Washington Nationals: Vegas oddsmakers love the Nats

National League East

The NL East crown resides with the Washington Nationals. In fact, it has so in four of the past six seasons. And the oddsmakers agree it will stay that way.

Using data from Oddsshark.com, which provides lines from a multitude of sportsbooks, the average line for the Nationals to win the NL East in 2018 is -254, or a 73.1% chance.

Despite the surging Atlanta Braves and pesky Philadelphia Phillies, the oddsmakers are confident the Nationals will prevail. This is likely in large part due to the weapons the Nats will have returning soon.

With Murphy, Eaton and Wieters healthy, the Nats offense will be more potent than it already is. The meteoric rise of Juan Soto only helps the cause.

What’s interesting is that Fangraphs.com takes this one step farther. Their projections say the Nats win their division a stunning 88.1% of the time. And to that point, the Nats are projected to win the division by ten games.

While the true median likely lies somewhere in the middle, it goes to show the confidence the sharp baseball minds (and computers) have in the Nationals to turn the four out of six into five out of seven.