Photo by Clint Often/TalkNats
The Washington Nationals are back at it tonight in Pittsburgh for their third game of this four game series that wraps up with an afternoon game tomorrow. The Nats have Jake Irvin on the mound tonight, and Pittsburgh is either going with an opener or a bullpen game.
It is Jackie Robinson Day today and the 79th Anniversary of his historic debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers. This is a celebration of the legendary trailblazer who changed baseball. Today, we all wear #42.
After yesterday’s bullpen usage, you would think that Mitchell Parker and PJ Poulin are not available, and Paxton Schultz could probably use another day-off. Here is a chart of usage on manager Blake Butera‘s bullpen:
After CJ Abram’s scorching hot start to the season, he is ranked 4th in MLB in WAR, and James Wood is 20th. The pair have been en fuego this past week. Hopefully they can continue at this pace.
The FanGraphs WAR chart is accumulating data. This will start to give us a clearer picture in six weeks when the sample sizes get larger. The OAA defense stat requires a minimum of 10 defensive plays. We will start adding more statistics as the sample sizes get larger.
Washington Nationals vs. Pittsburgh Pirates
Stadium: PNC Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
1st Pitch: 6:40 PM EDT
TV: Nationals.TV
Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app. On Sirius/XM, tune to Channel 179 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
