Photo by Jake Stephens/Nats.Talk

The Washington Nationals open today at 2.5 games from a Wild Card slot as the Arizona Diamondbacks hold that final Wild Card spot. The Nats play the Braves today, and they hold first place in NL East. The Nats send their ace, Foster Griffin, to the mound with the hopes he can deliver a win for the Nats to get back over .500.

There will be plenty of scouts and general managers with their eyes on Griffin tonight as we are exactly three days to the trade deadline set for Monday, August 3ʳᵈ, at 6 pm.

Blake Butera will go with a balanced lineup tonight with the oddity that Jose Tena is playing second base tonight.

❝[Jake Irvin] was in the zone a ton until that sixth inning, and that was also the first time he’s had a sixth up since he’s gone down [to a Minor League rehab assignment]. … We felt like he was in a spot to go back out there in the sixth. But once he let those first two guys get on, we wanted him out of there just in case there was any fatigue or anything.❞

— manager Blake Butera said

On offense, the Nats have the 1st in MLB for the most runs scored this season at 600 runs, and that is an impressive 5.45 runs per game. With the Nats pitching giving up 4.76 earned runs per game, the difference is really those pesky unearned runs due to the errors. Overall, the Nats have a +27 run differential on the season.

Here is manager Blake Butera‘s bullpen chart:

The FanGraphs WAR chart is now large in its sample size. You can certainly start to extrapolate the numbers for the full-season. The OAA defense stat is now giving us a picture of what the Nats have — and don’t have.

Washington Nationals vs. Atlanta Braves

Stadium: Truist Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia
1st Pitch: 7:15 PM EDT
TV: Nationals.TV
Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app. On Sirius/XM, tune to Channel 178 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.