Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats
The guessing game was strong on who would be called up for the vacant roster spot after Victor Robles was placed in the 10-day IL, and the choices were few. The Washington Nationals could have gone a man short on the bench and brought up an arm, but for position players we identified Luis Garcia as the most likely candidate, and in fact Garcia was the officially called up today. The second guessing game was to who would start in centerfield and second base, and if you had Josh Harrison in centerfield and Garcia at second base, you were wrong. In fact, Garcia will be on the bench to start this game.
One thing we knew before the game was that Max Scherzer is starting this game. The game opens this 3-game series against the Reds, and they will pitch righty Tyler Mahle in this game.
Tomorrow is now today. Reds are in for a 3-game series against the #Nats https://t.co/QJkHtQyyaD
— Talk Nats ⚾ (@TalkNats) May 25, 2021
The Nats are riding a 3-game winning streak, and the self-destructive NL East has five teams separated from top-to-bottom by only 2.0 games. Every team in the NL East is dealing with IL moves and under-performing players which has this looking like an 85-86 win team could win the NL East if these numbers continue. The Mets are in first place at the moment and they have 16 players on the IL. The Phillies today moved Bryce Harper to the 10-day IL, and Braves lost Huascar Ynoa to the IL last week. The Marlins might be the healthiest team in the NL East.
Of further note, the Mets and Braves face-off this weekend, and the Nats and Braves start a series next Monday. These standings could look very different when the calendar flips to June. We are also 66 days until the trade deadline on July 30.
Cincinnati Reds vs. Washington Nationals
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 7:05 pm EDT
TV: MASN, Bally Sports Ohio, MLB.TV
Nats Radio: 106.7 FM The Fan; SiriusXM® ( Streaming Internet 869)
Line-ups subject to change without notice:
1. Trea Turner SS
2. Juan Soto RF
3. Josh Bell 1B
4. Kyle Schwarber LF
5. Starlin Castro 3B
6. Josh Harrison 2B
7. Yan Gomes C
8. Andrew Stevenson CF
9. Max Scherzer RHP
