How quickly things changed on the calendar. On Sunday afternoon, Nats fans cheered the Braves on because they were hoping the Braves would beat the second place Miami Marlins to start the #Clinchmas celebration as the Magic # was down to #1. Sure enough, the Braves came from three runs behind in the 9th inning to force extra innings and a dramatic 11th inning walk-off win happened after a Tyler Flowers single and a Lane Adams 2-run home run — Nationals Park erupted into spontaneous celebration! Now the Atlanta Braves are in Washington, D.C. for a three game series against the Washington Nationals.
When it's 7:05 PM, but you've already clinched and are enjoying a well-deserved off day… pic.twitter.com/HtfSMWoaEG
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) September 11, 2017
As much criticism as there is regarding MASN, they did an incredible job hours after the Nationals mid-afternoon game ended to keep the broadcast going and into watching the Braves/Marlins game and the celebrations in the stands and the clubhouse then to the champagne celebration and #Clinchmas interviews.
So here we are today, and the Braves send Julio Teheran to the mound, and Gio Gonzalez goes for the Nationals.
Once Gio Gonzalez records 1 out tonight, he will reach 180 innings this season and his $12 million performance vesting option for 2018 becomes official. Gio completed his last start with 179 2/3 innings for the season and based on Gio’s 2017 season he is a bargain at $12 million in relative WAR converted dollars. Baseball-Reference.com computes Gio Gonzalez as a +6.8 WAR versus +0.8 last year. Fangraphs has Gio worth +3.0 on their WAR and each WAR point is worth about $5 to $8 million which says Gio is worth anywhere from $15 million to $24 million and keep in mind that Gio will have tonight’s start and most likely 2 to 3 more this season depending on whether Dusty Baker keeps 6 men in the rotation.
From here on out, the Nationals will be playing for home-field-advantage (HFA), pride, and rest.
With the day-off yesterday, there should be news coming up on the progress on the injuries on Bryce Harper, Brian Goodwin, and Koda Glover. On tonight’s line-up, Jayson Werth is out of the starting line-up for the 6th straight day. Werth is batting .107 since he has returned from the disabled list as we reported through a source that Werth felt pain in his shoulder possibly as a result of a HPB on that same shoulder in a minor league rehab game.
Atlanta Braves vs. Washington Nationals
Stadium: Nationals Park
1st Pitch: 7:05 pm EDT
TV: MASN, FOX Sports – Southeast, MLB.TV
Nats Radio: 106.7 FM The Fan; SiriusXM® Sirius 205 XM 186 (Internet 869)
Line-ups subject to change (without notice):
We're back tonight and here's how we're lining up! pic.twitter.com/kF1UpYYkf9
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) September 12, 2017
