San Francisco Giants at San Diego Padres MLB Free Betting Pick

One of the fringe benefits of being the defending champion is that you get to wear that crown until some other team comes along and takes it from you. The San Francisco Giants and their MLB betting fans are still the champions for now, but they are going to have to hand over the crown sooner rather than later. They will try to keep their slim playoff hopes alive when they take the short trip to San Diego on Thursday.

Taking a Look at San Francisco Giants at San Diego Padres MLB Free Betting Pick & TV Info

Date/Time: Thursday, September 24, 2015 9:10 PM ET Venue: PETCO Park, San Diego, California TV: FSSD, FOX Deportes San Diego Radio: XPRS 1090, XEMO 860 (Sp.) Opening Lines: San Diego +150, San Francisco -156

Score that play 1 unassisted…The Hard way pic.twitter.com/MpwYlXfmnm

— San Francisco Giants (@SFGiants) September 24, 2015

You have to give the Giants (79-71) a little bit of credit for not going down without a fight this season. They have shaved 3 games off the Dodgers lead over the past week, yet still find themselves 6 games adrift in the division. If they can put together a solid week once again, the 4-game series against the LA Dodgers to start the final week of the season might become a whole lot more interesting than any of us thought it was going to be. There is a lot that has to happen in order for that to take place, though, but the 7-3 record posted by the Giants over the past 10 games shows that they might just be up for the battle. With their win on Tuesday, the Giants have now won 6 straight against the Padres, so why not start to dream. Madison Bumgarner (18-8, 2.84 ERA) will be on the mound for the Giants. The San Diego Padres (70-81) may still have a role to play in how the NL West ends up turning out. They are showing signs of being unable to beat the Giants once again, which may just open the door a little for the defending champs. If things do get close, the Padres will finish up the season against the Dodgers, potentially with the opportunity to do in their season. It’s a wild scenario, and one that is unlikely to actually happen, but did it did play out that way and the Padres did end up being Dodger killers, they could go into the offseason feeling a little bit better about themselves than they do right now. Ian Kennedy (8-15, 4.29 ERA) has gone 5 games without a win, and actually took the loss in 4 of those starts.

Key Baseball Betting Trends

*San Francisco is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games when playing San Diego *The total has gone OVER in 6 of San Francisco’s last 7 games when playing San Diego *San Francisco is 4-8 SU in its last 12 games when playing on the road against San Diego *The total has gone OVER in 5 of San Francisco’s last 7 games when playing on the road against San Diego *San Diego is 1-6 SU in its last 7 games when playing San Francisco *The total has gone OVER in 6 of San Diego’s last 7 games when playing San Francisco *San Diego is 8-4 SU in its last 12 games when playing at home against San Francisco *The total has gone OVER in 5 of San Diego’s last 7 games when playing at home against San Francisco

Consider This Before Placing Your Bet

This is a pretty big pitching mismatch that goes in the favor of the Giants. Bumgarner has been brilliant in his last 2 starts, and even getting close to those efforts should be enough to get him and the Giants the win in this one.