The Washington Nationals are back home with a 2-game set against the Braves, a team in a fight for the final Wild Card spot. The Mets are rooting hard for the Nationals to help them. Of course, next week the Nats have a 3-game series with the Mets. The Cubs are also hoping the Nats win. They have a small chance to sneak into the playoffs.
For the Nats, they wish that instead of playing spoiler that they were competing for a playoff spot. To get into the 70’s for a win total this season — and better last year’s win total of 71-games would help in being able to project a 10-game improvement in 2025 to be a winning team. The Nats need to go 8-11 or better to beat the 2023 win total. How great would that be to finish in the mid-70’s for a win total? All but four remaining games are against teams with postseason aspirations — and that will make it difficult.
The Nats are underdogs today, at +135 to win on the moneyline. That means if you bet $100 you would win $135. Bet $10.00 and you win $13.50.
Nats’ manager Dave Martinez used Sunday and yesterday’s day-off to rest Kyle Finnegan and the back of the bullpen.
This is what the Nats schedule looks like going forward, and the plan is to get Trevor Williams back into the rotation and finish the final week-and-a-half of the season with a 6-man rotation:
- Tuesday: MacKenzie Gore vs. Atlanta
- Wednesday: Jake Irvin vs. Atlanta
- Thursday: DJ Herz vs. Marlins
- Friday: Mitchell Parker vs. Marlins
- Saturday: Patrick Corbin vs. Marlins
- Sunday: Gore vs. Marlins
- Monday: Irvin vs. Mets
- Tuesday: Herz vs. Mets
- Wednesday: Parker vs. Mets
- Thursday: Corbin vs. Cubs
- Friday: Gore vs. Cubs
- Saturday: Irvin vs. Cubs
- Sunday: Herz vs. Cubs
- Monday: Day-off September 23
- Tuesday: Parker vs. Royals
- Wednesday: Corbin vs. Royals
- Thursday: Gore vs. Royals
- Friday: Irvin vs. Phillies
- Saturday: Herz vs. Phillies
- Sunday: Parker vs. Phillies (Final Game of the Season)
Your top Washington Nationals on the FanGraphs’ WAR leaderboard has Jacob Young at +2.9, Luis Garcia Jr. at a WAR of +2.8, and CJ Abrams has sunk all the way back to +1.5. In total, 29 Nats’ players are in positive WAR and another seven are at a neutral 0.0 WAR.
“I say this all the time, ‘Forget about Corbin’s record, forget about everything.’ The guy goes out there to pitch, to give you length every five days. He’s awesome, he really is.”
— Nats’ manager Dave Martinez said after Sunday’s game
“I can’t say enough about what he meant to us over these last few years, especially with our young pitching staff, and how he helped them. And how he takes the ball and gives us what we need when the other guys are out. It saves our bullpen.”
The Nats starting pitchers have a combined ERA of 4.49 and 22nd in MLB.
Here is how they rank:
No. 5 Starter: Patrick Corbin 5.60
No. 4 Starter: Mitchell Parker 4.43
No. 3 Starter: MacKenzie Gore 4.32
No. 2 Starter: Jake Irvin 4.28
No. 1 Starter: DJ Herz 3.82
Washington Nationals vs. Atlanta Braves
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 6:45 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, 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 144:
The Nationals won on 09/11 on the road in Minnesota with a record of 80-64. The Nats are in second place in the NL East. But you knew this already. Box Score / Standings
The Senators won on 09/18 on the road against the Cleveland Indians resulting in a record of 85-59. The Senators have sole possession of first place and ahead of the Yankees. Box Score / Standings
