Photo by Marlene Koenig/TalkNats
The Washington Nationals played good fundamental baseball last night and won a key game to get back to .500. A win by the Nats today would give them a series win and put the team above .500 and the best record they’ve had at this point in the season since 2018 — a year when there wasn’t a third Wild Card. The playoffs feel like a long-shot — but as Jacob Young said today on the radio, ❝WHY NOT US.❞
With rain in the forecast, you hope the game can happen today. The Nats have Cade Cavalli on the mound, and the Mets send another lefty, David Peterson to the mound. After the game, both teams head on the road. The Nats fly to Atlanta for a weekend series.
What is impressive is the Nats Big-3, the L.A.W. firm of Lile, Abrams, and Wood have a combined +4.5 WAR going into this game. Add Young who has only started 43 games this season, and his +0.9 WAR along with Keibert Ruiz‘s +0.8 gives them a combined +6.2.
Manager Blake Butera‘s bullpen is operating with three long-men, Mitchell Parker, Brad Lord, and Andrew Alvarez, and Alvarez was the tandem starter behind Zack Littell and went 4.0 full innings that qualified him for a save with Littell getting credited for the win. Clayton Beeter was activated from the 15-day IL, and PJ Poulin was sent back to Triple-A Rochester. Here is what the bullpen usage looks like going into today’s game:
The FanGraphs WAR chart is accumulating data. The numbers are getting very large as the season is nearly one-third completed. The OAA defense stat is now giving us a picture of what the Nats have — and don’t have.
New York Mets vs. Washington Nationals
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 4:05 PM EDT
TV: Nationals.TV
Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app. On Sirius/XM, tune to Channel 178 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
