Free Picks: San Diego Padres vs. San Francisco Giants

The Giants own the NL West at the moment. But the Padres are World Series hopefuls. Sunday, these teams wrap up their three-game set, a battle in which San Francisco has taken two-straight games. Focusing on the winner straight up, do I stick with the Giants, or the streaky Padres?

West coast baseball is on fire right now. With the Padres, Giants, and Dodgers taking over the National League, teams in Cali are at the forefront of Major League Baseball. 

Sunday, the Giants and Padres will wrap up their weekend set. The Giants have taken two straight from San Diego and look to sweep their California and divisional rivals. 

The Padres have not announced a starting pitcher for Sunday’s game. Meanwhile, the Giants will send Johnny Cueto on the mound. This season, Cueto is 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA and 18 strikeouts. 

Cueto makes his first appearance since being placed on the 10-day injured list April 16. 

For this BetPicks Prediction, I think I will stick with the Moneyline. Although the Giants have spanked San Diego in recent games, that doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll stick with San Fran for this pick.

The Padres are still considered the favorite for this game, which certainly makes things interesting. San Francisco’s current bullying of the Padres have not swayed bookmakers to make San Francisco the favorites, despite winning two straight. 

I think taking the Padres straight up will be your best MLB bet for this contest. While they have taken two Ls against the Giants, San Diego is still a top competitor. 

I’ll admit that I don’t love the value, but I also don’t like Cueto on the bump for San Francisco. Dare I say it, but I think he may be washed. At the very least, he certainly isn’t his old self and his ERA has been increasing since joining the Giants in 2016. 

San Diego have not announced a starting pitcher, but it is expected that Ryan Weathers will get the start for the Padres. Weathers has been solid this season, so I am not worried about him being the potential starter. He exited his last start with an injury, but the Padres have made no designation about Weathers missing a potential start on Sunday.

To round out this free MLB pick, the Padres are one of the league leaders in at-bats. This means they are getting ample opportunity to produce runs. The Padres also do not strike out as much as the Giants, so they will put the ball into play. 

The Giants have taken two wins from San Diego, but I think the script is flipped on Sunday. 

• The Padres have racked up 130 walks this season. 
• San Diego has a team batting average of .228.
• San Diego leads the MLB in stolen bases.