 5H, 3BB, 8Ks
Nationals: Michael Soroka (3-7, 5.35 ERA)Last outing: July 10 at St. Louis - 4IP, 2ER, 4H, 2BB, 4Ks
Rotoworld still has you covered with all the latest MLB player news for all 30 teams. Check out the feed page right here on NBC Sports for headlines, injuries and transactions where you can filter by league, team, positions and news type!
Top betting trends & insights to know ahead of Padres at Nationals
The Padres have won 7 of their last 9 games at Washington
The Over is 5-0 in the Nationals' last 5 home games
The Padres have covered in 4 of their last 5 games showing a profit of 1.93 units
Fernando Tatis Jr. is enjoying a 6-game hitting streak (9-21)
Manny Machado was 3-10 (.300) in the Padres' 3-game series against the Phillies just prior to the Break
James Wood is 10-41 (.244) with 2 HRs and 5 RBIs in July
If you're looking for more key trends and stats around the spread, moneyline and total for every single game on the schedule today, check out our MLB Top Trends tool on NBC Sports!
Expert picks & predictions for tonight's game between the Padres and the Nationals
Rotoworld Best Bet
Please bet responsibly. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, call the National Gambling Helpline at 1-800-522-4700.
Our model calculates projections around each moneyline, spread and over/under bet for every game on the MLB calendar based on data points like past performance, player matchups, ballpark information and weather forecasts.
Once the model is finished running, we put its projection next to the latest betting lines for the game to arrive at a relative confidence level for each wager.
Here are the best bets our model is projecting for Friday's game between the Padres and the Nationals:
Moneyline: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the San Diego Padres on the Moneyline.
Spread: NBC Sports Bet is leaning towards a play ATS on the Washington Nationals at +1.5.
Total: NBC Sports Bet is recommending a play on the over on the Game Total of 8.0.
Want even more MLB best bets and predictions from our expert staff & tools? Check out the Expert MLB Predictions page from NBC
Follow our experts on socials to keep up with all the latest content from the staff:
Jay Croucher (@croucherJD)
Drew Dinsick (@whale_capper)
Vaughn Dalzell (@VmoneySports)
Brad Thomas (@MrBradThomas)
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Jonquel Jones returns to the Liberty lineup, leads team scoring in win over Fever
NEW YORK (AP) — During the Liberty's lineup announcement Tuesday night, one name brought the Barclays Center crowd to its feet: Jonquel Jones. She held up a heart to the crowd. In the words of head coach Sandy Brondello — 'It's a happy day. JJ's back.' The Liberty star center officially returned to the court in New York's 98-84 win over the Fever on Tuesday night. Jones, last season's WNBA Finals MVP, was playing for the first time since June 19 with an ankle injury and scored a team-high 18 points. 'It felt great to be back out there,' Jones said after the game. 'Obviously, it's been a while since I've been on the court, but my teammates have held it down while I was out, and everybody was excited for me to be back in. And I was just as excited.' Jones, the Liberty's third-highest scorer, has averaged 12.1 points, 9.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists this season, while shooting 43.8 percent from behind the arc. New York struggled in her absence, going 5-4 after starting out the season 9-0. They are undefeated with Jones on the court. It's been a touch-and-go season for Jones so far. She'd been limited to just 10 games this season, initially injuring her ankle in early June and taking a brief absence before returning and aggravating the injury. ___ AP WNBA:
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Lakers have officially signed guard Marcus Smart
The Los Angeles Lakers made another significant addition to their roster over the weekend when veteran guard Marcus Smart agreed to sign with them following a contract buyout. He had been traded to the Washington Wizards in February, and he was set to make $21.6 million this coming season. He has cleared waivers, allowing the Lakers to officially sign him on Tuesday to a two-year, $11 million contract. He will wear jersey No. 36 for the team. The franchise issued a press release regarding Smart's official addition to its roster. 'Adding a player like Marcus Smart to our roster allows us to compete at the highest level,' Lakers President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Rob Pelinka said. 'Marcus epitomizes what it means to prioritize winning above all else – whether that's making huge plays on the defensive end or hitting critical shots in key moments of the most intense games. He knows and understands playoff winning and will be a key leadership voice in our group. Surrounding our stars with two-way players like Marcus is critical to our overall vision of how we want to play and win next season. This is an exciting player acquisition, for sure.' Smart, 31, was named the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year for the 2021-22 season and has been named to the All-Defensive first team three times. He has long been one of the league's best backcourt defenders, and he has the ability to effectively guard both small guards and taller wing players. The former Boston Celtic has career averages of 10.6 points, 4.6 assists and 1.6 steals over 11 seasons in the NBA. This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Lakers have officially signed guard Marcus Smart
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Mets' Frankie Montas confident with progress, pitch movement after longest outing of season
Frankie Montas fell just short of becoming the second Mets starter to complete an outing of six-plus innings over the last month, but that's neither here nor there. His job was to keep the game close, and that task was accomplished. While the veteran right-hander's performance didn't include style points, it was still a winning effort, as his 5.2 frames of two-run ball with a season-best six strikeouts helped the Mets rally to a 3-2 win over the Angels on Tuesday night at Citi Field. "I threw some good splitters, good sweepers, good sliders. I thought I had a nice amount of pitches working tonight," Montas said after the game. "I feel pretty good. I would've loved to finish the sixth inning, though. But step by step, I definitely feel better and better every time I step on the mound. I feel like my pitches are moving better. "I'm getting more movement, more strikes. I keep making progress every start... The first two innings, I thought I was missing my location. I tried to throw my pitches in a better spot after that. Things were working better after that." Montas flirted with trouble from the jump, allowing a first-inning double and then a single to Mike Trout that fortunately resulted in Nolan Schanuel being tagged out on a bang-bang play at the plate. In the second, he surrendered a two-out, no-doubt solo homer to Jorge Soler that broke the ice, and Schanuel managed to get some revenge with an RBI double in the fifth that bumped the Angels' lead to 2-0. But Montas retired eight straight batters at one point, and although he left the mound trailing with eight hits allowed, he ultimately earned his third win of the campaign with a boost from the Mets' bats. "I thought he was good. I thought the secondary pitches were good," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said of Montas. "He used all of them in the strike zone, expanded when he needed to. He's got to be able to compete in the strike zone with the secondaries -- whether it's the split, the slider, the sweeper. The cutter elevated against a couple of lefties. "The other good sign for me was, he was able to reach 97 [mph] in that sixth inning to get Soler for strike three in the top of the zone. That's a good sign. For him to reach there at 90 pitches, it was really good to see. So, a very good outing and very good step for him." Montas, who threw 58 of a season-high 91 pitches for strikes, now owns a 4.62 ERA and 1.30 WHIP (five starts) since coming off the injured list in late June. He also has a strikeout-walk ratio of 23-to-6 across 25.1 innings, and his reliability will be put to the test next week in a scheduled road matchup with the Padres.
