Going Deep with The Nats

The Washington Nationals went into the morning of May 24th with a 0.1% chance of making the postseason. They defied the odds as the Nats earned a Wild Card berth, and they have found themselves as underdogs during each series in the postseason in the NLDS against the Dodgers, and the NLCS against the Cardinals. From 501 Crawford Street to 3570 S. Las Vegas Boulevard, the Nats are given little chance of winning this World Series against the Houston Astros. Is it a lack of respect? It is what it is. You are here to play the games so prove the doubters wrong. The Nationals are on an 18-3 run and are 8-2 in the postseason while the Astros are 7-4 in the postseason. Since May 24th and through today, the Nationals have won 82 games and the Astros have won 81. If you throw out the first 50 games of the season, the Nationals have been a slightly better team than the Astros, but that does not matter to those who project the winner and loser in this World Series. On top of that, the 3-time Cy Young winner Max Scherzer was asked questions as if he is some journeyman placeholder who has to pitch opposite of the Astros’ Gerrit Cole in this Game 1. Continue reading →

Photo by Andrew Lang for TalkNats

After the NLDS, Nationals manager Dave Martinez was able to do some reseeding of his rotation for the NLCS after game one with Anibal Sanchez. They made a decision to push Corbin back to game four on extra rest and have him available early in the series for a LOOGY spot, and Corbin shined in his appearance to get lefty Kolten Wong out. Now Corbin takes the mound in arguably one of the most important games of his career. Can this lefty match his fellow starters who all notched zero earned runs in this NLCS? Can he match Sanchez and Scherzer and put up a no-hitter for at least six innings? All Martinez wants is to go 1-0 today. That is a tall order, but certainly doable.  Continue reading →

Photo courtesy of Andrew Ross for TalkNats

Since the NLDS games were decided on Wednesday, we have known that this game would matchup two of the hottest NL pitchers in Stephen Strasburg and the righty Jack Flaherty. Tonight of course is the first home game in the Nats history for an NLCS game. Back in the lineup for the Washington Nationals is centerfielder Victor Robles. Moves like adding Robles back when Michael Taylor had done well offensively is the type of move that could work great or backfire. We will see how Nats manager Dave Martinez does on that move while also playing Ryan Zimmerman against a tough righty. On the other side, Cardinals manager Mike Shildt just downgraded his overall defense to add Jose Martinez to his lineup, but he kept the struggling part of the top of his lineup the same and much to the dismay of Cardinals fans. Nats fans can commiserate with their lineup experiences from the 2017 NLDS. Continue reading →