The Washington Nationals already clinched this series win against the first place Seattle Mariners with wins on Friday and Saturday. Now, the Nats go for a sweep with Patrick Corbin on the mound. Yes, Corbin gets the start after the Nationals announced on Friday that they were moving Mitchell Parker to Monday and Corbin to today.
After Saturday’s game, reports surfaced that the Mariners were having a team-only meeting. Apparently their manager was not happy with his team’s effort. Credit to the Nats on manufacturing a run early in the game, and finding a way to win it with zeroes from the bullpen in a 3-1 finish.
The Nationals are in their third game of 17 consecutive games. This is the longest grind of the season, and all of this comes against teams that would be in the playoffs if the season ended today except for the 3-games against the Mets. It seems like the Nats have been facing all winning teams for a while except for the White Sox in mid-May.
Yesterday marked the 50th game of the season, and the Nats are 23-27 in the first 50 as we approach the one-third completion mark in the season this week after the 54th game. The Nats will fly to Atlanta after this game for a 4-game series.
Here’s what we think the starting rotation could look like going forward:
- Sunday: Patrick Corbin vs. Mariners
- Monday: Mitchell Parker vs. Atlanta
- Tuesday: Jake Irvin vs. Atlanta
- Wednesday: MacKenzie Gore vs. Atlanta
- Thursday: Trevor Williams vs. Atlanta
- Friday: Corbin vs. Cleveland
- Saturday June 1: Parker vs. Cleveland
- Sunday: Irvin vs. Cleveland
- Monday: Gore vs. Mets
- Tuesday: Williams vs. Mets
- Wednesday: Corbin vs. Mets
- Thursday: Parker vs. Braves
- Friday: Irvin vs. Braves
- Saturday: Gore vs. Braves
- Sunday: Williams vs. Braves
- Monday: Day-off June 10
Your top Washington Nationals on the FanGraphs’ WAR leaderboard has Trevor Williams at +1.5 WAR followed by MacKenzie Gore at +1.2. Jake Irvin and Luis Garcia Jr. are at +1.0, with CJ Abrams at +0.9 and Jacob Young at +0.8. In total, 20 Nats’ players are in positive WAR and another four at a neutral 0.0 WAR. The issue at the moment is about the four players at the extreme bottom in negative numbers that includes Lane Thomas.
“It kind of reminds me of the days we had the pitcher hitting. A little National League game. It’s fun when everyone’s engaged and guys are playing well. Today, these guys were playing well.”
— manager Dave Martinez said after yesterday’s game
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.09 and 16th in MLB. The Nats are now 14 points from 15th best in baseball.
Here is how they rank:
No. 5 Starter: Patrick Corbin 6.29
No. 4 Starter: Jake Irvin 3.79
No. 3 Starter: Mitchell Parker 3.32
No. 2 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 3.04
No. 1 Starter: Trevor Williams 2.29
Washington Nationals vs. Seattle Mariners
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 1:35 pm EDT
TV: MASN2
Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app; In Spanish on DC 87.7 FM and La Pantera 100.7 FM/1220 AM. On Sirius/XM, the Nats will be on Channel 177 and the opposing team online.
Line-up subject to change (without notice):
TalkNats is Celebrating the 5 and 100 year anniversaries of World Series Wins by providing Game-by-Game Summaries.
Game 51:
The Nationals won on 05/24 at home against the Marlins resulting in a record of 20-31. But you knew this already. This was a great come-from-behind win, and the start of something special. Box Score / Standings
The Senators won on 06/17 on the road against the Chicago White Sox resulting in a record of 25-26. Box Score / Standings
