The Home for Washington Nationals Game Talk

The Washington Nationals are the home team today at the CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches again their neighboring Houston Astros. We have no TV coverage on a day when 9-of-the-10 projected Opening Day starters are in the lineup and on the mound for the Nats. MacKenzie Gore is set-up perfectly on regular rest to make the Opening Day start on March 27 which will include a start on Monday then a lighter load with a start on Saturday March 22. Today’s lineup has all projected starters except Luis Garcia Jr. who is probably sitting it out against a lefty starter today (h/t Stever20).

Tomorrow and Friday are long road trips to play the Tampa Bay Rays and the Atlanta Braves, and you can expect those to be a mixture of minor leaguers and some players with MLB experience. The team will stay overnight on the I-75 corridor between Tampa and Venice, Florida. Also on Friday, the Nationals top prospects will be playing in their first of two SPRING BREAKOUT games with the other game on Sunday.

The Washington Nationals travel to Jupiter to face the Marlins in a split-squad day/night road/home doubleheader with both games against the Marlins. With less than two weeks remaining in Florida for Grapefruit League games, starting pitchers might be down to their final two to three starts of the pre-season. After being scratched last week with neck stiffness, Mitchell Parker is back on the mound for the first game today.

Shinnosuke Ogasawara will be getting the start in tonight’s early evening second game. Tomorrow is the final off-day in Florida on the Grapefruit League schedule. We could see a lineup on Wednesday that looks like an Opening Day type of lineup. Then Thursday and Friday are long road trips to play the Tampa Bay Rays and the Atlanta Braves.

The Washington Nationals travel to Port St. Lucie to face the New York Mets at Clover Park. With exactly two weeks remaining in Florida for Grapefruit League games, starting pitchers might be down to their final-3 starts of the pre-season. Jake Irvin takes the mound for the Nats today.

Tomorrow, the Nationals have a day/night doubleheader against the Marlins. Tuesday is the final off-day in Florida on the Grapefruit League schedule. Mitchell Parker is scheduled to pitch the first game on Monday with Shinnosuke Ogasawara getting the start in the evening game.

The Washington Nationals are home at the CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches for an early afternoon game in West Palm Beach, Florida. With just 15-days remaining in Florida for Grapefruit League games, we will see if DJ Herz, who is pitching today, impresses enough to grab the No. 5 spot in the starting rotation.

Some players have emerged and we posted up the small sample size leaders in OPS and in WHIP yesterday, and it is incredible how quickly things change. Jorge Lopez is no longer the WHIP leader, and Luis Garcia Jr. is no longer the OPS leader. James Wood leads the team in OPS after he homered again last night on a tape measure oppo shot. Top batting average leaders have a tie between Andres Chaparro and Nasim Nunez at .429. Nunez hit the walk-off double to win last night’s game. What we try to look at is process over results because small sample sizes, as well as the strength of the competition, will skew numbers.