The Washington Nationals clinched the series win on Saturday, and are now in position for the sweep on Sunday. The Nats are inching back into the Wild Card picture also. While making the postseason would be improbable, you never know.
The Nats will needed a great pitching performance from Andrew Alvarez, and he delivered and out-pitched Reds’ ace, Chase Burns. We don’t know the plan for pitching today. Most think it will be a bullpen game.
The Nats optioned LHP Carson Palmquist to Triple-A Rochester and called up Jake Bird who the Nats acquired in the Luis Garcia Jr. trade. Bird joins Yovanny Cruz from that trade on the MLB roster. Additionally, Jack Cebert and Ben Grable are both in Double-A Harrisburg and were the other two pieces in that trade. Grable has made two appearances already, and Cebert is set to start today.
❝We’re not losing hope by any means. We’re going to have to grind out some games, like we did tonight. But at the end of the day, we’ll do whatever it takes to find wins.❞
On offense, the Nats have the 1st in MLB for the most runs scored this season at 636 runs, and that is an impressive 5.34 runs per game. With the Nats pitching giving up 4.74 earned runs per game, the difference is really those pesky unearned runs due to the errors. Overall, the Nats have a +22 run differential on the season.
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.
Cincinnati Reds vs. Washington Nationals
Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, DC 1st Pitch: 12:15 PM EDT TV: PEACOCK 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.
I said that my goal is to make the Nationals the envy of sport.
To me, that means an organization defined by our relentless pursuit of excellence, strengthened by our connection to each other and fueled by our positive energy. As a result, we become an organization that players and staff are itching to join because they know it’s where they will develop and thrive most; a place that energizes our loyal fans and attracts new ones, and where success is achieved – and sustained – over time.
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