
The Washington Nationals took the lead yesterday and went wire-to-wire with a 14-6 final score. James Wood hit his first home run, his first double, and his first crooked number RBI count (5) in a game. With the addition of Trey Lipscomb back to the roster, the Nats starting lineup plus their young pitcher, MacKenzie Gore, are part of this youth movement. The only players in the lineup aged over 26 were Lane Thomas and Jesse Winker. The average age to start the game yesterday was exactly 25.62 years of age.
After today’s game, there will be the initial All-Star team announced. Most likely, the Nats will get one player named — but maybe the team will get two since Jake Irvin and CJ Abrams have both been standouts at their positions.
We say it over-and-over that defense matters, and yesterday — the offense mattered and took care of all of Gore’s issues in his 4-run third inning. The back of the bullpen got a much needed rest on Saturday.
Manager Dave Martinez rested Kyle Finnegan, Hunter Harvey, Robert Garcia, Derek Law and Dylan Floro. Jordan Weems and Jacob Barnes did the heavy lifting in this game combining for 4⅔ innings and Tanner Rainey took the final frame.

The Nationals are the slight betting underdogs today, at +100 to win on the moneyline. That means if you bet $100 you would win $100. Bet $10 and you win $10.
By the way, there are no more days-off going forward until the All-Star break, and this is another 17-games in a row marathon that the Nats just started a week ago on Friday — and now finish up a week from today. If there are no rain-outs affecting games, the team is set to play 97-games before the All-Star break, and that would leave just 65-games after the All-Star break.
Here is what the rotation could look like:
- Sunday: DJ Herz vs. Cardinals
- Monday: Mitchell Parker vs. Cardinals
- Tuesday: Jake Irvin vs. Mets
- Wednesday: Patrick Corbin vs. Mets
- Thursday: MacKenzie Gore vs. Mets
- Friday: Herz vs. Brewers
- Saturday: Parker vs. Brewers (All-Star Futures’ Game)
- Sunday: Irvin vs. Brewers (MLB Draft)
- All-Star Break (HR Derby)
- All-Star Break (All-Star Game)
- All-Star Break
- All-Star Break
- Friday: TBA vs. Reds – July 19
- Saturday: TBA vs. Reds
- Sunday: TBA vs. Reds
Your top Washington Nationals on the FanGraphs’ WAR leaderboard has Jake Irvin and MacKenzie Gore tied at +2.2 WAR with the top position players, CJ Abrams is at +2.1 and Jacob Young at +1.8. In total, 25 Nats’ players are in positive WAR and another five are at a neutral 0.0 WAR.
“We got the youth movement going on. These young guys got a ton of energy, and I’m excited about that. Our young guys are getting better at a rapid pace. They’re getting pushed up. You feel like these guys have an opportunity to help us, and for me it’s about their growth. Now it’s about getting them up here, and teaching them how to play the game up here — and how to be consistent. It’s a good core. There’s many more to come. Now it’s getting them up here. I think our future is really bright. This is part of our youth movement. So when we’re really ready to compete — really compete — these guys already have their feet wet up here, and they know what to expect.”
— Nats’ manager Davey Martinez said before yesterday’s game
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 3.93 and 13th in MLB. The Nats are 15 points from being a Top-10 starting rotation by ERA. Look at those rankings of teams.
Here is how they rank:
No. 5 Starter: Patrick Corbin 5.49
No. 4 Starter: DJ Herz 4.67
No. 3 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.83
No. 2 Starter: Mitchell Parker 3.61
No. 1 Starter: Jake Irvin 2.80
Washington Nationals vs. St. Louis Cardinals
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 1:35 pm EDT
TV: MASN
Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app; In Spanish on DC 87.7 FM and La Pantera 100.7 FM/1220 AM. On Sirius/XM, tune to Channel 178 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
TalkNats is Celebrating the 5 and 100 year anniversaries of World Series Wins by providing Game-by-Game Summaries.
Game 90:
The Nationals won on 07/12 on the road against the Phillies resulting in a record of 48-42. They won’t drop below .500 the rest of the season. But you knew this already. Box Score / Standings
The Senators lost on 07/22 at home against the Chicago White Sox resulting in a record of 50-40. Box Score / Standings