Free Pick | MLB | Tuesday | April 7

Nelly’s is 5-2 so far in the 2026 MLB season including four wins in a row!

#906 Washington Nationals (Cavalli) -110 over St. Louis Cardinals (Liberatore) 5:45 PM CT

Washington won a seesaw game last night thanks to a huge 6-run eighth inning. The Nationals are only 4-6 on the season but the opening schedule was extremely difficult facing NL contenders in the Cubs, Phillies, and Dodgers out of the gate. Washington has been one of the top scoring teams in MLB with 64 runs, or 6.4 runs per game this season. The pitching staff for Washington is expected to struggle, and Cade Cavalli hasn’t been able to live up to his 1st round draft pick status yet in his brief MLB career. Cavalli has a 2.79 ERA in two starts this season and while his walk rate is elevated, posting decent outings on the road vs. a pair of tough lineups has been encouraging. The Cardinals are expected to be one of the worst teams in the NL this season and the 5-5 start looks like a mirage as St. Louis has been outscored 55-46 despite the .500 record. The Cardinals are 2-0 in extra-innings games, and four of five wins have come by two runs or one run this season. St. Louis is also now just 1-3 in road games after the 4-2 start to the season came at home. Both bullpens have poor numbers at this point in the season, but Mattherw Liberatore won’t be able to maintain his 1.64 ERA so far this season. Liberatore has allowed two home runs in 11 innings but both were solo shots, and he has posted only four strikeouts. Liberatore had a 4.50 ERA on the road last season and this season the Nationals are batting .286 with 6.1 runs per nine vs. southpaws in the early season sample.