Game #151 Nats go for the sweep!

The Washington Nationals have put together two of their best comeback wins this weekend. Those wins will allow the Nats to go for a series sweep today against the Angels.

In today’s afternoon game, the Nats have switched things up and will now pitch Riley Cornelio in this one. Jake Irvin was originally slated as today’s starter, and manager Blake Butera will have Irvin as his bulk starter as he pieces together his pitching staff for this one. With a day-off tomorrow, he can push a little harder on his pitching staff. Also, the team has another scheduled day-off on Thursday.

The Nationals made some more roster moves today as they sent Eddy Yean back to Triple-A to give the team 13-pitchers. The team welcomed back Nasim Nunez who returned from his leave on the bereavement list. With Nunez, the Nats have 15 position players. Expect a move after the game to open up a spot for possibly Josiah Gray and/or DJ Herz.

A note on yesterday’s starter, Andrew Alvarez, who was close to a no-hitter yesterday, and finished 7.0 scoreless with a 1-hitter. He pushed his ERA down to a very respectable 3.35 in 102.0 innings of work and his FanGraphs WAR improved to +2.3. To those who were upset (like me) about the trade of Jake Bennett to the Red Sox, Bennett’s ERA is 3.69 with a WAR of +2.1 in 105.0 innings of work.

Since the World Series season of 2019, the Nationals have not won more than 71 games in a season. Can these Nats surpass that number? That would take 3-wins to reach that mark. There are 12 games remaining in this 2026 season. To avoid a 90 loss season, the Nats need to get 4-games in the win column to get to 73 wins. It won’t be easy, but can the Nats go 4-8 to finish this season?

The remaining schedule includes the Angels today, two games mid-week against the Phillies, then the Nats travel to St. Louis for three games, and then to Detroit for three games before traveling back home for the final three games against the Mets in what could be a battle for 4ᵗʰ place in the NL East.

❝The athleticism – [James Wood and CJ Abrams] are both dynamic players and bring so much to the table outside of when they’re in the batter’s box. I think, honestly, our job is just to set them free and let them go play and do what they do best. … They’re both total-package players, and I’m lucky just to be able to sit there and watch them do their thing. I’m happy they’re on our team.❞
— said manager Blake Butera

On offense, the Nats have the third most runs scored in MLB this season at 766 runs, and that is an impressive 5.10 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 +2 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.

Los Angeles Angels vs. Washington Nationals

Stadium: Nationals Park, Washington, D.C.
1st Pitch: 1:35 PM EDT
TV: Nationals.TV
Radio: 106.7 The Fan radio and via the MLB app. On Sirius/XM, tune to Channel 204 for the home broadcast and the road team is online only.