Photo by Sol Tucker/Nats.Talk

The Washington Nationals have a 4-game scheduled to start tonight against the Phillies if Mother Nature cooperates as storms are in the D.C. area. If the Nats could pull-off the improbable and sweep the Phillies in this series, the Nats would leapfrog the Phillies in the standings. At the very least, the Nats have to split this series to get past the mathematical halfway point in this season with a winning record.

Of course, everything start with tonight’s game and Foster Griffin on the mound. The Phillies are going with a bullpen opener and then to a bulk starter. Sound familiar? They optioned their top pitching prospect, Andrew Painter, to the minor leagues.

In the Nats lineup, Jacob Young is back in the lineup after his collision with the wall in centerfield on Saturday.

❝I think our club needs to understand that when you’re playing really good teams — and you’re playing meaningful baseball games, one bad pitch, one mistake defensively, one mistake on the bases, those things cost you, and that [can be] the difference between winning and losing.

Look, it’s fun to play these meaningful games. We’re in it right now. We’re feeling good, and teams are not taking us lightly. We have to play really good baseball.❞

— manager Blake Butera said

On offense, the Nats are at the top of MLB for the most runs scored this season at 416 runs and that is an impressive 5.33 runs per game. With the Nats pitching giving up 4.64 earned runs per game, the difference is really those pesky unearned runs due to the errors. Overall, the Nats have a +12 run differential on the season. Since April 19th, the Nats are the 17th best in ERA in MLB in that span at 4.18.

After Brad Lord and Mitchell Parker both pitched multiple innings, they won’t be available for a while. Here is manager Blake Butera‘s bullpen chart:

The FanGraphs WAR chart is accumulating data. The numbers are getting very large as the season is headed towards the halfway point on June 24. The OAA defense stat is now giving us a picture of what the Nats have — and don’t have.

Philadelphia Phillies vs. Washington Nationals

Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 6:45 PM EDT
TV: Nationals.TV
Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app. On Sirius/XM, tune to Channel 175 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.