NL West Matchup Features A Pitching Mismatch

Diamondbacks vs. Giants, 9:45 ET

If you look at the American League, you can see the AL East is one of the best divisions in the sport, and the AL West is also one of the most competitive. Over in the National League, the NL East is probably the most competitive, but the NL West can also make a claim for that as well. This only leaves us with a few questions – who will climb to the top over the course of this season in these divisions, and, more importantly, what is wrong with the Central divisions? Tonight we have two NL West rivals square off as the Diamondbacks face the Giants. 

The Diamondbacks are looking to adjust as they head on the road in hopes of taking a few games from their rival. The Diamondbacks offense is certainly doing it’s part as they’ve started out with a batting average that is above .250, and are averaging over five runs per game. They are racking up hits both for power and average. No concerns there, but with a record hovering around .500, what needs to improve? Well, it would start with the pitching staff in my opinion. The team collectively isn’t that bad as they are hovering around a four for their ERA. Even their WHIP isn’t overly concerning, it just seems that the consistency isn’t quite there yet outside of Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly. Tonight, they are sending Ryne Nelson to the hill. Nelson has a 5.19 ERA this season and a 1.61 WHIP. In fairness, the ERA is inflated. He allowed four earned runs over 2.2 innings in his first outing of the year, but he’s been much stronger in the next two games. He threw a quality start against St. Louis as he only allowed one earned run over six innings while scattering seven hits. Giants hitters are hitting .323 off of him in 31 at-bats. 

The Giants surprised me last season, and, of course, I thought that this season they would end up being able to replicate their production after they added Blake Snell to the mix. To this point, they are a below .500 team and don’t do anything particularly well. San Francisco is hitting decently enough, but they aren’t scoring a ton of runs. They have only a handful fewer hits than the Diamondbacks, but almost 30 runs less. The pitching staff is performing poorly as well with an ERA hovering around five runs per game. They aren’t missing too many bats either, allowing opponents to hit around .260 off of the staff. Today they get their Opening Day starter, Logan Webb, to take the ball against the Diamondbacks. Webb has produced quality starts in three of his four outings to begin the year. His one poor start was a 3.2 inning outing against the Dodgers as he allowed five earned runs. Diamondbacks hitters are fairly productive against him with a .296 average over 125 at-bats, but it has resulted in just nine RBIs. 

This game seems like an opportunity for the Giants to steal one away just based on the pitching matchup alone. My question would be mostly about if the Giants can get to Nelson. My guess is that they can. But, the Diamondbacks success off of Webb also makes me a little hesitant to take the run line for the full game. I do think that the Giants win the game, but not sure about winning by two or more in this one. I'll cut it down to the first five innings and take the -0.5 through five.   

For more sports betting information and plays, follow David on X/Twitter: @futureprez2024