Looks can be deceiving for these 2023 Washington Nationals. The team currently has a 68-win season, and that would generally be considered to be a failure for several teams — but for a rebuilding team that only won 55-games last year — this is a significant improvement. The Nats have exceeded even the most optimistic computer generated projections of 65-67 wins from FanGraphs modeling, while Vegas set their over/under for 58.5 wins at several sportsbooks. And guess what, the Nats have nine more games to play this season (weather permitting) to better that record.
The Washington Nationals have another chance for a series win, and they kind of need this one with ten games remaining to get to 70+ wins. Josiah Gray just needs to follow what Jackson Rutledge accomplished yesterday — and be very careful pitching to Luis Robert.
By now we well recognize that for each of our personal certainties about what to expect from our beloved Washington Nationals, there are things beyond our control — both bad and good. The biggest difference as we close out 2023 is that at this time last year, we had hopes and solutions that were a) fewer in number b) farther away from realization c) above all, less exciting.
Jackson Rutledge first start in Nationals Park; Photo by Sol Tucker for TalkNats
The Washington Nationals have Jackson Rutledge on the mound for his first home start in his MLB career. That start last week certainly was not how you dream about your MLB debut given that it was a disaster on the mound. Forget the 17.18 ERA for a moment, and consider that his first inning actually had good pitches go wrong with three hits that found outfield grass via a groundball and two weak bloops by the left field line. Of course there were bad pitches that went wrong too — but if some more went right, who knows how that could have gone. Credit to Pittsburgh for not letting up on Rutledge who surrendered 4 earnies in the first inning. His xERA (expected ERA) was 5.64 for that start. Still not good, but that’s the difference with BABIP. What won’t work is giving up all of that contact.
In total, the 2019 first round draft pick was tagged with 10-hits because he didn’t miss enough bats plus that bad luck BABIP in his 3⅔ innings of work. You must miss more bats in 2-strike counts. Rutledge threw 52 strikes and only got 8 swing-and-miss strikes — all on fastballs and sliders. Not one on his changeup that played like a BP fastball too often, and was most likely attributed to the release point and shape on the pitch. It is a tumbler of a changeup that was working so well in Triple-A and could have been that nerves played into it with too firm of a grip — but only Rutledge would know for sure. This is where you wish you had Stephen Strasburg as an extra set of eyes as he threw one of the best changeups in baseball for a decade.
The Washington Nationals ended their 5-game losing streak yesterday with an exciting extra-innings victory over the Brewers. They arrived back in Washington, D.C. tonight for their final homestand of the season with three games starting tonight against the White Sox. The nine games after that are all against first place teams. Winning four more games this season would get the Nats to 70 on the season and feels like a realistic goal. More than that would be great. Start tonight as they say with a win.
Winning is fun. Consistently winning usually brings visions of the postseason. The Washington Nationals are now 4-wins from exceeding their win total from 2010. That number is significant to hold ownership accountable in this offseason. For those who do not remember, Ted Lerner, in the offseason after 2010 made the most significant free acquisition in team history when they signed Jayson Werth to a 7-year contract with a 9-figure payday. It set the baseball world into a frenzy that the narratively branded Nats were not cheapos.
The Washington Nationals lost another close game yesterday, or at least it was close from a tie game in the eighth inning when it was tied at 5-5. The game ended at 9-5 when Kyle Finnegan served up the game winning grand slam with two outs. The Nats are now mired in a 5-game losing streak.
The Washington Nationals lost another head-scratcher yesterday. They scored all of their runs in the first inning, then could not scratch out any more runs for the next eight inning. Tonight it is Trevor Williams for the Nats and Corbin Burnes for the Brewers. This is the type of game that Vegas has as the biggest lock of the day in favor of the Brewers. Maybe Williams can spin a gem and be the reverse lock of the day.
We almost got to see Washington Nationals rookie Jake Irvin take the team’s lead in ERA and get below a 3.99 ERA. With 4⅔ scoreless innings in the books, Irvin walked two men in the fifth inning and with two outs, in an instant the Nats 3-0 lead evaporated. Disappointing to say the least as the Nats offense never scored a run past the first inning and lost 5-3. Irvin’s sinker for the 3-run homer was a stinker at the middle of the zone on the inside edge. He was out of answers in that fifth inning, and out of the game. Maybe it was a tired arm. Maybe it was a lack of a plan. Maybe it was the lack of a put-away pitch. Was it a moment that Irvin can learn from? That is a question we ask often. Are these young players learning?
The Washington Nationals and all of baseball will honor the memory of Roberto Clemente tonight as the Nats are in Milwaukee for a weekend series. These are games the Brewers really need to win in their quest to take the NL Central title. They are in a 3-way fight with the Reds and Cubs for supremacy in the central division.
