The Washington Nationals have a new team leader in WAR (Wins Above Replacement) as Luis Garcia Jr. captured the top spot yesterday. Of course, it could be short-lived since Garcia is only fractionally ahead of MacKenzie Gore who starts tonight. This will be a battle to the end to see who is voted locally as the team’s MVP. What a positive impact from Garcia who was demoted a year ago this week to Triple-A Rochester — and was not a lock to make the Nats’ Opening Day roster this year. Not only did he come into training camp in great shape, his defense is markedly improved and rated second best on the team.
There are just 49-games remaining in the season, and since the Nats won’t be making the postseason this year, short of a miracle, the season is going to be over before we know it. The rest of the season is really supposed to help determine the players who could help impact the 2025 roster.
Based on last year’s win total of 71-games, the Nats need to go 21-28 or better to beat that total. MacKenzie Gore gets the start tonight with hopes of replicating what Mitchell Parker did on Sunday.
The Nats are slight underdogs today, at +105 to win on the moneyline. That means if you bet $100 you would win $105. Bet $10.00 and you win $10.50.
Nats’ manager Dave Martinez‘s bullpen threw a 3.0 inning shutout last night. Eduardo Salazar, Jacob Barnes, and Jose A. Ferrer took the bullpen duties last night. That gave Derek Law, Robert Garcia, and Kyle Finnegan a much needed day-off.
This is what the Nats schedule looks like going forward:
- Tuesday: MacKenzie Gore vs. Giants
- Wednesday: Jake Irvin vs. Giants
- Thursday: DJ Herz vs. Giants
- Friday: Mitchell Parker vs. Angels
- Saturday: Patrick Corbin vs. Angels
- Sunday: Gore vs. Angels
- Monday: Day-off (August 12)
- Tuesday: Irvin vs. Baltimore
- Wednesday: Herz vs. Baltimore
Your top Washington Nationals on the FanGraphs’ WAR leaderboard has Luis Garcia Jr. atop of the position WAR rankings at +2.4, and CJ Abrams and Jacob Young are at +2.0. In total, 21 Nats’ players are in positive WAR and another eight are at a neutral 0.0 WAR.
“Don’t swing [at balls under your knees]. [The pitcher] wants you to chase the ball down. He’ll have to get the ball up, when he’s behind. And we’ve got to be ready for the ball up.”
— Nats’ manager Dave Martinez said after yesterday’s game
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.39 and 22nd in MLB.
Here is how they rank:
No. 5 Starter: Patrick Corbin 5.88
No. 4 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 4.54
No. 3 Starter: DJ Herz 4.27
No. 2 Starter: Mitchell Parker 4.06
No. 1 Starter: Jake Irvin 3.56
Washington Nationals vs. San Francisco Giants
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 6:45 pm EDT
TV: MASN
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, tune to Channel 178 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.
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 114:
The Nationals lost on 08/07 on the road against the Giants in a record of 61-53. They won’t drop below .500 the rest of the season. The Nats are in second place in the NL East. But you knew this already. Box Score / Standings
The Senators lost on 08/16 at home against the Detroit Tigers resulting in a record of 62-52. Box Score / Standings
