It is a battle between the top team in the NL East and the top team in the NL West when the Atlanta Braves take on the San Francisco Giants. San Francisco had been red-hot, winning nine straight games, but they have lost the last two after falling to San Diego on Thursday, 7-4. Atlanta has also lost two in a row, after falling to Colorado on Wednesday, 3-2. Their game on Thursday was postponed because of rain. Let’s see the MLB odds.
Friday, September 17, 2021 – 09:45 PM EDT at Oracle Park
These teams have faced each other three times this season with Atlanta taking two of the three games August 27-29. In fact, the Braves have dominated the Giants lately, winning seven of the last 10.
Losing three out of four games does not seem like a big deal, but when you are the top team in the division looking to build some momentum heading into the playoffs, this is not the time of the year to be losing games, especially to a team like Colorado. However, Atlanta enters this game losing both of the contests against the Rockies and losing on Saturday against Seattle. In fact, this has not been a very good month for Atlanta, as they are 6-7 in September.
Atlanta is eighth in runs per game (4.86) and 12th in runs allowed per contest (4.19). The team is eighth in the run differential as well at +0.67. The offense is solid with a .242 batting average, 11th overall, and they are third in home runs per game (1.49).
The Braves will start right-hander Ian Anderson. Anderson is 7-5 with a 3.61 ERA in 21 starts. The right-hander had been out since mid-July, but returned on August 29 and has been working out the kinks. After tossing 5.2 scoreless innings in his return on August 29, he allowed four runs in three innings to Colorado on September 4 before allowing two runs in five innings to Miami on September 10.
Atlanta is led by Freddie Freeman with 30 homers and 78 RBI. Austin Riley has 29 homers and 89 runs driven in and Ozzie Albies is the team leader in RBI with 94 and has 28 homeruns. Atlanta has four players with at least 24 homeruns this year. Atlanta is hitting .240 and averaging 5.01 runs per nine innings against right-handers.
The San Francisco Giants had been rolling through the first part of September, but back-to-back losses have the team looking to rebuild some momentum. The Giants are still 11-4 this month and are looking to close in to earn the top record in baseball. San Francisco is sixth in runs per game (4.95) and third in runs allowed per contest (3.72). They are also third in run differential at +1.23. The Giants offense is outstanding, sixth in batting (.249) and second in home runs per game (1.52).
The Giants will start right-hander Logan Webb. Webb is 10-3 with a 2.80 ERA in 22 starts and one relief appearance. The right-hander allowed four runs in six innings in his last outing and has allowed eight total runs in 20 innings in September. This is after posting an impressive 1.41 ERA in September where he allowed two runs or fewer in all six starts.
San Francisco is led by Brandon Belt with 25 homers and 52 runs driven in. Brandon Crawford leads the team with 80 RBI. The Giants are hitting .245 and averaging 5.13 runs per nine innings against right-handers. This has been a matchup predominantly dominated by Atlanta of late, as they have won 10 of the last 13 meetings, including six of the last seven in San Francisco.
They have had the number of the Giants, but Atlanta is in a rut. The odd thing is that Atlanta is getting great production, ninth in both team batting average and ERA, but are simply not winning games. The same cannot be said of the Giants. While they dropped the final two games against the Padres, this is the team playing very well, and they have the second-best batting average in September as well as the second-best ERA.
This is a team battling for the top spot, and they’ll take one step closer to reaching that goal by defeating the Braves on Friday.
MLB Pick: Giants 1.5 (+123) with BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.