Giants vs. Braves prediction and odds for Friday, Aug. 18 (Target this team total)

The first place Atlanta Braves head back home to face the San Francisco Giants, who are trying to hang onto an NL Wild Card spot.

Atlanta will start Spencer Strider in the series opener while the teams offense looks to knock around Giants right hander Alex Cobb. Cobb has some concerning underlying metrics which may make this a short trip to the mound on Friday night.

Here's how we are targeting the Braves in the betting market against the Giants:

Giants vs. Braves odds, run line and total

Giants vs. Braves prediction and pick

The Braves offense is the best in baseball, tops in the likes of batting average and slugging percentage. The team does even more damage at home, crushing 118 home runs in 60 games with with the second most runs in the bigs behind only the Texas Rangers.

The team will face Cobb on Friday in hopes of staying on point at the dish. While the right hander has been rock solid for the Giants rotation, he allows a ton of contact. He has been strong at avoiding blow up innings, but this Braves offense is far too dangerous. Cobb has allowed 10 hits per nine innings this season.

If Cobb can't handle the Braves offensive firepower, this game can go sideways quickly for San Francisco. I'm going to lay off the steep price of the Braves as home favorites, but instead target the team total over as my favorite bet on Friday night.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.