There have been a lot of disappointing seasons in the history of the San Diego Padres, but this year might just be the worst. A preseason darling to challenge the Dodgers at the top of the NL West the Padres are trying to avoid falling behind the Rockies in the division. After reaching the postseason last year, the team added pitching to challenge the best in the NL. The plan worked over the first half, but a disastrous slump, in-fighting, poor play and injuries have led to their demise. The Braves meanwhile are looking secure a fourth straight NL East title and are scheduled to send Huascar Ynoa to the bump on Saturday against any San Diego player that’s able to pitch.
First pitch for this NL contest between the Atlanta Braves and San Diego Padres is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. ET on Saturday, September 25, 2021 from Petco Park in San Diego. The matchup will air live on FOX. Bet on MLB odds and player props at BookMaker.eu every day of the season.
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Odds Analysis
The NL East has been a nightmare but it’s the Braves that have emerged from the darkness to take the division lead as we head down the home stretch. They ended a four-game losing streak shutting out San Francisco and took the first two games in Arizona. The club should be feeling good about their chances to win another division title with games against the floundering Padres closing out the road portion of their schedule. Following this series, the Braves host Philadelphia and the Mets with the division crown up for grabs. Atlanta is still in the red for the season putting backers $548 in the hole. And taking them on the runline has been even worse at over $1100 on the negative side. While the offense has moved up the rankings to third in homers and eighth in runs per game, the UNDER is 42-30-1 on the road.
Jayce Tingler’s job might hinge on how the Padres do over the final few games. Following a win over Miami on Aug. 10 they were a season high 17 games over .500, seven games out of the division lead and comfortably in the second wild card spot. They went 10-25 over their next 35 games. It was a perfect storm that led to the slump. The offense went through a brutal stretch, injuries mounted on the pitching staff and club failed to win more than two games in a row over that 35-game span. Needless to say it’s been a bad year to back the brown. They aren’t the biggest money pit in the league, but the Pads are down there with Arizona, Baltimore and Washington in the red more than $2000 on the year.
Probable Pitchers
Huascar Ynoa: The long season may be catching up to the young righty, who has already thrown a career-high 81.1 innings. That may not seem like a lot but for a guy who pitched just 25 innings at the big league level over the previous two seasons it’s pretty extensive. Following a lengthy stay on the injured list and a minor league rehab assignment, Ynoa returned to the hill on Aug. 17 allowing three hits in 5.1 shutout innings against the Marlins. He failed to get the win and hasn’t won a game since May 9, a span of eight interrupted starts. In seven starts since rejoining the club Ynoa has been solid logging a 3.93 ERA with 27 hits allowed over 36.3 innings. He has a 1.06 WHIP and opponents are hitting just .205 against him. His overall numbers are reflective of a better win/loss record. The Braves are 2-1 over his last three starts scoring 21 runs in those games.
Undecided: It’s hard to win games when guys you brought in to replace injured pitchers also get hurt. Desperate for help with Blake Snell, Chris Paddock and Yu Darvish spending time on the IR, the Pads signed Jake Arrieta and Vince Velasquez off the scrap heap. As expected, things didn’t go well and Arrieta left his last start with a groin injury after facing six batters. So we’re likely to see a bullpen game on Saturday with Pierce Johnson the likely candidate to start. At one time this season the Pads had the best bullpen ERA in the majors, but a heavy workload took its toll. Still, the group isn’t bad with a combined 3.46 ERA.
Braves at Padres Prediction
We’ll see just how proud the Padres are since that’s all they’re playing for now. It had to be a gut punch since they were so good through much of the season. But everything that could go wrong did and instead of playing in October they’ll be wondering about their future. The Braves are battling for a division and it will show in their play with a road win.
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